NCAA Tournament South Region Preview

Story posted March 17, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Evan Smith

After an unpredictable college basketball season, the pinnacle is here.

March Madness has officially arrived. The South region is the quarter of the bracket being labeled with the highest potential for upsets. Here’s a look at the competitors.

South region favorite Arizona is red hot, coming off of its Pac-12 Tournament victory. The Wildcats entered the season unranked in the AP poll, but won their way up to being the clear-cut No. 2 team in the nation, behind only Gonzaga.

They will face second-round competition from either No. 8 Seton Hall or No. 9 TCU, as long as they defeat their First Four opponent, Wright State.

TCU is looking for its first tournament victory since 1987, while Seton Hall looks to prove doubters wrong following an up-and-down season.

The No. 2 team in the region is a polarizing Villanova squad. While many believe Villanova is a true Final Four contender, critics see them as a product of a weaker Big East this season. The Wildcats will have to defeat the winner of a matchup between the ice-cold Ohio State Buckeyes and the March maniacs of Loyola Chicago.

In Indianapolis one of the more intriguing matchups is scheduled between No. 6 Colorado State and No. 11 Michigan. It was a perplexing decision by the committee to give the Michigan Wolverines an 11-seed bid, with the popular opinion seeing them as an outside bubble team.

They face a popular sleeper team in Colorado State, who is led by breakout guard David Roddy. The winner is expected to face No. 3 Tennessee, who rode a 16-0 home record into the SEC championship.

Two more potential upsets are the product of matchups, beginning with No. 5 Houston and No. 12 UAB.

Both of these teams do not have any defining wins but UAB star Jordan Walker has Houston backers nervous coming into the game.

The winner will face the winner of No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 13 Chattanooga. Experts state this is the perfect matchup for the Southern Conference champions, as all of Illinois' star power lies in Kofi Cockburn, who is a great matchup for Chattanooga’s Malachi Smith.

The South region features some great matchups with the potential to bust a lot of brackets.

Evan Smith is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ers5828@psu.edu.