Stan Becton | NCAA.com | March 1, 2022

Bracketology: NCAA tournament projections made the first day of March by Andy Katz

2022 NCAA tournament men's bracket predictions on the first day of March

March is here and in the world of basketball that means it's March Madness season. To start the month, NCAA.com correspondent Andy Katz has updated his projections for the 2022 men's basketball tournament.

Here's how Katz projects the 68-team field to look to start March.

First, here's the bracket in table form (scroll to the right to view the full bracket.

March Madness bracket predictions

Seed	WEST	EAST	MIDWEST	SOUTH
1	Gonzaga	Baylor	Kansas	Arizona
16	Texas Southern/New Orleans	UNC Wilmington	Cleveland State	Norfolk State/Bryant

8	Boise State	Seton Hall	Marquette	Iowa State
9	TCU	Wake Forest	Notre Dame	Wyoming

5	UCLA	UConn	Ohio State	Houston
12	Xavier/SMU	Indiana/San Diego State	Chattanooga	South Dakota State

4	Texas	Arkansas	Providence	Illinois
13	Toledo	Vermont	Iona	Northern Iowa

6	Iowa	Alabama	Saint Mary's	Southern California
11	Memphis	North Texas	Creighton	San Francisco

3	Tennessee	Villanova	Purdue	Texas Tech
14	Montana State	Princeton	Texas State	New Mexico State

7	Colorado State	LSU	Michigan State	Murray State
10	North Carolina	Michigan	Davidson	Miami (FL.)

2	Wisconsin	Duke	Kentucky	Auburn
15	Long Beach State	Colgate	Longwood	Jacksonville State

RANKINGS: Click here for the latest NET rankings | AP Top 25

Let's take a closer look at Katz's bracket.

The Big 12 makes its presence known at the top

Gonzaga takes the top overall seed once again, followed by Arizona. The Big 12 rounds out the one seeds, with Kansas and Baylor.

Kansas and Baylor on the one line marks the third time since the season started that a conference has had two No. 1 seeds in Katz's projections. The Jayhawks and Bears fill out the top of the bracket after Baylor beat Kansas 80-70 just a few days ago to split the season series.

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Number of bids by conference

**Conferences with multiple teams in Katz's preseason bracket**
Conference	Total Teams	Teams (Automatic Qualifier in bold)
Big Ten	8	Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana
Big East	7	Villanova, Providence, UConn, Seton Hall, Marquette, Creighton, Xavier
Big 12	6	Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas, Iowa State, TCU
SEC	6	Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, LSU
ACC	5	Duke, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Miami (FL.), North Carolina
Mountain West	4	Colorado State, Boise State, Wyoming, San Diego State
Pac-12	3	Arizona, UCLA, Southern California
AAC	3	Houston, Memphis, SMU
WCC	3	Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, San Francisco

The depth of the Big Ten reigns supreme in yet another Katz bracket projection as the conference has eight teams. The Big East leapfrogs the Big 12 in total teams, with Big 12 school Oklahoma falling out of the field.

Despite the Big 12 dropping to the third-most teams in the latest bracket projections, the conference remains strong at the top, having two No. 1 seeds, three top-10 overall teams and the most teams among the top-16 overall teams.

PAST BRACKETS: Post top-16 reveal | One month before selections | 50 days out | New Year's | Opening Night | Preseason

Teams on the outside looking in

Here are Andy Katz's first four teams out.

First four out

1. Oregon
2. Loyola Chicago
3. Rutgers
4. VCU

In Katz's latest bracket, Oregon remains the first team left out of this year's tournament. Elsewhere, Loyola-Chicago and Rutgers each fall from the tournament field; both teams earned 10 seeds in the previous bracket projection.

Loyola Chicago lost to Northern Iowa on Feb. 26, knocking them out. Rutgers has lost three straight games to Purdue, Michigan and Wisconsin, respectively; all three opponents are projected tournament teams.

Here are the next teams to miss the cut.

Next four out

5. Virginia Tech
6. BYU
7. Florida
8. Mississippi State

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Andy Katz's automatic qualifiers

Here are Katz's 32 automatic qualifier predictions.

Conference	Automatic qualifier
America East	Vermont
American	Houston
Atlantic 10	Davidson
ACC	Duke
ASUN	Jacksonville State
Big 12	Kansas
Big East	Providence
Big Sky	Montana State
Big South	Longwood
Big Ten	Wisconsin
Big West	Long Beach State
CAA	UNC Wilmington
Conference USA	North Texas
Horizon	Cleveland State
Ivy	Princeton
MAAC	Iona
MAC	Toledo
MEAC	Norfolk State
Missouri Valley	Northern Iowa
Mountain West	Boise State
NEC	Bryant
OVC	Murray State
Pac-12	Arizona
Patriot	Colgate
SEC	Auburn
Southern	Chattanooga
Southland	New Orleans
SWAC	Texas Southern
Summit League	South Dakota State
Sun Belt	Texas State
WCC	Gonzaga
WAC	New Mexico State

Andy Katz's field of 68

Here is Katz’s full seed list in order, 1-68:

RANK \| SEED \| TEAM \| CONFERENCE
1. 1 -- Gonzaga \| WCC (AQ)
2. 1 -- Arizona \| Pac-12 (AQ)
3. 1 -- Kansas \| Big 12 (AQ)
4. 1 -- Baylor \| Big 12
5. 2 -- Auburn \| SEC (AQ)
6. 2 -- Duke \| ACC (AQ)
7. 2 -- Kentucky \| SEC
8. 2 -- Wisconsin \| Big Ten (AQ)
9. 3 -- Purdue \| Big Ten
10. 3 -- Texas Tech \| Big 12
11. 3 -- Villanova \| Big East
12. 3 -- Tennessee \| SEC
13. 4 -- Providence \| Big East (AQ)
14. 4 -- Illinois \| Big Ten
15. 4 -- Arkansas \| SEC
16. 4 -- Texas \| Big 12
17. 5 -- UCLA \| Pac-12
18. 5 -- UConn \| Big East
19. 5 -- Houston \| AAC (AQ)
20. 5 -- Ohio State \| Big Ten
21. 6 -- Alabama \| SEC
22. 6 -- Southern California \| Pac-12
23. 6 -- Iowa \| Big Ten
24. 6 -- Saint Mary's \| WCC
25. 7 -- LSU \| SEC
26. 7 -- Michigan State \| Big Ten
27. 7 -- Colorado State \| MWC
28. 7 -- Murray State \| OVC (AQ)
29. 8 -- Boise State \| MWC (AQ)
30. 8 -- Seton Hall \| Big East
31. 8 -- Marquette \| Big East
32. 8 -- Iowa State \| Big 12
33. 9 -- Wyoming \| MWC
34. 9 -- Notre Dame \| ACC
35. 9 -- TCU \| Big 12
36. 9 -- Wake Forest \| ACC
37. 10 -- Miami (FL.) \| ACC
38. 10 -- Davidson \| A10 (AQ)
39. 10 -- North Carolina \| ACC
40. 10 -- Michigan \| Big Ten
41. 11 -- San Francisco \| WCC
42. 11 -- Memphis \| AAC
43. 11 -- Creighton \| Big East
44. 11 -- North Texas \| CUSA (AQ)
45. 12 -- Xavier \| Big East
46. 12 -- SMU \| AAC
47. 12 -- Indiana \| Big Ten
48. 12 -- San Diego State \| MWC
49. 12 -- Chattanooga \| Southern (AQ)
50. 12 -- South Dakota State \| Summit (AQ)
51. 13 -- Iona \| MAAC (AQ)
52. 13 -- Northern Iowa \| MVC (AQ)
53. 13 -- Vermont \| America East (AQ)
54. 13 -- Toledo \| MAC (AQ)
55. 14 -- New Mexico State \| WAC (AQ)
56. 14 -- Princeton \| Ivy (AQ)
57. 14 -- Texas State \| Sun Belt (AQ)
58. 14 -- Montana State \| Big Sky (AQ)
59. 15 -- Jacksonville State \| ASUN (AQ)
60. 15 -- Colgate \| Patriot (AQ)
61. 15 -- Longwood \| Big South (AQ)
62. 15 -- Long Beach State \| Big West (AQ)
63. 16 -- UNC Wilmington \| CAA (AQ)
64. 16 -- Cleveland State \| Horizon (AQ)
65. 16 -- Norfolk State \| MEAC (AQ)
66. 16 -- Bryant \| NEC (AQ)
67. 16 -- Texas Southern \| SWAC (AQ)
68. 16 -- New Orleans \| Southland (AQ)

2022 March Madness

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