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March Madness 2022: The All-Tournament Team After the National Championship
April 5, 2022March Madness 2022: The All-Tournament Team After the National Championship
The 2022 NCAA men's tournament is over, and the Kansas Jayhawks are national champions.
In a thrilling national championship game befitting of what was a wild NCAA tournament from the get-go, the Jayhawks overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to come away with a 72-69 victory over North Carolina. It is the first national title for the storied Kansas basketball program since 2008.
With March Madness over, it's time to pick our All-Tournament Team, with five first-team and five second-team spots up for grabs.
To be considered for inclusion, a player had to have reached the Elite Eight, and first-team honors were reserved for players who appeared in the Final Four.
Let's get to it.
Second Team
Caleb Love, North Carolina
Stats: 6 G, 18.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.3 APG
An ugly 5-for-24 shooting night in the national championship game knocked Love down to the second team, but the Tar Heels would not have been playing in that game without his 22-point second half on Saturday against Duke. The sophomore guard also went off for a season-high 30 points against UCLA in the Sweet 16.
Remy Martin, Kansas
Stats: 6 G, 14.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.7 RPG, 47.6 3PT%
Martin was the star for Kansas at the onset of the tournament with a 20-point game against Creighton in the second round and a 23-point outburst against Providence in the Sweet 16. A spark plug off the bench, his three-pointer from the corner gave Kansas a 53-50 lead—its first lead since midway through the first half—and he finished with 14 points on 4-of-6 from deep on the night.
Kameron McGusty, Miami
Stats: 4 G, 19.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 2.5 SPG
The first Miami player since Shane Larkin during the 2012-13 season to earn first team All-ACC honors, McGusty was the driving force behind the Hurricanes' surprise run to the Elite Eight. He dropped 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting on a good Iowa State defense in the Sweet 16, and he had a team-high 18 points against Kansas in the Elite Eight loss.
Jermaine Samuels, Villanova
Stats: 5 G, 15.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, 59.2 FG%
After averaging a modest 10.3 points per game during the regular season, Samuels went off for 21 points against UConn in the Big East tournament, and that proved to be a springboard for a terrific March Madness run. He had at least 15 points in each of his first four NCAA tournament games before he was limited to nine against Kansas in the Final Four.
Mark Williams, Duke
Stats: 5 G, 13.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.2 BPG, 80.6 FG%
Despite getting into some early foul trouble against North Carolina and then missing two big free throws down the stretch, Williams still had a terrific tournament overall. The 7'0" sophomore connected on 29-of-36 attempts from the field in five games, and he racked up 16 blocked shots in the Blue Devils' four tournament wins.
First Team: Paolo Banchero, Duke
Stats: 5 G, 18.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, 52.6 3PT%, 50.0 FG%
Freshman phenom Paolo Banchero led the Duke offense all season, and he continued to impress throughout his first and likely only March Madness run.
He had 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting against a great Texas Tech offense in the Sweet 16, and he led the Blue Devils with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes of action against North Carolina in an epic Final Four clash.
NBA scouts no doubt took interest in the fact that he connected on 10-of-19 three-point attempts during the NCAA tournament after shooting 30.6 percent from long distance leading up to the tournament, and he seems like a lock to hear his name called among the first three picks in the 2022 NBA draft.
First Team: Brady Manek, North Carolina
Stats: 6 G, 18.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.5 BPG, 47.8 3PT%
Brady Manek started off his tournament run with a bang, racking up his two highest-scoring outputs of the season against Marquette (28 points, 5/10 3PT) and Baylor (26 points, 4/8 3PT) to help the Tar Heels survive the opening weekend.
The 6'9" senior was a lethal shooter from beyond the arc, a terrific secondary rebounder to double-double machine Armando Bacot and a shot-blocking presence inside with nine blocked shots in six games.
It's fair to wonder whether he should have been the one taking the final shot for North Carolina rather than Caleb Love, who was battling through a tough shooting night. But that's easy to question with the benefit of hindsight.
With his size, athleticism and outside shooting ability, Manek likely did as much as anyone to boost his NBA draft stock during the 2022 NCAA tournament.
First Team: David McCormack, Kansas
Stats: 6 G, 13.2 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 58.5 FG%
Kansas is a different team when David McCormack shows up.
That has been said time and again over the last few years, and the Jayhawks big man showed up in a big way to close out the team's title run.
The 6'10", 265-pound senior was a man among boys against Villanova in the Final Four, scoring a season-high 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and he kept it rolling with a strong game against Armando Bacot and North Carolina.
He finished Monday's game with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the year, and he did a great job navigating two early fouls and four fouls total to play 29 minutes in the biggest game of his career.
First Team: Armando Bacot, North Carolina
Stats: 6 G, 15.3 PPG, 16.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 BPG
The first player ever with six double-doubles in a single NCAA tournament is a no-brainer for a spot on this list, and it's hard not to wonder if the outcome might have been different on Monday night had he not been nursing an ankle injury he suffered on Saturday against Duke.
He still finished the game with 15 points and 15 rebounds, but he shot just 3-of-13 from the field after entering the game shooting 57.9 percent on the year.
It was the 31st double-double of the year for the 6'10" junior, including a 20-point, 22-rebound game against Saint Peter's in the Elite Eight and an 11-point, 21-rebound night against Mark Williams and Duke in the Final Four.
Will we see him back on campus for his senior year?
First Team: Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
Stats: 6 G, 13.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.5 SPG, 42.3 3PT%
After winning Big 12 Player of the Year while earning first-team All-American honors during the regular season, Ochai Agbaji added another accolade to his impressive senior season when he was named the 2022 tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The 6'5" guard eclipsed 20 points just once during the Jayhawks' six-game run through the tournament field, but he was a focal point of opposing defenses throughout the tournament, and that helped open things up for his teammates.
He set the tone in a wire-to-wire win over Villanova in the Final Four with four quick threes en route to a 21-point night, and he finished with 12 points in 37 minutes of action on Monday.
It's likely off to the NBA for Agbaji now, as he was projected to go No. 13 overall in the latest NBA mock draft from B/R's Jonathan Wasserman.
All stats courtesy of Sports Reference.