March Madness is officially upon us, and you need the relevant information to make the correct decisions in your brackets now that the roster for the 2022 men’s NCAA tournament has been announced.
Here is a condensed overview, so you can make informed decisions with regards to the first three seeds. The First Four from Dayton, Ohio, will kick off the tournament on 15 March 2022, and the first round will begin on 17 March 2022. There is also a breakdown of the 32 automatic bids that have advanced to March Madness.
Brackets have opened up so fans and punters can start filling their brackets now. Know today’s college basketball betting lines so you can start making bets and, who knows, you could make a tidy profit.
A Couple of the Seeds 1
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Arizona Wildcats
When former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd was hired by Arizona in April, he was handed a difficult task. The shadow that hung over Sean Miller’s career, owing to his involvement in an NCAA violations case and an FBI investigation that rattled the entire league, appeared to imperil the program’s future.
Lloyd might win a national championship with a team whose climb has been extraordinary in his first season with the program and as a head coach for Division I.
He has had wins against Illinois, Michigan, UCLA and USC, and some college superstars Christian Koloko and Benedict Mathurin who could, after 21 years, usher Arizona to the Final Four.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Let’s state facts. You’ve got a Division I juggernaut that’s made it to the national title game in two of the last four NCAA tournaments. They have produced 10 NBA first-round choices in the last 20 years and they are led this year by two Wooden Award nominees – Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren.
Not only is he one of the top three picks for an NBA draft, but also the winner of the college league defensive player of the year award.
Their defense and offense strategy are methodical enough to have earned them a top ten place in the league, and this season has seen them experience only three losses.
A Couple of the Seeds 2
Villanova Wildcats
A national champion in his freshman season, Collin Gillespie got an injury that, under any other circumstances, would have put his career with the Wildcats at an end.The pandemic allowed him to return for his fifth season.
Fourteen percent of the team’s possessions had committed turnovers thanks to him as they entered the Big East tournament final. Villanova managed to finish second in the title race of the conference, with Providence inching in at number one. Look out for this team. They are far from done.
Duke Blue Devils
Mike Krzyzewski has declared that after his team’s double-digit loss to North Carolina in his final home game as a coach, the season is not yet over. And certainly, Duke will still enter the NCAA tournament with a serious chance to win the renowned coach his sixth and final national championship.
Duke flew through an ACC that was lacklustre at best, but it did win games against Gonzaga and Kentucky. And of the 16 games that were played by Duke, they were victorious (by double digits) in twelve of them. Despite ranking 44th in adjusted defensive efficiency, the Blue Devils fit the profile of previous league winners. They are capable of dominating the majority of American teams. They also have the talent to win another ring.
Seeds 3
Texas Tech Red Raiders
There were questions about the program’s stability when Chris Beard announced his departure from Texas Tech, which he had led to its sole Final Four appearance in 2019.
Those who stayed on the team petitioned athletic director Kirby Hocutt to upgrade assistant Mark Adams, who has been coaching since the early 1980s and was the defensive coordinator for Texas Tech’s run to the state semifinals in 2019.
He’s done it before, and now he’s doing it once again. Texas Tech had the greatest modified defensive efficiency on KenPom in his first year as head coach and didn’t even lose a regular-season home game.
Some honorable mentions in Seeds 4 include the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Providence Friars, in Seeds 5 the UConn Huskies and the Houston Cougars, Seeds 6 the Alabama Crimson Tide, Seeds 7 the Michigan State Spartan, Seeds 8 the Boise State Broncos, Seeds 9 the Creighton Bluejays and Seeds 10 the Davidson Wildcats.
Whoever you decide to bet on, make sure you are along for the entire ride that is March Madness – it’s going to be an exhilarating one!