NCAA Men's Bracket 2022: Complete Guide to Midwest Region
The Midwest Region of the 2022 men's NCAA tournament is headlined by No. 1 Kansas, which won the regular-season Big 12 conference title and the conference tournament with a 74-65 win over Texas Tech on Saturday.
The Bulldogs will need to get past No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Providence and a host of upset-minded lower seeds if they hope to reach the Final Four.
Potential top NBA draft pick Jabari Smith will be in action for Auburn, while Big Ten Player of the Year Johnny Davis and Big 12 Player of the Year Ochai Agbaji are also part of the talent pool.
Before the tournament gets underway, here's a full breakdown of the Midwest Region.
1st-Round Schedule
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Thursday Games
No. 4 Providence vs. No. 13 South Dakota State, 12:40 p.m., truTV
No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 12 Richmond, 3:10 p.m., TBS
No. 8 San Diego State vs. No. 9 Creighton, 7:27 p.m., truTV
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Texas Southern/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 9:57 p.m., truTV
Friday Games
No. 2 Auburn vs. No. 15 Jacksonville State, 12:40 p.m., truTV
No. 7 USC vs. No. 10 Miami (FL), 3:10 p.m., truTV
No. 6 LSU vs. No. 11 Iowa State, 7:20 p.m., TBS
No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Colgate p.m., 9:50, TBS
All game times are in ET.
Must-See Games
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No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 12 Richmond
Two teams fresh off the excitement of an unexpected conference tournament win square off in this one. The Hawkeyes are playing as well as any team in the country right now, going 8-1 in their last nine games with wins over Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana and Purdue during that stretch. Meanwhile, the Spiders came through the A-10 tournament field as the No. 8 seed and popped conference foe Dayton's bubble by stealing a bid.
No. 6 LSU vs. No. 11 Iowa State
On the eve of Selection Sunday, LSU announced the firing of coach Will Wade after a notice of misconduct allegations was received by the university. Wade was also out of action during the 2019 NCAA tournament amid a different set of allegations, and the Tigers still managed to reach the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed, but that team had four future NBA players on the roster. Can Iowa State take advantage of the situation and right the ship after a rough stretch of games?
Top Storylines
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1. Potential No. 1 Pick Jabari Smith
For many fans outside of SEC country, this will be the first time they have a chance to watch potential No. 1 overall pick, Auburn forward Jabari Smith. Last year's top pick Cade Cunningham shot 6-of-20 from the floor and scored 24 points in his one and only tournament game for Oklahoma State.
2. Can the Big Ten Rebound?
The Big Ten saw No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 4 seed Purdue both upset in the first round of last year's tournament, as well as No. 1 seed Illinois knocked out in the second round. With nine teams in this year's field, they'll have plenty of opportunities for redemption. Along with another strong Illinois squad, the conference's best hope this year might be No. 3 seed Wisconsin and No. 5 seed Iowa who both reside in the Midwest Region. Wisconsin shared the regular-season title, while Iowa is playing its best basketball of the year after winning the conference tournament.
3. The 2 Best 3-Point Shooting Teams in the Country
Looking a bit further down the seed lines, No. 13 South Dakota State (44.9%, first) and No. 14 Colgate (40.3%, second) lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage. Neither team has much in the way of a signature win or a viable defense, but if they get hot from deep, they could put a scare into their higher-seeded opponents.
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Players to Watch
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Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, Auburn
Auburn has a pair of Wooden Award finalists in potential No. 1 overall pick Jabari Smith (17.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 42.8 3PT%) and breakout center Walker Kessler (11.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 4.5 BPG). Smith has made a splash as a freshman after coming to campus as one of the nation's top recruits, while Kessler found a home at Auburn after transferring from North Carolina and led the country with 144 blocks.
Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
The Big 12 Player of the Year, Agbaji averaged 19.7 points per game on 40.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc. His three-point shooting has improved in each of his four years on campus, and he's gone from being a rotational role player to the focal point of a Kansas offense that ranked No. 6 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency.
Keegan Murray, Iowa
Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis won Big Ten Player of the Year, but it was Iowa sophomore Keegan Murray who paced the conference in scoring at 23.7 points per game. He had 32 against Indiana in the conference tournament semifinals on Saturday, and a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double while playing all 40 minutes in the title game win over Purdue.
Favorite Most Likely to Fall
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No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers
The Badgers lost 74-73 to a Nebraska team that went 10-22 overall and 4-16 in conference play in the regular-season finale when they had a chance to win the Big Ten regular season title outright, then turned around and lost to Michigan State in their conference tournament opener.
Star Johnny Davis was injured in the Nebraska game, and while he played against Michigan State, he didn't look like himself, shooting 3-of-19 from the floor and 0-of-5 from beyond the arc in a six-point loss.
He's had some time to rest and recover, but it's still a troubling recent trend for a No. 3 seed heading into the NCAA tournament.
First-round opponent Colgate can light it up from deep, and if Davis has another off night, their less-than-stellar defense might be able to do enough to put them in a position to win with a hot shooting night.
Most Likely Cinderella
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No. 13 South Dakota State
We threw out the number earlier, but it's worth highlighting again.
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits shoot 44.9 percent from beyond the arc. That's the best percentage in the nation by a wide margin, and it's a big reason why they average 86.7 points per game, a total that trails only Gonzaga (87.8).
Of course, they also rank 220th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, and they gave up 98 points to an Idaho team that finished No. 327 in the NET rankings in an ugly Quad 4 loss.
Still, they have a star in Summit League Player of the Year Baylor Scheierman (16.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.4 SPG) and a legitimate second scorer in Douglas Wilson (16.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG), and that make it that much easier to draw the comparisons to last year's Oral Roberts team.
If nothing else, they're going to be a fun team to watch.
Who Will Make the Sweet 16?
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No. 1 Kansas
A second-round matchup with an elite San Diego State defense would be eerily reminiscent of last year's Illinois vs. Loyola-Chicago game, and a Creighton defense that ranked No. 18 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency isn't a fun matchup either. The Jayhawks have enough talent to survive a tough second-round test, but expect a close game.
No. 5 Iowa
After winning the Big Ten tournament, Iowa feels massively underseeded. Meanwhile, Providence had some great wins early in the season, taking down Texas Tech, UConn and Wisconsin before Christmas, but they haven't done much to pad their resume since. They lost twice to Villanova in Big East play and bowed out in the second round of the conference tournament when they lost to Creighton. The momentum clearly belongs to the Hawkeyes in that No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup.
No. 3 Wisconsin
Yes, we just got done calling Wisconsin the most likely favorite to fall. However, they also happen to have one of the most favorable opening weekends of any team. If they can survive a barrage of threes from a defensively challenged Colgate team, they'll face either an Iowa State team that has gone 4-7 in its last 11 games or an LSU team that just fired head coach Will Wade.
No. 2 Auburn
That 8/9 matchup of San Diego State and Creighton looks like a significantly tougher draw for No. 1 seed Kansas than the 7/10 matchup of USC and Miami that awaits Auburn in the second round. The Trojans were the No. 5 team in the country at one point earlier this year, but they've lost three of their last four, while the Hurricanes resume is largely built on a January win over Duke that was avenged in the ACC tournament.
The Elite Eight Matchup Will Be...
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No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 2 Auburn
I'm buying what Iowa is selling with its Big Ten tournament run, which included a 112-point explosion against Northwestern, a dramatic buzzer-beater from Jordan Bohannon in the semifinals, and a Quad 1 win over Purdue in the title game.
They have scored 80 or more points in nine of their last 12 games, going 10-2 during that stretch while climbing into the AP poll for the first time all year in late February. They can beat anyone the way they're playing right now, including a very good Kansas team.
As for the bottom of the bracket, Wisconsin might not be able to beat Auburn even if they threw their best punch, and if the last few weeks have been any indication that's not the Badgers team we're going to see in the NCAA tournament.
Illinois star Kofi Cockburn had a 37-point, 12-rebound game against Wisconsin in February where he shot 16-of-19 from the floor and utterly dominated the Badgers inside. That could mean a big game from Walker Kessler.
And the Final Four Team Is...
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No. 2 Auburn
An Iowa vs. Auburn shootout with a spot in the Final Four on the line would be an awful lot of fun for college basketball fans.
The undersized Hawkeyes don't match up particularly well with 6'10" Jabari Smith and 7'1" Walker Kessler, but they also have a matchup problem of their own in 6'8" Keegan Murray on the perimeter.
It might be a race to 90 points, especially if Iowa is hitting from deep, but Auburn has a bit more margin for error thanks to their superior defense and inside game.
The Hawkeyes can give them a serious scare, but Auburn is the team to beat in the Midwest Region even though they're sitting on the No. 2 seed line. The Tigers reach the Final Four for the second time in four years.
All stats courtesy of Sports Reference.
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