NCAA event 2022: 5 main takeaways from males’s bracket reveal

The 2022 NCAA event bracket is ready. As is at all times the case within the quick aftermath of the choice present, there are areas the place it seems the choice committee did its job to perfection, and others the place it seems the group fell quick.

Let’s take a look at the 5 greatest takeaways from this yr’s March Insanity draw:

1. The East looks like the hardest area

There’s not a clear-cut, can’t argue in any other case winner to the annual “which area is the hardest” query, so kudos to the Committee on that entrance.

If pressed, I’ll go along with the East, which is the final area we have been proven.

Certain, the East has, on paper, the weakest No. 1 seed in Baylor, however that’s additionally a Bears crew that’s only a yr faraway from one of many extra dominant runs to a nationwide title that we’ve ever seen. You’ve additionally obtained the, with out query, strongest No. 2 seed in Kentucky, a third-seeded Purdue crew that for many of the season appeared destined to be on one of many prime two traces, and a 4-seed in UCLA that began the season ranked within the prime 5 and went to the Last 4 a yr in the past.

Under the highest 4 traces there’s additionally a Texas crew with far more expertise than your typical No. 6 seed. There’s North Carolina on the 8-line, a crew that two Saturdays confirmed the world what they’re able to once they’re enjoying their finest. There’s red-hot Virginia Tech as an 11-seed, a crew that started the season with excessive expectations and has simply discovered its stride in the previous couple of weeks. There’s Saint Mary’s, a crew which beat No. 1 general seed Gonzaga by double-digits within the common season finale for each groups. After which there’s Murray State on the 7-line, the crew with the perfect general document in all of school basketball at 30-2.

If Baylor goes to develop into the game’s first repeat nationwide champion since Florida in 2006/2007, it’s going to be supremely examined earlier than it even makes it to New Orleans.

2. Duke didn’t deserve a 2-seed

Coming into Sunday, just about no one had Duke as a No. 2 seed, and that may have doubtless been the case even when the Blue Devils hadn’t gotten run off the court docket by Virginia Tech in Saturday night time’s ACC event championship recreation. But, there they have been, popping up because the very first No. 2 seed the general public obtained to see because the West Area was revealed in the course of the choice present’s opening phase.

A handful of groups appeared to have respectable circumstances for taking the Blue Devils’ spot on the 2-line, however none extra so than just lately topped SEC event champion Tennessee.

The Volunteers, as an alternative, are the No. 3 within the South Area.

As soon as once more, the Committee tells us with out explicitly telling us that convention event championship video games on Sunday don’t matter, until they put a crew into the sector that wouldn’t have in any other case made it.

Cue up each single conspiracy you’ve obtained concerning the powers that be eager to see Duke dance so long as potential in Mike Krzyzewski’s closing season.

3. Kansas has the simplest path of the 1-seeds

Kansas has flown a bit under the radar this season by way of the groups we discuss because the most definitely to chop down the nets. Everybody is aware of the Jayhawks are probably the greatest groups within the nation, however nobody has been referring to them because the elite of the elite.

Nonetheless, KU has been rewarded with a Midwest Area that doesn’t seem like almost as tough as its three counterparts. Kansas’ prime three rivals within the area — Auburn, Wisconsin and Windfall — are all groups which have proven main warts within the final couple of weeks and which aren’t precisely adored by the predictive metrics.

If there’s a crew that turns into a stylish upset decide for Kansas within the area, it’s most likely going to be Iowa. The Hawkeyes are recent off their first Massive Ten event championship since 2006, and appear to be extra well-rounded than the 2020-21 squad that earned a No. 2 seed however was hammered by Oregon within the event’s second spherical.

4. The First 4 is … kinda loaded

Whereas the overall sports activities world sometimes refers back to the NCAA event’s open Thursday as “the primary day of the event,” there are literally two opening spherical video games on the evenings of each Tuesday and Wednesday.

Right here’s the primary cause why you shouldn’t overlook these video games: A crew popping out of Dayton has gained a minimum of one recreation within the event’s “principal draw” in yearly however one for the reason that First 4 turned a factor in 2011. The one time it hasn’t occurred was in 2019. General, the First 4 has produced a complete of 19 victories within the “principal draw” of the event, 5 Candy 16 squads, and two Last 4 groups, the newest being UCLA final season.

Right here’s the second cause: There are some very enjoyable groups and intriguing storylines heading to Dayton.

Most bracketologists, each newbie and absolutely licensed, had Indiana safely within the area of 68 after their Massive Ten event wins over Michigan and Illinois. As an alternative, the Hoosiers have been the next-to-last crew within the area and can play a gap spherical recreation towards Wyoming, one of many greatest shock tales in faculty basketball this season.

Within the different at-large First 4 recreation, a Rutgers crew that had six Quadrant 1 victories (the identical quantity as Duke for these conserving rating at residence) and a propensity for late-game heroics will tackle a Notre Dame that completed in second-place within the ACC. It will be a shock for that recreation to be something aside from supremely aggressive.

And what concerning the 16-seeds headed to Dayton? Oh, you’ve simply obtained the nation’s main scorer in Peter Kiss from Bryant taking over a Wright State crew that appears to have a strong case to be a 15-seed or higher. And then you definitely’ve obtained Texas Southern vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, two applications that simply straight up don’t like each other. I’ve obtained absolute no thought if that’s true, however they’re each from Texas, so let’s roll with it.

5. Everybody goes to love South Dakota State over Windfall

Yearly there’s a double-digit upset decide is so extensively predicted that it nearly feels too good to be true. In most years, that decide is a 12 taking down a 5, however this yr search for a 13/4 upset to be in every single place you flip for the subsequent few days.

Windfall (25-5) has lived a little bit of a charmed life this season. The predictive metrics hate the Friars as a result of they by no means lose an in depth contest and appear nearly incapable of enjoying every other form of recreation. Getting smacked by Creighton (85-58) within the Massive East event semifinals didn’t assist issues both.

On the opposite facet there’s South Dakota State, a crew nearly everybody assumed could be a 12-seed. The Jackrabbits (Jackrabbits!) are the perfect three-point capturing crew in America, they’ve the longest profitable streak in Division-I at 21 video games, they usually haven’t misplaced a recreation since all the way in which again on Dec. 15.

Simply because everybody else has it, doesn’t imply you need to keep away from it. No less than one 13 seed has gained a recreation within the event in 10 of the final 13 years.