Whether you're a diehard college basketball fan or a casual fan who enjoys the pageantry, filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket has become a time-honored tradition. Anybody can win a 2022 March Madness bracket pool, but anyone who understands the matchups has a statistical edge over somebody making 2022 NCAA Tournament picks based on mascots or jersey colors. The Gonzaga Bulldogs earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 2022 March Madness bracket and are coming off a national championship game loss to Baylor a season ago.
Gonzaga has key contributors like Drew Timme, Andrew Nembhard and Anton Watson back this season, while superstar freshman Chet Holmgren could make them an even more complete team with his scoring versatility and shot-blocking ability. Does that mean you should have Gonzaga winning your 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket considering the program has never won it all? 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.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulated the entire 2022 NCAA Tournament 10,000 times. It absolutely crushed its March Madness picks last year, beating over 92 percent of all CBS Sports brackets for the second time in three tournaments. The model also nailed a whopping three teams in the Final Four last year.
It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 17 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds. It also nailed some massive upsets last tournament, including predicting the championship game between Gonzaga and Baylor, and hit Houston's Midwest Region win even though the Cougars weren't the No. 1 seed.
There's simply no reason to rely on luck when there's proven technology to help you dominate your 2022 March Madness picks. Now, with the 2022 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.
Three 2022 March Madness bracket games to watch
One of the most intriguing 2022 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 5 seed Connecticut vs. No. 12 seed New Mexico State in the West region. Since the NCAA Tournament bracket expanded to 64 teams (and now to 68 teams), a No. 12 seed has beaten a No. 5 seed 51 times. In the last NCAA Tournament played with full crowds, three 12-seeds advanced.
One 2022 March Madness matchup to keep an eye on: No. 8 Boise State vs. No. 9 Memphis in the West Region. The matchup to keep an eye on is what the Broncos will do to defend Tigers standout freshman center Jalen Duren. In 14 games since mid-January, Duren has scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds with 1.7 blocks per game. Boise doesn't have a center that can contend with him down low, but the Broncos have a stellar forward in Abu Kigab, who has scored 17.9 points and grabbed 4.5 rebounds per game over his last eight outings.
Another West Region matchup that stands out is No. 7 seed Michigan State vs. No. 10 seed Davidson. Both teams mirror each other in the sense that they shoot it well but haven't defended effectively this season. However, Michigan State has played the eighth-toughest schedule in the country, while Davidson has played the 119th-toughest. Bob McKillop and Tom Izzo have combined for 1,299 career wins and 34 NCAA Tournament appearances, so expect two well-prepared teams and plenty of in-game adjustments. You can see the model's picks for these games and every other here.
How to make 2022 NCAA bracket predictions
Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? 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.
So what's the optimal NCAA Tournament 2022 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that's called 17 upsets by double-digit seeds.
