Introducing the 2022 March Madness Bracket

Before we get started I want to issue you a challenge, a Bracket Challenge. If you think you have better picks than some of the ones I give away, I’d love for you to join a Bracket Challenge with me. It is just going to be a free thing so there is no harm if you aren’t too familiar with filling out a bracket. But doing one of these is always a good way to get into the game a little more and have some interaction. In this group, I will encourage people to put their serious bracket in there but if you also want to throw a funny one in that is cool. Note: You must have at least created a bracket to join a group, you don’t need to submit it until the games start on Thursday at noon eastern. 

There are a few ways to do this. If you want to do it in a browser just sign in to your ESPN account and go to this link. Then scroll to the bottom and search ‘KyleTheCommish’ and there should be only one option. 

If you are doing it inside the ESPN Tournament Challenge app (it’s a very good app, highly recommend for filling out the bracket vs browser) there should be a Create/Join Group button on the bracket you want to enter into the group. Click that and there is a search button at the top right. Same thing search ‘KyleTheCommish’. 

If all of this is too confusing there is a way to invite you through email and also a way to invite you through a link. I’ll send those out to anyone that requests one. 

Good luck! If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.

I made one giant 10k word guide of awesomeness for this March Madness Bracket season. This is one of the 5 sections of that mega-article. If you would like to read the beast of an article with all 5 sections, you can click right here. If you would like to view one of the other 4 sections, click on their names: Tournament Facts/History, Tournament Trends, Finding My Upset(s), Finding My Champion. Either way, thank you for reading this article and I hope you learn something.

First Thoughts About the 2022 Bracket

Every year there are always “snubs” and over/under seeds and I normally don’t like to get too much into that. Not everyone can win in the tournament but we have seen magical runs from teams that no one expected into the Final Four and even lifting up the trophy. So seeding normally doesn’t matter too much. 

I am once again going to come out and say it. Besides a few games here and there this year, I didn’t see most of these teams play (besides the ACC teams) until Champ Week started. Last year, I watched a game from almost every single team that made the tournament. This year I was not as concerned with the smaller conferences, so my opinion of the mid-majors may not be as accurate this year. Then again… was it all that accurate last year? (The answer is no)

Some interesting opening betting lines for people looking at potential Round 1 upsets.

• 11) Michigan is favored by 2.5 over 6) Colorado St.
• 4) Arkansas is only favored by 3.5 over 13) Vermont
• 6) Texas is favored by 1 over 11) Virginia Tech
• 10) Loyola-Chicago is favored by 1 over 7) Ohio St
• 3) Wisconsin is only favored by 7 over 14) Colgate
• 4) Providence is only favored by 2.5 over 13) South Dakota St

There aren’t many initial thoughts I have about the bracket this year. The locations/venues are not new. There are a few teams that have to make some weird trips like the 4 seed Arkansas being in Buffalo against 13 seeded Vermont, and if they advance to play 5 seed UCONN they will be the team with the crowd disadvantage in both games. But one thing that I can’t shake is that the Final Four will be on TBS instead of CBS for the first time in forever. Perhaps it is because CBS is trying to push people to Paramont+… but how many people who have cable don’t have TBS? Am I the only one that noticed that? Oh well, let’s have a great tourney.

The Big 6 Conferences

I feel good about which conferences are strong this year and consequently which aren’t as strong. Let’s jump into the big 6 leagues.

The ACC features 5 teams in the field this year; Duke, UNC, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and Miami. The top 4 teams in the regular season and Va Tech, who struggled early in the season but ended up winning the ACC tournament. Duke, who is a 2 seed, did not beat up on enough teams in the ACC this year. They may be 28-6 and have quality non-conference wins, but they weren’t as dominating to the weak conference (per the Committee’s evaluation of only having 5 teams) as they should have been. I wonder how long these teams will last.

The Pac-12 is always an interesting conference that surprises people in the tourney. However they only have 3 teams this year, yet they are all seeded 7th or higher. Arizona, UCLA, and USC aren’t without their warts but all have very good talent and great coaching to be able to make a run. UCLA is looking to make it back to the Final Four after going on a Cinderella run last year. While Arizona is looking to return to glory for the first time since 1997.

The Big East has a total of 6 teams in the field but I’m a bit worried. Providence won their regular-season title but they played fewer games because of a COVID pause. They had less wins than Villanova, but they also had fewer losses. Villanova beat Creighton in the finals of their conference tournament, but both teams struggled mightily shooting the ball. Creighton slows the game down tremendously and both teams combined for only 37 points in the first half. And don’t forget about UCONN who has a couple of studs in Sanogo down low and RJ Cole in the backcourt. Creighton, Seton Hall, and Marquette all feature in an 8-9 game which leads me to believe their time in this tournament may be limited. The reason I am worried about these teams is I don’t know if Creighton will be able to score enough with their slow tempo to upset a 1 seed. I don’t know if Villanova will be efficient enough to hold off an incredibly efficient Loyola-Chicago. I don’t know if I can trust anything Providence has shown me even though they are a 4 seed. I don’t know if it’s butter or margarine either. There is some of the best guard play in the nation in this conference but I am just a bit skeptical.

The Big 10 has like 46 teams… it has been this way for years can we fix it already? There are a lot of legit teams in this conference. Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan St. All of them can beat any single team in this tournament on any given day which makes them extremely dangerous. You also have teams like Michigan and Indiana who snuck in the tournament as bubble teams. Indiana went on a run to the semifinal in the conference tournament before losing to Iowa, which likely got them in as a First Four team. And you can’t forget about EJ Liddell’s Ohio St. He is one of the best forwards in the nation but was unable to carry them past Oral Roberts as a 2 seed in last year’s tournament. I think the Big 10 will rebound off of last year’s traumatic tourney, but which of these teams makes a deep run? Any of them really can.

Now we get into the best two conferences in my opinion. The Big 12 (only 10 teams… I mean c’mon) and the SEC.

The Big 12 is so strong that Oklahoma almost made the tournament which would have been the 7th out of 9 possible teams that were eligible to make it. If Oklahoma St was eligible to play in the postseason they would have 7 out of 10 teams. Let’s start with Baylor and Kansas, two 1 seeds. Baylor is trying to repeat as Champion for the first time since the Florida Gators in 06-07. They do have some key injuries on their team which will test their depth and rim protection, but they are a very strong defensive team overall. Baylor was upset in the first round of the Big 12 tournament by said Oklahoma team. Kansas was upset by USC in the 2nd round last year but has one of the country’s best players in Ochai Agbaji and is looking to follow up their Big 12 Regular Season Title and Tournament Title with a National Championship. Texas Tech is coming off a great Big 12 tournament run to the finals but will need to break the Big12/3 seed curse (see ‘Does Seeding Matter? First and Second Round’ on the Tournament Facts/History article). Texas as a 6 seed seems way too high for me but they will face off against the hottest team in the country in Va Tech so I guess there are some bittersweet feelings there. They are great defensively but can get into foul trouble and aren’t efficient on offense. Iowa St and TCU come into the tournament as teams that you don’t want to face. TCU has beaten Kansas and Texas Tech in back-to-back games this year, while Iowa St has beaten Texas, Texas Tech, and Iowa. Any given gameday.

Finally, the SEC… “We’re just better” or something like that. Well, they may just be. Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee are all top 3 seeds in the tourney. Tennessee plays extremely well on the defensive end and has some older players on their team, they will be ready for this moment. Just as they were to win the SEC tournament on Sunday. Kentucky, as always, is extremely young but has possibly the best big man in the country in Oscar Tshiebwe. He averages 17 points and 15 rebounds… per game. That is silly. Auburn is the 3rd team I will mention but that is not to be taken lightly. Auburn is extremely fast and is also extremely good defensively. Coach Bruce Pearl lead them to the Final Four a few years back based on those same principles. If they are hitting their shots, they are virtually unbeatable. Even though they have dropped 4 of their last 9 games, you can’t count out War Eagle. Oh, and there is this other team… Arkansas they are a 4 seed. They made a run to the Elite 8 last year on the back of JD Notae, who returned to school, and is ready to lead them further this season. LSU just fired their head coach a few days ago so they will have an interim going into the tournament, but I don’t think they will magically forget that they are the best stealing team in the country with 11.1 per game. Finally, you have Alabama which has lost 3 in a row. However, when they are at their best they have beaten Baylor, Tennessee, Arkansas, Houston, Gonzaga, and Miami. I do question the fact that they are a 6 seed, but that resume is as good as anyone’s in the country.

Who is your Cinderella? Who do you think will cut down the nets? Let me know in the comments or at @KyleTheCommish on Twitter. 

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