Stan Becton | NCAA.com | March 8, 2022 Bracketology: NCAA men's basketball tournament projections five days before Selection Sunday Andy Katz's penultimate NCAA men's bracket predictions Share As of Tuesday, March 8, we are only five days away from Selection Sunday and the Madness has already begun. With some automatic qualifiers having already clinched their bids and other conference tournaments just beginning, March Madness correspondent Andy Katz has updated his projections for the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament. Here's how Katz projects the 68-team field to look, through the games played on Monday, March 7. 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 Kansas Arizona Baylor 16 Nicholls/Alcorn State UNC Wilmington Bryant/Northern Kentucky Norfolk State 8 Boise State North Carolina Marquette Michigan State 9 Iowa State San Francisco Michigan Memphis 5 UConn Houston Texas Alabama 12 Indiana/VCU Chattanooga North Texas Creighton/SMU 4 Arkansas Illinois Providence UCLA 13 Toledo South Dakota State Iona Vermont 6 Ohio State LSU Saint Mary's Iowa 11 Notre Dame Rutgers Loyola Chicago Davidson 3 Texas Tech Duke Purdue Tennessee 14 New Mexico State Georgia State Montana State Princeton 7 Murray State Colorado State Seton Hall Southern California 10 San Diego State TCU Wake Forest Miami (FL) 2 Villanova Kentucky Auburn Wisconsin 15 Colgate Jacksonville Longwood Long Beach State RANKINGS: Click here for the latest NET rankings | AP Top 25 Let's take a closer look at Katz's bracket. The top seeds There's no surprise at the top as Katz gives Gonzaga the top overall seed yet again. It's the final three No. 1 seeds where things get exciting. Over the last month, Katz has had five different teams earning one of the three other No. 1 seeds. In his latest projections, Katz sees Baylor, Arizona and Kansas rounding out the top seed line of the bracket, respectively. Just outside, on the No. 2 seed line, lurk SEC powers Auburn and Kentucky at fifth and sixth overall, respectively. Arizona is the only team among the five that has earned a No. 1 seed in every one of Katz's bracket projections over the last month. Baylor and Kansas have moved all around the top of the bracket projections, with to a few head-to-head matchups between the Bears and Jayhawks leading to movement. With conference tournaments on the horizon, the battle for positioning at the top of the 2022 NCAA men's tournament bracket should be exciting to watch. BRACKET CHALLENGE: Play the 2022 NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge Game Number of bids by conference Conferences with multiple teams in Katz's bracket projections Conference Total Teams Teams (Automatic Qualifier/No. 1 seed in bold) Big Ten 9 Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Rutgers, Indiana Big East 6 Villanova, Providence, UConn, Seton Hall, Marquette, Creighton Big 12 6 Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas, Iowa State, TCU SEC 6 Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, LSU ACC 5 Duke, North Carolina, Miami (FL.), Wake Forest, Notre Dame Mountain West 3 Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State Pac-12 3 Arizona, UCLA, Southern California AAC 3 Houston, Memphis, SMU WCC 3 Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, San Francisco A-10 2 Davidson, VCU What's changed in Katz's bracket predictions over the last week? Well, it starts with the Big Ten. The conference reigns supreme with nine teams in the projected field as Rutgers joins the tournament picture after being one of the first four teams out a week ago. Katz projects the Big East, Big 12 and SEC to each have six teams in the tournament. The Big East loses Xavier from the field (more on that below), while the projected teams in the field from the Big 12 and SEC remain consistent. The ACC also remains consistent with its five projected NCAA tournament teams. North Carolina's win over Duke launched the Tar Heels from the worst-seeded ACC team to the second-highest seeded team from the conference. Also of note is the Atlantic 10 earning its first at-large appearance in Katz's bracket predictions since the start of January, thanks to VCU earning one of the final spots in the projected tournament field. PAST BRACKETS: March 1| 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 Katz's first four teams out of his projected bracket. First four out 1. Wyoming 2. Xavier 3. Dayton 4. BYU Wyoming and Xavier fall from the tournament field in Katz's latest bracket projections after losses to UNLV and St. John's, respectively. Wyoming gets a rematch against UNLV to open the Mountain West conference tournament on March 10. With a solid tournament performance, the Cowboys have the potential to rise back into the projected field. Xavier enters the Big East tournament seeded eighth after losing seven of its last nine games to close the regular season. Elsewhere, BYU's tournament resume is complete. The Cougars lost to San Francisco — a projected tournament team — in the quarterfinals of the WCC tournament. BYU now sits at 22-10 with four Quadrant 1 wins ahead of Selection Sunday. Here are the next teams to miss the cut. Next four out 5. Virginia Tech 6. Florida 7. St. Bonaventure 8. Oklahoma BUBBLE WATCH: 10 intriguing men's teams on the cusp Andy Katz's automatic qualifiers Here are Katz's 32 automatic qualifier predictions, which now include some schools that have officially secured a bid. Conference Automatic qualifier (Clinched in bold) America East Vermont American Houston Atlantic 10 Davidson ACC Duke ASUN Jacksonville Big 12 Kansas Big East Providence Big Sky Montana State Big South Longwood Big Ten Illinois Big West Long Beach State CAA UNC Wilmington Conference USA North Texas Horizon Northern Kentucky Ivy Princeton MAAC Iona MAC Toledo MEAC Norfolk State Missouri Valley Loyola Chicago Mountain West Boise State NEC Bryant OVC Murray State Pac-12 Arizona Patriot Colgate SEC Auburn Southern Chattanooga Southland Nicholls SWAC Alcorn State Summit League South Dakota State Sun Belt Georgia State WCC Gonzaga WAC New Mexico State BID TRACKER: Tracking all 32 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments, auto-bids Andy Katz's field of 68 Here is Katz’s full seed list in order, from one through 68: RANK | SEED | TEAM | CONFERENCE (AQ Bolded if Clinched) 1. 1 -- Gonzaga | WCC (AQ) 2. 1 -- Baylor | Big 12 3. 1 -- Arizona | Pac-12 (AQ) 4. 1 -- Kansas | Big 12 (AQ) 5. 2 -- Auburn | SEC (AQ) 6. 2 -- Kentucky | SEC 7. 2 -- Wisconsin | Big Ten 8. 2 -- Villanova | Big East 9. 3 -- Duke | ACC (AQ) 10. 3 -- Purdue | Big Ten 11. 3 -- Tennessee | SEC 12. 3 -- Texas Tech | Big 12 13. 4 -- Illinois | Big Ten (AQ) 14. 4 -- UCLA | Pac-12 15. 4 -- Providence | Big East (AQ) 16. 4 -- Arkansas | SEC 17. 5 -- UConn | Big East 18. 5 -- Texas | Big 12 19. 5 -- Houston | AAC (AQ) 20. 5 -- Alabama | SEC 21. 6 -- Iowa | Big Ten 22. 6 -- LSU | SEC 23. 6 -- Saint Mary's | WCC 24. 6 -- Ohio State | Big Ten 25. 7 -- Southern California | Pac-12 26. 7 -- Colorado State | Mountain West 27. 7 -- Murray State | OVC (AQ) 28. 7 -- Seton Hall | Big East 29. 8 -- North Carolina | ACC 30. 8 -- Michigan State | Big Ten 31. 8 -- Boise State | Mountain West (AQ) 32. 8 -- Marquette | Big East 33. 9 -- Iowa State | Big 12 34. 9 -- Memphis | AAC 35. 9 -- San Francisco | WCC 36. 9 -- Michigan | Big Ten 37. 10 -- San Diego State | Mountain West 38. 10 -- TCU | Big 12 39. 10 -- Miami (FL.) | ACC 40. 10 -- Wake Forest | ACC 41. 11 -- Rutgers | Big Ten 42. 11 -- Davidson | A10 (AQ) 43. 11 -- Notre Dame | ACC 44. 11 -- Loyola Chicago | MVC (AQ) 45. 12 -- Creighton | Big East 46. 12 -- SMU | AAC 47. 12 -- Indiana | Big Ten 48. 12 -- VCU | A10 49. 12 -- North Texas | CUSA (AQ) 50. 12 -- Chattanooga | SoCon (AQ) 51. 13 -- South Dakota State | Summit (AQ) 52. 13 -- Toledo | MAC (AQ) 53. 13 -- Iona | MAAC (AQ) 54. 13 -- Vermont | America East (AQ) 55. 14 -- New Mexico State | WAC (AQ) 56. 14 -- Princeton | Ivy (AQ) 57. 14 -- Montana State | Big Sky (AQ) 58. 14 -- Georgia State | Sun Belt (AQ) 59. 15 -- Long Beach State | Big West (AQ) 60. 15 -- Colgate | Patriot (AQ) 61. 15 -- Longwood | Big South (AQ) 62. 15 -- Jacksonville | ASUN (AQ) 63. 16 -- UNC Wilmington | CAA (AQ) 64. 16 -- Norfolk State | MEAC (AQ) 65. 16 -- Bryant | NEC (AQ) 66. 16 -- Northern Kentucky | Horizon (AQ) 67. 16 -- Nicholls | Southland (AQ) 68. 16 -- Alcorn State | SWAC (AQ) 2022 March Madness 🏆 CHAMPIONS: Kansas wins the 2022 the national championship BRACKET TRACKER: How every bracket busted TOURNAMENT REWIND: See the final bracket STORE: Shop Kansas championship gear | More official NCAA tournament fits LISTEN: March Madness 365 podcast | Exclusive interviews & latest analysis The 6 college softball teams with the most national championships Here are the schools with the most NCAA softball championships, led by the UCLA Bruins. 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