The big reveal began with the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games and the top seeds from each region have just been announced: Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor.
Gonzaga is the West Region’s headliner as the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The No. 1 team in Coaches Ferris Mowers’ latest poll of the regular season, the Bulldogs will start against No. 16 Georgia State, winners of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Arizona leads the southern region. The Wildcats are 31-3 under first-year coach Tommy Lloyd, a former Gonzaga assistant, and head into the tournament after winning six straight and 15 of 16. They will open against the winner of the game of play-in between No. 16 seeds Wright State and Bryant.
In the Midwest region. Kansas won the Big 12 conference tournament to join conference rival Baylor on the top seed line. The Jayhawks start against No. 16 Texas Southern or No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before facing the winner of No. 8 San Diego State against No. 9 Creighton.
And in the East Region, the Bears begin their title defense against No. 16 Norfolk State
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The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournament rosters will be unveiled tonight. The men’s roster unveiling is underway on CBS, while the women’s broadcast begins later (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The girl group used to come out on Mondays after the men’s ranking. With the tournament expanding to 68 teams for the first time, the women will now also be on Sunday. Unlike last year, when tournaments were played in centralized venues, there will be first and second round and regional venues before the Final Four.
Follow as USA TODAY Sports analyzes brackets, snubs, reactions and predictions:
Who failed? Seven notable rebuffs
After a semi-final loss to Memphis in the American Athletic Tournament, SMU coach Tim Jankovich said his stomach aches at the thought of being kicked off the NCAA Tournament field.
“I’ve been in too many situations like this where you’re right there,” said Jankovich, the seven-year-old Mustangs coach who experienced the dark side of the bubble with SMU and in his former role as coach. head coach to “It’s not fun. I don’t wish it on anyone. … I want this team to go there. I want this team to experience it as a group. They deserve it.”
Unfortunately, the Mustangs were left outside inside. SMU was one of seven schools USA TODAY Sports’ Scott Gleeson highlights as the best snubs in the men’s tournament.
Iowa defeats Purdue for Big Ten title
A week after the Hawkeyes’ women’s team won the conference crown in Indianapolis, the men’s team — seeded fifth — swept Iowa.
These Hawkeyes beat Purdue on Sunday, 75-66. Purdue is expected to be a No. 3 seed, while it will be interesting to see if the win can push Iowa to a No. 4 seed (currently projected as a 5).
The win, Iowa’s fourth in four days, was a real team effort.
Houston Wins Second Consecutive AAC Championship
For the second straight season, the Houston Cougars are the American Athletic Conference Men’s Tournament Champions. Houston has been a ranked team all season, but its lack of Quad 1 wins and other metrics make the Cougars a team difficult to sow.
2022 March Madness Bubble Watch NCAA Tournament
Programs across the country are a ball of nerves this Sunday, especially those that lack control over their destinies and are at this point at the mercy of the committees.
A look at how the bubble can burst in both tournaments.
Men
Bottom four: Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Michigan.
First four out: Xavier, SMU, BYU, Dayton.
women (via ESPN’s Charlie Creme)
Bottom four: Villanova, Missouri, Missouri State, Dayton
First four out: Northwestern, Boston College, DePaul, UCLA
Male coach survey released ahead of tournament
Will the support leak early?
Beware of Twitter spoilers before the schools hit the screen.
Richmond back in NCAA for first time in over a decade
Richmond, seeded sixth, beat Davidson 64-62 to claim the Atlantic 10 Tournament title and an unlikely berth in the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
The Spiders (23-12), who led by up to nine points earlier in the game, saw their lead disappear until Matt Grace converted a three-point play with 19.1 seconds left on the clock to put Richmond back in the lead. The placement and free throw were Grace’s only points of the game.
Davidson had a chance to equalize or go ahead in the dying seconds, but couldn’t convert.
The Tigers (27-6) will now have to wait and see if they receive a general offer when the NCAA field is announced tonight.
Richmond returns to the men’s tournament for the first time since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2011.
Will the ACC be exposed in the men’s tournament?
USA TODAY sports columnist Dan Wolken wonders if the Atlantic Coast Conference, usually a men’s basketball powerhouse, is up to the task this year. a hodgepodge of declining powers and underachievers.
The conference could have four or five teams in the big dance, while the ACC will have more teams (eight planned) in the women’s division.
Texas wins the Big 12. Will Baylor be 1 seed?
On Saturday, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme put Baylor on the 1 line. A win over Texas in the Women’s Big 12 Tournament final surely would have guaranteed their spot there, but the Bears fell to the Longhorns 67-58 to their first Big 12 tournament title since 2003. It was Texas’ second win over Baylor since 2011.
Has Baylor done enough for fourth No. 1?
Tournament tickets are punched!
In the female domain: American beat Bucknell 65-54 to win their third Patriot League Championship, and Mount St. Mary’s defeated Bryant 60-42 to win the NEC Tournament and automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Delaware is the Colonial champion. Texas knocked out Baylor in the Big 12 and Illinois State survived Northern Iowa to win the Missouri Valley.
In the male domain: Yale beat Princeton 66-64 to advance to the NCAA tournament for the third time in the last five opportunities, while Tennessee won its first SEC tournament in 43. Richmond is also in the game.
NCAA Super Senior Jordan Bohannon leads Iowa against Purdue in Big Ten Championship
Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon hit a 3-point clutch with one second remaining against Indiana to send the Hawkeyes to Sunday’s Big Ten Finals.
He and other NCAA stars used the extra year of eligibility granted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The game has matured due to the added experience.
“College basketball is truly special and will go down as one of the best times of my life. Who wouldn’t want another (season) to play in March Madness?” Villanova’s Collin Gillespie told USA TODAY Sports. . “It was a dream of mine growing up as a kid that I can live one last time.”
Tennessee wins SEC title, Aggies on bubble
It was an impressive run for Texas A&M at the SEC Tournament, but it wasn’t enough to secure an automatic bid as Tennessee won the championship game, 65-50, on Sunday.
For the Volunteers, this is their first SEC Tournament title since 1979. They should be a solid No. 2 seed. However, the Aggies must now await their fate on the draft show, although their trio of victories this week certainly helped their case.
March Madness Without ESPN’s Dick Vitale
Diagnosed with lymphoma six months ago, ESPN men’s college basketball announcer Dick Vitale currently has no voice following vocal cord surgery.
“Not being able to communicate makes me cry”, Vitale, 82, told USA TODAY Sports via text message.
Vitale will have an evaluation to check his voice on March 16 – the day before the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
“It was the start of my own slice of March Madness as it takes me to my personal Final Four, Vitale said. . championship.”
Expected No. 1 seed Kansas has highest-paid men’s coach
Kansas Jayhawks, fresh out of their Big 12 Tournament championship, look set to claim one of four No. 1 seeds when the NCAA men’s brackets are revealed.
Kansas also tops the list when it comes to head coach Bill Self’s salary. A messy contract deal built in 2012 made Self the highest-paid men’s basketball coach in the nation – with a total compensation for the 2021-22 season. $10.2 million season.
Salary figures for all public school men’s basketball teams are part of USA TODAY Sports’ annual report on coaching compensation. The top five behind Self are John Calipari of Kentucky, Tom Izzo of Michigan State , Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright. by Villanova.
For the first time, a database of female coaches now exists.
USA TODAY Sports Latest Bracketology
Meanwhile, ESPN Women’s Predictions said Baylor’s win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 semifinals on Saturday moved the Bears to a No. 1 seed. They face Texas, a seed of potential series No. 2, in the final on Sunday.
