The top 16 NCAA Tournament teams have been revealed. Here’s how they did over the weekend.
Selection Sunday is still three weeks away, but the NCAA Tournament selection committee offered fans an early look at the 2022 bracket — as it stands now — during a made-for-TV program Saturday on CBS.
The partial bracket revealed on Saturday’s show had the Kentucky Wildcats as a No. 2 seed and the No. 6 overall team in the field. Gonzaga led the way as the No. 1 overall seed, with Auburn, Arizona and Kansas joining the Zags on the top seed line.
In all, the selection committee, which meets throughout the season to go over the potential NCAA Tournament field, revealed the top 16 teams going into the weekend. The real Selection Sunday will take place March 13, and there’s sure to be plenty of movement among the nation’s top teams over the next three weeks.
There were already some possible bracket-altering results later in the day Saturday.
Here’s a look at how each of the 16 teams who made the early bracket show fared this weekend.
No. 1 seeds: Auburn upset
▪ Gonzaga scored an 81-69 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night. The Zags’ final two regular-season games are on the road at San Francisco and Saint Mary’s, and both will be Quad 1 matchups, the highest-level games based on the NCAA’s evaluation process.
▪ Auburn came into the day as the No. 2 overall team in the bracket, but the Tigers suffered a 63-62 loss at unranked Florida, which was not projected as an NCAA Tournament team heading into Saturday’s games. It’ll go down as a Quad 1 matchup, but it wasn’t a good start to this final stretch of the season for Bruce Pearl’s bunch.
▪ Arizona trailed at halftime but held off Oregon for an 84-81 victory at home, avoiding what would have been a bad loss in the Wildcats’ quest for a No. 1 seed. The Ducks came into the game at No. 72 in the NET rankings, putting the matchup just barely inside Quad 2 territory for Arizona, which has three consecutive road games coming up.
▪ Kansas managed a 71-58 victory at West Virginia on Saturday night, which counted as another Quad 1 victory based on the latest NET rankings. It’s the nation-best 10th Quad 1 win for the Jayhawks.
No. 2 seeds: Kentucky rolls
▪ Baylor was ranked as the top No. 2 seed by the selection committee, and the defending national champions took care of business with a 72-62 home victory over Texas Christian on Saturday.
▪ Kentucky was playing without starting guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler, but the Wildcats overcame a double-digit deficit to earn a convincing victory over No. 25 Alabama in what will be scored as another Quad 1 win for the Wildcats, who are still in the mix for a No. 1 seed.
▪ Purdue defeated Rutgers, 84-72, on Sunday to take over the top spot in the Big Ten conference standings.
▪ Duke coasted to an 88-70 victory over Florida State in Durham on Saturday night. The Blue Devils improved to 23-4 on the season, but they’re the only ACC team among the committee’s top 16, and they have zero Quad 1 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
No. 3 seeds: Tennessee loses
▪ Villanova, the top No. 3 seed, according to the committee, had a 74-66 victory Saturday over Georgetown, which is 6-20 this season and fell to 0-15 in the Big East. Nova’s next two games are against ranked teams (at No. 24 UConn and at home against No. 8 Providence).
▪ Texas Tech scored a big win at rival Texas on Saturday afternoon, improving the Red Raiders’ road record to 3-5 and giving them a seventh victory over a Quad 1 opponent this season.
▪ Tennessee, which defeated Kentucky earlier in the week, suffered a 58-48 loss at No. 23 Arkansas on Saturday, dropping the Vols into a tie with the Razorbacks for third place in the Southeastern Conference.
▪ Illinois earned a victory at No. 19 Michigan State on Saturday afternoon, pushing the Illini to 6-4 on the road this season and just a half-game back of Purdue for the No. 1 spot in the Big Ten standings.
No. 4 seeds: Two games Sunday
▪ Wisconsin had a huge second half to earn a 77-63 home victory over Michigan on Sunday in a game that was marred by an altercation between Wolverines head coach Juwan Howard and the Badgers staff.
▪ UCLA rolled to a 76-50 win over Washington late Saturday night. Washington is the 10th-best team in the Pac-12, according to the NET rankings, and the Bruins still have just three Quad 1 wins — lowest of the 16 teams to make this list.
▪ Providence overcame 13-point halftime deficit and needed overtime to score a 71-70 win at Butler, which came into Sunday’s game with a 6-10 Big East record.
▪ Texas was the No. 16 overall team in the early bracket and suffered a home loss to Texas Tech on Saturday, completing a Red Raiders season sweep of former coach Chris Beard. The Longhorns fell to 5-7 against Quad 1 opponents.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
