NCAA Tournament

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BUFFALO, NY (KTSM) — Let the madness begin… March Madness that is. New Mexico State (26-6), the No. 12 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament West Region, ...

We're going with No. 11 seeds or higher as possible early-round March Madness...

We picked this one before we even knew if it would be Notre Dame or Rutgers playing Alabama. Turns out it will be Notre Dame after winning a thrilling double-overtime game in the First Four on Wednesday night. Trayce Jackson-Davis, averaging 18.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, is back for his third season and has the potential to put Indiana on his back for a surprising run. Arkansas has an impressive résumé with wins over Top 3 seeds like Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee. However, a closer look leads us to question the Razorbacks. All those victories came at home, where Arkansas was exceptional, going 17-1. South Dakota State is the third-highest scoring team in the country, averaging 86.7 points per game. Predicting a first-round upset is fun, but if you don’t hammer most of the Sweet 16 or the Final Four, you’re probably not going to win. Michigan struggled late, winning just four of its last nine games, but the Wolverines are loaded with talent.

A year after attendance was limited, the 2022 NCAA basketball tournament is a full-go for fans again. Arenas – including Dickies Arena in Fort Worth – will be ...

The Hokies have gotten hot at the right time, winning four games in four days to win the ACC Tournament. Get the remote ready! The Wildcats have been known to pull off upsets — remember Steph Curry’s run in 2008? Kansas. Ochai Agbaji and the Jayhawks have the type of team that can make a deep run. — and have two guards who can fill it up in Foster Loyer and Hyunjung Lee. Jaden Ivey, Purdue. His first step looks like a blur to flailing defenders. A year after attendance was limited, the 2022 NCAA basketball tournament is a full-go for fans again. No. 7 Ohio State vs. Norfolk State; Duke minus 18.5 vs. Georgia State; Baylor minus-21.5 vs. No. 4 Arkansas vs. Gonzaga. The Zags went to the title game a year ago.

A closer look at the first round games on Thursday's slate of the NCAA Tournament.

IOWA -10.5 IOWA -10.5 IOWA -10.5 Murray averaged 26 points per game as Iowa won four games in four days to clinch the conference tourney title, and this team seems battle-tested and perfectly positioned to continue its incredible March with a dominant win in Round 1. truTV, March Madness Live: Iowa is arguably the hottest team in the country entering the NCAA Tournament. Coming off a Big Ten Tournament title, the Hawkeyes have won 12 of their last 14 games and have found a groove as Keegan Murray has blossomed from a star to a superstar. That should bode well for South Dakota State, which ranks No. 1 in the country in 3-point shooting percentage. CBS, March Madness Live: The loss of starting point guard DeVante' Jones (concussion) for at least Michigan's first-round game against Colorado State is a significant one. Visit SportsLine now to see which teams will make and break your bracket and who will cut down the nets, all from the model that beat over 92% of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three tournaments! I'll lay the point here with the Racers. Pick: Murray State -1 CBS, March Madness Live: San Francisco's a quality squad that all season has put up real fights, including against Gonzaga in WCC play and against MVC tourney champ Loyola-Chicago. But Murray State's a 30-2 club that hasn't lost since Dec. 22 and can beat you inside and out with good balance on both sides of the ball. TNT, March Madness Live: I don't necessarily love New Mexico State as an underdog on the moneyline in this one, but I do think it can cover the spread. The Zags will roll, and I expect they will roll big.

Need a little more last-minute advice in filling out your bracket? Here are some math-based picks on all four regions and the Final Four.

As a result, No. 1 Kansas still has the best odds to advance to the Final Four at 29 percent. No. 11 Virginia Tech would also be a potential upset pick winner over No. 3 Purdue in the Round of 32. That said, I just can’t bring myself to believe that Hawkeyes — with the 78th-ranked defense — is strong enough to win four tournament games in a row. As for No. 7 Michigan State, the Spartans’ first game with No. 10 Davidson is a virtual toss-up and Michigan State’s odds to advance to the Sweet 16 (by most likely ending Mike Krzyzewski career at No. 2 Duke) are about one-in-six. It is also notable that No. 5 UCONN has better odds to reach the Final Four than No. 4 Arkansas. Overall, the South Region is in a virtual dead heat with the East Region as the second-most challenging bracket. Note that No. 4 Illinois’ Final Four odds are remarkably small at just four percent. As we can see, there is almost always at least one No. 1 seed, but the odds of two No. 1 seeds in the Final Four are just above 50-50. As a result, No. 3-seeded Texas Tech checks in with the second-best odds to win the region. The Zags grade out with over a 50 percent chance to advance to the Final Four. The second piece of data had to do with the make-up of the Final Four. In the typical Selection Sunday prediction shows, it is common for the analysts to make a very “chalk-like” prediction of up to three No. 1 seeds in the final weekend. Figure 1 shows three sets of data (two simulations and one actual measurement). The blue bar shows the number of upsets projected in my simulation of the 2022 tournament.

The Bruins could repeat last year's Final Four run, take it one step further, or easily fall short of those March Madness heights.

The Bruins are one of nine teams that fit that bill, ranking No. 14 in offensive efficiency and No. 12 in defensive efficiency. And if a win is in play there, a trip to the title game puts them 40 minutes away from cutting down the nets on the biggest stage in the sport. If simple metrics, records and trends can be overlapped to make the Bruins one of the true contenders for a national title, that's because they are. Myles Johnson is one of the longest and most disruptive big men in the country. Tyger Campbell has one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the nation. Jules Bernard is averaging 16.7 points on 45.5% shooting from deep and 93.1% from the line in those same six games. That narrows the list to only UCLA, Gonzaga, Texas and Baylor. In all likelihood, UCLA will play No. 5 seed St. Mary's in the Round of 32. The Bears are arguably the weakest No. 1 seed, but they pose matchup problems for a Bruin team that has struggled against athleticism. So as a bona fide top-10 team, UCLA stands out as a real contender to win its 12th national championship in program history. They were inches away last year, and they're better in every measurable sense in 2022. No. 4 seed UCLA men's basketball (25-7, 15-5 Pac-12) is in an interesting position heading into the NCAA tournament.

If the No. 1 seeds stumble, which teams might reach Minneapolis? Where might we find upsets in the bracket? And which region is the chalkiest?

The Coyotes are looking for their first win in a fourth appearance in the Big Dance. Might it come against No. 7 Ole Miss? The Rebels are playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. If the Cougars get past No. 11 Villanova in the first round, they will face a No. 3 seed Michigan squad that lost four of its last six games coming into the tournament. The Bears had won 12 games in a row before the 67-58 loss to the Longhorns; it was Baylor's season low in points. South Carolina enters the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and the heavy favorite to win its second national title. She doesn't get the attention of some of the other stars in the Pac-12, but the 6-foot-3 forward is a two-time all-conference selection. Seemingly always around the ball, the 6-foot-1 sophomore leads the team in rebounding (8.6 per game) and has already developed an ability to make big plays in crucial moments. If you're a fan of 3-point shooting, you're going to want to tune in to watch Robertson, a 5-foot-11 guard who enters the tourney with a 45.2% clip from 3 on eight attempts per game. Williams is averaging 18.7 points on 65% shooting to go along with 10.6 boards per game, and she is coming off a 19-point, 18-rebound performance in the conference championship game. No. 2 seed UConn. There's a reason the Huskies were ranked No. 2 in the country at the beginning of the season, and we have started to be reminded of why now that they're finally healthy. The Jaguars' 3-point defense (they hold teams to a 24.8% clip from the arc, and Iowa shot 18% on 3s against them!) could make life difficult for the Sooners, and IUPUI's Macee Williams could cause some problems in the paint, especially for a team like Oklahoma, which often struggles to defend inside. Having won 10 straight games, No. 6 seed Kentucky is one of the hottest teams in the country going into the Big Dance, knocking off Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina to win the SEC tournament crown. The No. 11 seed Tigers, who totally dominated Ivy League play this year, are fairly tested in nonconference play, beating eventual fellow NCAA tournament teams Buffalo, Florida Gulf Coast and Villanova and losing to Texas. Princeton and Kentucky faced off in the first round of the 2019 tournament, with Kentucky beating the Tigers by five.

Every NCAA Basketball team gets a shot at winning the 2022 NCAA Tournament, but only about a dozen teams have a realistic chance at cutting down the nets.

There are a handful of teams, however, that will come from lower seeds and surprising regions, ready to upset the balance of college basketball. This week, 68 teams will begin competing to take home the national title in college basketball. While every team dreams of cutting down the nets in April, most teams don’t have a realistic shot at doing so.

Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams began his postgame news conference Tuesday night with a statement lasting nearly eight minutes in which he decried the Aggies' ...

"Until there is complete transparency and accountability, the system will stay broken and this will continue to happen.'' He said his research also focused on the selection committee itself: its members, how they are appointed -- "in other words, what committee selected the committee?" In the wake of the SEC tournament, Williams said he spent hours poring over data and trying to understand "how those 12 SEC competition-only wins weren't enough," while knowing that the four teams in the SEC that won more than the Aggies were awarded a 4-seed or higher.

SportsLine's model predicted three Final Four teams last year and simulated the 2022 NCAA bracket 10000 times.

So what's the optimal NCAA Tournament 2022 bracket? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model's track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you'll want to see which stunners it's calling this year before locking in any 2022 NCAA bracket picks. Before making any 2022 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine. Now, with the 2022 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. One of the most intriguing 2022 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 5 seed Connecticut vs.

The Aggies coach delivered a lengthy statement about his team being left out of the field of 68.

“Until there is complete transparency and accountability, the system will stay broken and this will continue to happen.” Williams continued to get emotional while giving his statement, particularly when speaking about the players who decided to stay at Texas A&M this season with their extra year of eligibility. Williams said he spent hours trying to understand “how those 12 SEC competition-only wins weren’t enough,” especially when the other four SEC teams that won more conference games than Texas A&M were given a 4-seed or better.

Anyone with a casual knowledge of college basketball knew the higher seeds tended to move on, and the usual suspects such as Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan ...

Illinois’ 7-footer Kofi Cockburn is the only player to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. ESPN’s Dick Vitale, 82, won’t be calling games, but the legendary analyst battling health issue made an appearance at the SEC tournament Saturday that was simply “awesome, baby!” Hopefully Dickie V gets a curtain call at the Final Four in New Orleans. Loyola’s Drew Valentine is the youngest tournament coach at age 30, or only six years older than Bohannon. Now they’ll try to advance as a play-in team against Wyoming in the East Region. Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon, who turns 25 in June and is playing in his sixth season, banked a winning 3-pointer against Indiana in a Big Ten semifinal. “Obviously that’s not my record to have,” Bohannon said. The Zags lost to Baylor in last year’s title game and enter the 2022 tournament as consensus favorites. Loyola is back for the third time in five years after a Final Four run in 2018 and a Sweet 16 appearance last year, which means 102-yearold team chaplain Jean Dolores Schmidt, aka Sister Jean, gets another star turn. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is retiring. So go to your laptop, study the NET rankings, read the bracketologists and make your selections based on the best available criteria. Baylor can’t possibly win because no one has won backto-back titles since Billy Donovan’s Florida teams in 2006 and ‘07. Or can it? Or else just read on and use this Cliffs Notes guide to March Madness to pretend you know what you’re talking about.

If you're an NBA fan who hasn't watched a minute of college basketball this season, welcome to the party. SI's annual NCAA tournament scouting guide is back ...

Apologies to top seed Kansas, which stars projected first rounder Ochai Agbaji and another likely draftee in Christian Braun, but the most interesting scenario here involves Iowa getting hot and meeting Auburn in the Elite Eight, pitting Keegan Murray head to head against Jabari Smith. This is one of the most fun scouting scenarios potentially on the table, giving Smith maybe his toughest defensive assignment of the year in the 21-year-old Murray, who does damage in all facets of the game with a nonstop approach, and requires focused defensive effort to have any hope of slowing him down. Auburn could potentially rematch with LSU in the Sweet 16, which has another projected first-rounder in forward Tari Eason. And if Iowa can pull some upsets and make it to the Elite Eight as a five-seed, we could get Smith against potential top-five pick Keegan Murray. (P.S. — watch Iowa too). All of these would be interesting tests for Smith, who isn’t a dynamic ball-handler but understands how to keep things simple and shoot over most opponents. But there are no easy games in the NCAA tournament, and the Tigers are going to have to find ways to get the ball to their best player when it matters. He doesn’t have tremendous upside, but his all-around game and intangibles make Jaquez a great bet to stick in the NBA long term, and a potential late first-rounder if he enters the draft. Arizona has a fairly agreeable path to the Final Four, with Villanova, Tennessee and Illinois the three other high seeds in the region, none of whom can match their personnel in the truest sense. It’s not a foregone conclusion he leaves for the draft, but the junior has proven he’s not a gimmick, and a hot March would certainly highlight his versatility and unique skills. Along with a huge contingent of NBA execs and scouts, I was lucky enough to catch Sochan’s best game of the season against Kansas on Feb. 26, in which Scott Drew pivoted mid-game and essentially let Sochan moonlight as a point guard, forcing the Jayhawks to defend the two-man game and turning the tide. He doesn’t create much in the halfcourt, but he’s efficient with the touches he gets, he’s an underrated passer, and he’s athletic and skilled enough to play with others in transition. That makes him near-impossible to stop with a full head of steam, and generally negates the fact he doesn’t have much of a left hand. If opponents can slow the game down, the concepts are fairly simple: try and force Ivey left, show him bodies at the rim, and try to make him stop and think in the midrange, where he lacks a reliable jumper or floater and can be prone to turnovers. The NBA places much more stock in those settings: Holmgren can enhance his case as a top prospect with strong showings in those types of games, or raise more questions if he struggles. This is actually one of the better years to scout the tournament in recent memory, with the vast majority of top prospects playing on teams that made the field.

Our betting expert guides you through everything you need to know about betting on March Madness online in 2022.

Read the best NY sports betting sites to find out where you can place your March Madness bets. NCAA Tournament bracket betting is one of the most popular ways to get involved in March Madness each year. When betting on the NCAA tournament, the college’ overall season records may be easier to find, and generate their ranking in the tournament. The First Four play-in games will then take place on March 15 and 16, with the 32 first-round games held on March 17 and 18. We understand it’s always tempting to just bet on the highest overall seed for every match, and to pick those teams in your bracket. If you’d like to take part yourself, some of the best online betting sites run March Madness bracket pools. We’ve picked out some of the best sites to help craft your NCAA tournament bets. Even if you’ve never placed any NCAA tournament bets before, it is likely you will have heard of a March Madness bracket. Total bets, also known as over or under, are bets on how many points the two teams playing will collectively score in a game. Moneyline bets are one of the primary options for betting on college basketball games. The bet will be presented in odds form. Odds are used by betting sites in order to indicate how likely or unlikely they think a certain outcome is to happen.

Michigan is the most likely underdog in the bracket, according to our expert upsetologist's statistical model.

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When does March Madness 2022 start? The First Four continues Wednesday, with Round 1 on Thursday.

With the model's track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you'll want to see which stunners it is calling this year before locking in any NCAA bracket picks. They are also all upperclassmen, while Duke is extremely young, with 2022 being the March Madness debut for its top six scorers. However, Texas Tech's defensive efficiency is not only the best in the country, but it also ranks as the fifth-best defense over the last 20 years. Now, with the 2022 NCAA bracket being revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. It absolutely crushed its March Madness picks last tournament, beating over 92 percent of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three years. Ahead of Thursday's start of the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket, which March Madness 2022 Cinderella teams can keep the heavyweights at bay?

Well, its time for my annual exercise in proscribed futility by making public my NCAA basketball tourney guesses. I mean, if you're in the sports newspaper ...

Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Kansas def. Gonzaga def. Gonzaga def.

San Diego State will not be playing at Viejas Arena for the NCAA Tournament. However, this doesn't mean that there won't be college basketball playing in ...

Rutgers is playing in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time in over 40 years. They will be undersized against most of the teams they play. After starting the season with a 9-5 record, the Bobcats have gone on to win 18 of their past 20 games. Alabama comes into the tournament limping, losing four of its last six games. The top three scorers for Alabama are all guards. They are the seventh-ranked defense in division 1 and 12th-best in point differential. The Red Raiders are looking to make it to the Final Four for the second time in school history. The Bobcats have three players who average double-digit scoring. Their appearance comes one year after a self-imposed ban locked them out of the 2020-2021 NCAA Tournament due to federal investigations into accusations of bribery. They last made the Final Four in 2019 with Chris Beard as the coach, but he has moved on to become the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. The Bulldogs employ an extremely quick offense, playing at the sixth-fastest pace in college basketball. Sophomore guard Bennedict Mathurin is the lead scorer on this team, averaging 17.4 PPG on 46% field goal shooting.

Our experts have filled out their brackets, so check who they predict will be cutting down the nets before you fill out yours.

That opportunity lies in this erratic bunching providing the Hall of Fame coach with his sixth national title, and it appears the NCAA Tournament committee paved a favorable road for this possibility. This Gonzaga team isn't last year's squad, and is a bit more flawed, but it's certainly good enough to finish the job. But Gonzaga is a team on a mission after nearly running the table a year ago and falling short at the final step. The time has come for Gonzaga to finally finish the job.For the second consecutive season, the Bulldogs are the overall No. 1 seed. This is not one of the most talented teams that Bill Self has had at Kansas, but it's supremely confident and rounding into form with full health and high-level basketball heading into the NCAA Tournament. I love their versatility in terms how many different players can get buckets while still having a true alpha in Ochai Agbaji. Picking the Jayhawks to the Final Four was easier than pulling the trigger on the title, as I think Arizona and Kentucky are both worthy contenders to win it all. For a team as dominant as Arizona has been this season, the Wildcats have flown somewhat under the radar due to the fact that they play in the Pac-12, which reverted to mediocrity in 2021. Arizona is an elite college basketball team with all the ingredients of a national title winner. Its guard play isn't the strength it was a year ago, but its frontcourt play is even better, led by footwork king Drew Timme and 7-foot teammate Chet Holmgren, the frontrunner to go No. 1 in this year's draft. Gonzaga's my pick to win the national championship because the 7-1 Holmgren paired with Timme is the best 1-2 in college hoops. Due to the insane ride that was this year's March Madness event, your bracket just may have turned into a shambles. I'll ride the hot hand, and yes, that means Murray State gets to play and beat Kentucky in the second round, a la Loyola Chicago doing the same thing to Illinois a year ago. We're here to serve you, and our knowledge is your knowledge.

Peaking in March is what it's all about. USA TODAY Sports breaks down the men's college teams who have momentum heading into NCAA Tournament.

They also shoot well from beyond the arc, leading the country in three-point field goal percentage (45%). South Dakota State faces a Providence team that is rated as the luckiest in the country based on KenPom's efficiency ratings. The Hokies (23-12) may not even be here had they not won the ACC tournament with victories over Duke and North Carolina. That shows just how late they've peaked -- they were squarely on the bubble ahead of Selection Sunday. They've won seven of eight and 13 of 15. KJ Williams (18.2 ppg, 8.6 rpg) helps the Racers win the rebounding margin, and he'll be a matchup nightmare for San Francisco in the first round in the East region. The Vols previously beat Auburn and may be the most dangerous team from the SEC as a No. 3 seed in the South region. Coach Jay Wright has a team full of veterans who have been in the tournament before, namely two-time Big East player of the year Collin Gillespie (15.9 ppg, 3.3 apg). Tennessee knocked out Kentucky in the SEC tourney semis and handily beat Texas A&M in the conference title game.

The Arizona Republic predicts each first round March Madness game on Thursday. Who will advance in the NCAA Tournament?

Texas Southern already has an NCAA Tournament win after winning its First Four game, and it proved that it is no pushover. San Diego State had won six straight before the Mountain West title game. Arkansas, however, has played in a lot of big games this season, which will help it come out with a close win. Saint Mary's is a slight favorite in this game, but should the Gaels be? Saint Peter's has won seven in a row, but went just 19-11 on the season. Connecticut has more than a 90% chance to win this game, according to an ESPN projection, but the WAC champs aren't to be taken lightly. The Tar Heels are the hotter team, having won six of its last seven games. North Carolina is a slight favorite against Marquette, who struggled down the stretch of the season. Tennessee's balanced scoring throughout the season will help beat Longwood in this game. Providence has impressed this season on its way to a 25-5 record, but South Dakota State is no pushover at 30-4. Memphis is the lower seed, but is favored in this contest, a contest that we could see going either way. Michigan's 17-14 record left some questioning their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. Colorado State went 25-5, albeit against lesser competition.

NCAA Tournament teams rise and fall with guard play. Look no further than last year for evidence.

The reigning runner-up is led by a pair of second-team All-America players in Chet Holmgren, the likely No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, and Drew Timme. A senior backcourt sets up the big men for success. Cole, a former Howard star, leads the fifth-seeded Huskies with 15.7 points and 4.1 assists per game. Coach Eric Musselman loves free-flowing basketball and he has a backcourt to make it happen, led by Notae, a third-team All-America guard. The 6-4, second-team All-America shooting guard averages 17 points for the third-seeded Boilermakers. Don’t miss your chance to see the nation’s leading scorer play for Bryant in a First Four game against fellow 16 seed Wright State on Wednesday night. Agbaji averages nearly 20 points for the top-seeded Jayhawks. Martin, who previously played at Rhode Island, averages 13.7 points and 7.6 assists. The third-seeded Badgers certainly need him at full strength because the first-team All-America player averages almost 20 points. In the NBA draft in June, he might be the first guard selected. Nembhard ranks among the nation’s leaders with 3.24 assists for every turnover. Notae leads the team with 18.4 points while Umude and Toney combine for nearly 22 points and 10 rebounds a game. In the one-and-done and one-time transfer era, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound shooting guard stayed at the same school for four years and went from a three-star prospect to a first-team All-America player.

12:40 p.m., truTV, Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Brendan Haywood (analyst), Evan Washburn (reporter). Boise State (8), Memphis (9) ...

Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter) Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter) Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter) Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Dan Bonner (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst), Dana Jacobson (reporter) Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Jim Spanarkel (analyst), Jamie Erdahl (reporter) Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst), Allie LaForce (reporter) Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Jim Spanarkel (analyst), Jamie Erdahl (reporter) Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Brendan Haywood (analyst), Evan Washburn (reporter) Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst), Allie LaForce (reporter) Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst), Allie LaForce (reporter) Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Brendan Haywood (analyst), Evan Washburn (reporter) Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Jim Spanarkel (analyst), Jamie Erdahl (reporter)

With stunning upsets, Cinderella runs and memorable finishes, we rank the top 20 tourneys from Bird vs. Magic until today.

We got the requisite Cinderellas (three 11- or-12 seeds in the Sweet 16, though one was Kentucky), and we got loads of star power in the Final Four, primarily via Patrick Ewing and Georgetown facing Chris Mullen, Walter Berry and St. John's for the fourth time in two months. UNLV nearly lost to Ball State in the Sweet 16, and oh yeah, Christian Laettner sent Duke to the Final Four with a buzzer-beater. Meanwhile, the biggest story was a team that won its first two games by a combined 53 points. We didn't get an unusual number of upsets out of that, but those came in the second round, with Northern Iowa riding Ali Farokhmanesh to a shocker over top-seeded Kansas and four double-digit seeds reaching the Sweet 16. Wisconsin title game, but UConn took down the Gators by 10, and Kentucky outlasted Wisconsin in the most high-quality game of the season. (The Zags missed buzzer-beaters in two overtime periods and fell 96-95.) The first weekend was chaos, and then the stars took over. In the Sweet 16, Robinson hit a late game-winner to take down Cleveland State and advance to the Elite Eight before Duke ended the dream. It gave us fewer upsets and close games than normal, and Duke won its second straight national title with a 20-point pounding of Michigan in the final. Granted, that created quite a few lopsided matchups in the coming rounds, and the two national semifinal games were decided by a combined 61 points. Did this tournament have one of the most frustrating and unwatchable finals in memory (UConn's 53-41 win over Butler)? Absolutely. But the journey to that point was awfully fun. Two No. 1 seeds came within a point of losing -- Georgetown barely survived Pete Carril's Princeton (50-49), while Billy Tubbs' Oklahoma almost fell to East Tennessee State (72-71) -- and Michigan proved willing to do some heavy lifting in the drama department. It was OK. This was a time period defined in part by the Duke-Maryland rivalry, and those teams gave us a wild Final Four matchup -- the Terps surged to a 39-17 lead, only to watch Duke outscore them 78-45 the rest of the way -- but what was maybe Mike Krzyzewski's best team won its six games by an average score of 87-70, depriving us of much late-tournament drama.

The Colorado State University men's basketball was invited to the tournament as a 6 seed. The Rams will face the 11-seeded Michigan Wolverines on Thursday. The ...

As 68 teams begin their quest for one shining moment, the Michigan Wolverines look to find their mojo. After an Elite Eight loss to UCLA in 2021, ...

The Wolverines need to bully the rams on the glass. If Michigan is off on the defensive end and struggles in the battle of the boards the Rams will move on. That combination results in a season that was hit and miss. The Wolverines earned No. 13 spots in offense, defense and re-seeding. Only TCU has a better rebounding margin than the maize and blue. The Rams enter Thursday’s matchup as the south region’s fifth-best offensive team and eighth-best defensively, earning a re-worked seven seed. Michigan is 2-1 all-time against the Rams. The Wolverines knocked off CSU, 56-37, in 1948 and 87-80 in January 2000. CSU enters the tournament as one of four Mountain West teams dancing. Dickinson needs to start a run that will cement himself as an NBA Lottery pick this summer. Sophomore forward Hunter Dickinson averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 boards per contest, both team bests. CSU also enters as the second-best shooting team from the floor and 3-point range as well as the top free-throw shooting team in the region. It’s Michigan’s sixth-straight tournament appearance.

Winning a pool with millions of entrants, like ESPN's Tournament Challenge, is no easy task. You have to be right, of course, but crucially you also have to ...

All three should advance as far as they can, with Iowa and LSU meeting in the Elite Eight. Yes, that means fading Kansas and Auburn. Remember, this pool has millions of entrants with multiple picks, so differentiating in this way will help you win even if it feels uncomfortable. The top seeds all appear overvalued opening the door for No. 5 Houston to lead your bracket to the Elite Eight. If successful, your bracket will be more competitive compared to the field. Colorado State is the consensus 28th best team in the nation and ranks at least in the 87th percentile for scoring efficiency in six different offensive categories, including pick-and-rolls, fast breaks, post plays, cuts to the basket, in isolation and coming off screens. That, too, will make your bracket less likely to have a large number of doppelgangers in the pool. There will be more boldness required the rest of the way. That team is No. 3 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are the 13th best team in the country per the consensus rankings of 59 different methods and also boast the No. 1 defense per Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, which adjust for strength of schedule. Baylor’s injury concerns and an early exit in the Big 12 conference tournament direct us to look elsewhere for the final representative of the region. The Longhorns are the 15th best team per Pomeroy’s ratings and feature an opportunistic defense that forces turnovers on over 23 percent of possessions. Remember, big pools with millions of entrants require bold picks, so don’t hesitate to move any or all of those three teams to the Sweet 16. Given No. 1 Gonzaga’s popularity, it is also important to find a team that is undervalued with enough staying power to benefit if Gonzaga falters early. That’s where this article comes in, providing the smartest values to emerge from each of the four regions based on which favorites the public is backing. All three have title chances greater than the percentage of brackets selecting them to win it all.

Will Gonzaga finally break through? Or will a team like Arizona, Kentucky or Kansas cut down the nets?

Seed: No. 4 in the West. Path to the Final Four, if seeding holds: Vermont, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Duke. Predicted path: Vermont, UConn, Gonzaga, Texas Tech. Another title contender from the West, where there basically are no free passes forward. Fran McCaffery has to prove he can be a calm commander in the cauldron of the tourney, and Iowa has to prove it can guard at a high enough level, but there is a lot to like about this team. Duke will have to up its intensity if the two teams meet in the Sweet 16. Seed: No. 3 in the East. Path to the Final Four, if seeding holds: Yale, Texas, Kentucky, Baylor. Predicted path: Yale, Texas, Kentucky, UCLA. By no means an easy region, but Baylor could be considered a vulnerable No. 1 seed. But the Volunteers have a pretty smooth path to the Sweet 16. Everyone who scored a point in the Bruins’ epic Final Four loss to Gonzaga is still around, and there is a sense that they’ve been waiting for March to ratchet their play up again to the level it was in the 2021 tournament. Last time the Final Four was in New Orleans, Kentucky won its last title behind Anthony Davis in 2012. But Jaime Jaquez and Jules Bernard stepped up big in the Pac-12 tournament, point guard Tiger Campbell is a constant and Johnny Juzang showed flashes of a return to star power. The Boilermakers are trying to defeat some history of their own, with a KenPom defensive efficiency rating of 100—that’s prohibitive for winning a national championship in the last two decades. Kansas added a weapon during the Big 12 tournament in Remy Martin—he’s been around all season, but finally started to play like the difference-making guard he is last week. Lloyd has abundant tourney experience as an assistant at Gonzaga for two decades, but it will be different as the man in charge. After playing a lot of overmatched competition in the last two months, there is no coasting now.

ESPN's choices include 18 different teams for the Final Four, and 10 unique national champion picks.

But while the BPI metrics actually like Gonzaga more than they did on the eve of the 2021 tournament (Gonzaga was an oh-so-slightly worse 23.4% to win the title at this time last year), the program's human support from our ESPN panel has eroded a bit. Saint Mary's is at 1.3% per BPI (sorry, Bill). Rich Hollenberg: Gonzaga (champion), Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas Mike Corey: Gonzaga (champion), Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas Jay Bilas: Gonzaga (champion), Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas BPI also loves Kansas, giving the Jayhawks a 30.9% chance of reaching New Orleans -- second to only Gonzaga in probability. Perhaps surprisingly, the No. 1-seeded defending national champion Baylor Bears scarcely made a ripple with ESPN's panel. The Kentucky Wildcats rejoined the national conversation in a major way this season, with John Calipari assembling a team that our respondents believe will end a UK Final Four drought that dates back to 2015. ESPN's Basketball Power Index gives Mark Few's team a 56.9% chance to reach the Final Four, the best percentage in this field. Though the Blue Devils have five potential first-round NBA draft choices and beat Gonzaga way back on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, ESPN respondents were either scared off by Duke's shaky play over the past couple of weeks or truly impressed with the recent play of Gonzaga. Or both. There were at least four teams picked in every region as Final Four entries in 2022, including a total of five teams in the wide-open South and East Regions. And for the second straight season, the top-ranked Zags remain the consensus favorite among both ESPN's panel of men's college basketball commentators, analysts and writers -- albeit by a smaller margin than in 2021 when Gonzaga entered the field at a perfect 26-0.

Gonzaga Bulldogs: Gonzaga is known as a basketball school, and they are one of 13 schools in the tournament not to have an NCAA football team. SUBSCRIBER ...

Colgate Raiders: Their geology center is home to one of the oldest fossils in history, as they have an 80 million-year-old dinosaur egg. They only allow 57.7 points a game, the lowest in the tournament and second in the country behind North Texas. Couples that met at the university will hang their shoes at the Shoe Tree on campus, as it's meant to bring "sole" mates good luck in their relationship. It is one two HBCUs in the NCAA Tournament, alongside Texas Southern. That's because horned frogs, which are actually horned lizards, will shoot blood out of their eyes to scare away predators. Its original name was the "Collegiate School." Purdue Boilermakers: Did you know you can fly directly to the university? It was established in 1789 and opened its doors in 1795. A Gael is someone of Irish-Gaelic ancestry. It has more music venues per capita than any other city in the state. This is their eighth appearance and have yet to win a game; second worse is Iona's 15 appearances without a win. Big college basketball fans might pick their teams based off what they've seen throughout the season, or pick the occasional higher seed knowing upsets are bound to happen.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Michigan will open the NCAA Tournament without its starting point guard. DeVante' Jones did not travel with the team to Indianapolis, ...

Note: An earlier version of this story stated Jones was out for the second round as well. Collins, meanwhile, has appeared in 28 games, averaging 9.6 minutes in those contests. Jones, who has started all 31 games this season, leads Michigan with 4.6 assists per game and is third with 10.7 points.

The women's NCAA Tournament field is set and now the fun begins, with 68 teams trying to win the national championship — starting with the first-ever First ...

At least one 12 has made it out of the first round in four of the last five tournaments. All four of the 1 seeds have reached the Final Four three times since the 2012 tournament. The tournament returned to some normalcy this year after it was played in its entirety in San Antonio last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

We take a stab at predicting how far each of the nine Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament will go this postseason. Let the madness begin.

Teams with a lack of defense like Purdue just don’t historically make runs to a Final Four. Purdue has everything you’d want in a basketball team aside from the ability to play defense consistently. While the Illini have all the pieces you would want for a deep run, they seem to lose engagement in the game at times, making bad decisions with the ball that result in end of game despair. They could surprise everyone and make it to the Final Four, but we say it stops a little short of that. Michigan State has been up and down this season, but mostly down during the back half. We know the struggles that have played out with Ohio State over the last couple of weeks. The Scarlet Knights have played with — and beaten — the best teams in the Big Ten. They could pull off some upsets and make a run with the defense and ability to get into the lane. However, there are limitations offensively and that’s going to catch up with the Hoosiers. Still, making it this far is pretty good for a program that just did get into the tournament. It’s going to be madness. How many teams will get past the first weekend and make it into the Sweet 16? It’s going to be mayhem. All of the madness and mayhem of March is here.

Tigers face Iowa State team with Quad 1 wins, strong defensive instincts in Round of 64 matchup.

Despite Will Wade being out of the picture, this LSU group has the senior leadership in Darius Days and Xavier Pinson to get them through the first weekend of the tournament. A team that has shot 30% from three over the last month and a half, making the Cyclones play around the perimeter will give the Tigers a greater chance to move on. Though a two seed in this year’s tournament, their KenPom ranking has them listed as the 34th best team, the worst among all two seeds. Limiting three-point attempts and getting out in transition will be the Tigers best friend in their first-round matchup. Defensively is where the Tigers can set the tone here and separate themselves from a sloppy Cyclones team. A fundamentally sound group who plays at their own pace, the Badgers savvy veterans and incredible leadership is what has gotten them so far this season.

SportsLine's model has nailed 17 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds and revealed its NCAA bracket 2022.

SportsLine's model also has one region where the No. 5 seed goes to the Elite Eight and the 14-seed delivers a shocking upset. Alabama has not played since losing to Vanderbilt in the second round of the SEC Tournament on March 10. The Crimson Tide are riding a three-game losing streak, including upset losses to Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Guard Jahvon Quinerly has turned the ball over 19 times in his last four games, which does not bode well in the postseason. No. 2 seed Duke and No. 7 seed Michigan State are each one win away from pitting legendary head coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo against each other in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket. Now, the model has simulated every possible matchup in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and revealed its optimal bracket. SportsLine's advanced computer model absolutely crushed its March Madness picks last tournament, beating over 92 percent of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three years.

Here's a look at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish ahead of its matchup against Alabama basketball in the NCAA Tournament.

Nate Laszewski came off the bench for Notre Dame and added 18 points with six rebounds. It looked as if the game was headed to a third overtime. The Scarlet Knights couldn't get a shot off. Notre Dame does well at taking care of the ball. Overall, the Fighting Irish's offense is stronger than its defense. The Fighting Irish has won seven of its past 10 games. With the board in the final seconds, he was able to set up his layup and give Notre Dame a two-point lead with two seconds left in double overtime. Notre Dame is No. 39 in the country with a 75.83% free-throw percentage. Paul Atkinson Jr. grabbed the offensive rebound and a spot in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the same time. Notre Dame has a 4-9 record in the first two quadrants, compared to Alabama's 13-11 record. Here's a look at the Fighting Irish and a prediction. The Fighting Irish ranks No. 52 on KenPom and No. 53 in NET Rankings.

Notre Dame enters tonight's game 22-10 overall after a 15-5 showing in the ACC this regular season which was good enough to tie the Irish with North Carolina ...

I don’t feel great about it (story of Notre Dame men’s basketball fans often this time of year), but I think they get it done. I think Notre Dame can do just enough to set up a game against Alabama. Will it be Notre Dame or Rutgers that moves on to take on Alabama in the first round?

Loyola-Chicago is back in the NCAA Tournament, which means more attention will be showered on the beloved Sister Jean.

There are people out there who have nowhere to go and gladly would take this setting. Plus, the Irish are lucky to have this opportunity to worship at a time when there is a great humanitarian crisis happening overseas. Loyola-Chicago is back in the NCAA Tournament, which means more attention will be showered on the beloved Sister Jean. However, Notre Dame has its own spiritual leader accompanying it on its own tournament journey.

SportsLine's model predicted three Final Four teams last year and simulated the 2022 NCAA bracket 10000 times.

So what's the optimal NCAA Tournament 2022 bracket? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model's track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you'll want to see which stunners it's calling this year before locking in any 2022 NCAA bracket picks. Before making any 2022 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine. Now, with the 2022 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. One of the most intriguing 2022 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 5 seed Connecticut vs.

Can Keegan Murray and the Iowa Hawkeyes continue their hot streak as they enter the NCAA Tournament?

Add in his vast improvement as a three-point shooter over the course of the season, and Keegan is likely to be a major problem for the Spiders. Iowa and Richmond both excel in two of the same areas: creating turnovers and preventing their opponents from doing the same. As phenomenal as Keegan was against Big Ten opponents, his scoring numbers against mid-major opponents show a player who is basically unstoppable when he gets into the paint, scoring 26.4 points per game and shooting an otherworldly 76.2% from two. Richmond’s most disruptive defender is its itsy bitsy spider of a point guard Jacob Gilyard, a 5’9” cross between Jordan Bohannon and Joe Toussaint who averages 3.1 steals per game, leads the country with 108 takeaways on the season, and has made the A-10 All-Defense Team a record-setting four times over the course of his career. Iowa, meanwhile, thrives in the transition game and has consistently used it to generate easy offense buckets and make up for the occasional lulls in the Hawkeyes’ halfcourt attack. If Murray can avoid getting sent to Fran McCaffery’s dreaded two-foul jail, expect the Naismith candidate to continue his excellent offensive play and help keep both the Hawkeye win streak and their dreams of making a deep tournament run alive. At first glance, the Spiders look more like daddy longlegs than tarantulas when compared to the red-hot Hawkeyes. Richmond is ranked as only the 83rd best team in the country according to KenPom and lost to two common opponents with Iowa on neutral courts (Maryland and Utah State, both of whom the Hawkeyes defeated). As Hawkeye fans have been constantly reminded during television broadcasts this season, Iowa is undefeated in 2021-22 when it wins the rebounding battle. The Spiders are also a veteran team with six seniors in their rotation, and they have shown a knack for playing close games even in defeat, allowing only four double-digit losses all season. Perhaps that’s why DraftKings Sportsbook set the opening line at Iowa -9 - the highest of any 5/12 matchup in the tournament. Yet the Hawkeyes cannot afford to rest on their laurels; as significant a victory as the Big Ten Tournament was, the real prize remains at large. However, Richmond proved more dangerous than expected in their run to the A-10 Tournament title, playing a suffocating brand of defense which held their opponents to only 62.25 points per game over the course of the event.

Forget all those other expert brackets you've seen. We've got your true expert picks right here. MLive's five college sports writers each filled out their ...

Gonzaga has two runner-up finishes in the last four tournaments so winning it all is probably overdue. Gonzaga is head and shoulders the best team in this year’s field, so I have no choice but to roll with them. Coach K will absolutely not reach the Final Four in his final season.

Each First Four winner advances to the first round, slated for Friday and Saturday. CBS Sports will have an updated printable/viewable bracket after every game.

Missouri State topped Florida State 61-50 in the final First Four game. With the win, Missouri State will play Spokane No. 6 seed Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament's first round. Howard won its first ever Women's NCAA Tournament game with a 55-51 victory over Incarnate Word while Dayton crushed DePaul 88-57.

Barack Obama has filled out a March Madness bracket once again. Will he pick the champions correctly in 2022?

Obama picked every 10-seed to beat the 7-seeds in the women's bracket. Obama's men's brackets have tended to be chalky over the years, and his selections for 2022 follow that trend. Instead, they lost to Baylor, another team that Obama had in his Final Four. What do Obama's brackets look like for the men's and women's NCAA tournaments in 2022? Obama has tended to take a safe strategy when filling out brackets for both the men's and women's tournaments. He kept his word and did so in 2009.

Danny Hurley could tell his players chapter and verse what's at stake -- or he could let the players' own desire for redemption carry the day.

They are back, this time as a 5 seed in the West, this time after a 23-9 season that was culminated with a splendid battle with Villanova at a deafening Madison Square Garden on Friday. They are a better team than they were last year, in a tricky draw. It’s going to be huge for us to box out, and it comes down to who’s the more desperate, tougher team.” “That number is stuck in everyone’s brains,” Hurley had said during the summer, smiling a smidge at the notion but deadly serious in its affect. Here is what they remember: With 5 minutes and 7 seconds left in the Huskies’ Big East semifinal game at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2021, UConn led Creighton 53-50, with the winner getting a shot at upstart Georgetown in the finals. The scoreboard clock at Gampel Pavilion was frozen with four digits — 45:07. Screen savers would have that number — “45:07” — bouncing all about their snoozing laptops. BUFFALO — This may sound a little borderline obsessive-compulsive, sure, but then maybe you’ve forgotten the place that Connecticut basketball plays in the daily lives of the state’s citizenry.

We're answering all the burning questions to help you fill out your Tourney Pick'em bracket.

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The model crushed March Madness picks last year, beating over 92% of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three tournaments. The same model has ...

SportsLine's optimal bracket features a No. 5 seed in the Elite Eight and has identified a No. 14 seed who delivers a first-round shocker. The next two teams represented are both No. 5 seeds in this year's tournament, interestingly enough. With that in mind, it is time to take a look at SportsLine's power rankings of top 10 teams heading into the tournament.

What you need to know heading into Thursday's First Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

(9) (12) (9) (12) (8) (13) Murray State has a versatile offense led by Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year KJ Williams, a 6-10 big man who averages 18.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Either one of these teams is good enough to beat a major conference opponent in the first round, but they got squared off against each other in what is clearly the game of the day, set for a 9:40 p.m. tip-off from Indianapolis. Both teams rank in the top 30 in adjusted efficiency margin at KenPom and the 54 combined wins is the second-most of any game on Thursday's slate. Vermont also boasts a strong offense, a senior-led rotation and the Catamounts a great job of working the ball around without turning it over. The Zags finished with a 26-3 record that included non-conference wins against UCLA, Texas and Texas Tech and a margin of victory of 22.0 points per game. A big win will be a chance to see Baylor's bench in action, and the Bears' depth is going to be a key factor to making another Final Four run. The First Four games from Tuesday and Wednesday may have been the official beginning of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, but for many fans, March Madness doesn't actually get underway until the first full wall-to-wall day of action tips off Thursday with first-round games from all corners of the bracket.

The men's and women's NCAA Tournaments have finally arrived, meaning it's time for fans to create brackets and watch all the action unfold.

🏀 @StanfordWBB 🏀 @StanfordWBB 🏀 @GamecockWBB It’s been a great year for college basketball, and now— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) #MarchMadnessis officially back. This list will be updated, so create a men's and women's bracket of your own while waiting for more. But fans aren't the only ones participating.