The South Region of the 2022 NCAA Tournament is arguably the toughest of the four due to how well its top teams play. No other region has had more than one of the top three seeds come out of a conference tournament title. But down south, No. 1 seed Arizona, No. 2 Villanova, and No. 3 seed Tennessee enter the Big Dance, having just cut their nets last weekend.
No. 5 Houston, the 2021 Final Four team, is also gaining momentum after the AAC Tournament title. Besides the best seeds, the South region is full of quality depth. The No. 10 Loyola Chicago and No. 11 Michigan Dark Horses gained experience on the second weekend of last year’s NCAA tournament.
There’s even some buzz around No. 13 seeded Chattanooga as the Mocs will play against No. 4 seeded Illinois after grabbing national attention last week with their crushing victory over Furman in the SoCon Tournament final. No. 8 seed Seton Hall and No. 9 seed TCU have battle scars from attending brutal conferences, but it won’t be a shock if the experience pays dividends in a potential second-round game with Arizona.
The No. 6 seed in Colorado, the No. 7 seed in Ohio, and the No. 12 seed in UAB have individual superstars in David Roddy, E. J. Liddell, and Jordan Walker, respectively. Any of the three are capable of leading their teams to success beyond the expectations of their seed.
Finally, long shots. No. 14 Longwood makes his first NCAA Tournament appearance and No. 15 Delaware is aiming for his first NCAA Tournament victory. Wednesday’s Top Four game between Wright State and 16th seed Bryant will be the first-ever win by an NCAA Tournament winner.
Let’s break this down further as the first games of the 2022 NCAA Tournament draw near.
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Best Game of the First Round
(7) Ohio State vs. (10) Loyola-Chicago: At the moment, the Ramblers need no introduction. It’s the same disciplined, defensively solid team as ever, even after changing coach from Porter Moser to Drew Valentine. Ohio State, with four losses in their last five games, is the wild card here. The Buckeyes were upset in the NCAA First Round as the No. 2 seed Oral Roberts last year, and they certainly won’t ignore Loyola Chicago. Ohio State has suffered a recent setback but may have the best player in the South (Liddell) likely to be thinking about redemption.
Best Potential Match
(1) Arizona vs. (2) Villanova: Arizona has already played No. 3 Tennessee (77-73 road loss on Dec. 22) and No. 2 seed Illinois (83-79 road win on Dec. 11), but the Wildcats have yet to play No. 2 seed Villanova. If they met in the elite eight, it would be a complete contrast of styles. The Wildcats are one of the most dynamic teams in the sport while Villanova is one of the slowest. The bet here is that Arizona will win due to its ability to score inside the arc against a Villanova team that does not have an elite defender under the basket.
The castle was destroyed.
(5) Houston rebounded early: It’s unbelievable that the Cougars won the AAC regular season and AAC tournament titles after losing defensemen Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark to season-ending injuries. Eight-year-old coach Kelvin Sampson turned Houston into a national powerhouse, and the Cougars will soon host another NCAA Tournament. But the UAB is on the rise under second-year coach Andy Kennedy and is preparing a special end-of-season series. The Blazers looked like a team of fortune when they defeated MTSU by three overtimes in the semi-finals of the Conference USA Tournament. It’s a clash of UAB’s 3-point shooting prowess (38%) with Houston’s 3-point shooting defense (29%), and the bet here is that the Blazers will go their separate ways.
Cinderella team that will surprise
(13) Chattanooga: Mocs is Cinderella’s fashion choice, and with good reason. Kansas transfer Silvio De Souza is big enough to rival Illinois star big man Kofi Cockburn, a luxury most mid-level teams don’t have. With an ever-important component of veteran quarterback play also present in the form of Malachi Smith and David Jean-Baptiste, the Mocs are a sleeper choice for the Sweet 16. Don’t be surprised if their five-year-old head coach Lamon Paris, a former assistant from Wisconsin, becomes known in the coming weeks in links to vacancies at the Energy Conference.
The team that leaves too soon
(11) Michigan: At age 17-14, the Wolverines were lucky to just be here after losing to Indiana in their first game of the Big Ten tournament. It has been over a month since they have won consecutive games and there is no reason to believe that they will be able to pick up consecutive wins at this stage. Michigan started the season at No. 6 on the AP Top 25, but heavy youth reliance proved more problematic than expected, and coach Juwan Howard’s post-game behavior garnered more attention than anything his team has done on the court in recent times.
Six players to watch
Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall: Rhoden, an All-Big East first-team winner, is capable of exploding offensively, as legends often do in March. He scored 29 points on just 15 field goals against Ohio State in November and has scored 25 points or more four times this season. Don’t be surprised if you look up and see this 6ft 6in security guard making trouble for TCU and/or Arizona during the first weekend.
Malachi Smith, Chattanooga: Southern Conference Player of the Year is a 6-foot-4 physical guard who shoots an incredible 50.5% from the floor, shooting 14.1 per game, including 41.5% on 4.2 attempts from three-point range. Smith can fill him up seriously, and he’s a key reason Mocs are the fashion choice to upset fourth seed Illinois.
Josiah-Jordan James, Tennessee: The 6’6″ junior winger is sometimes lost in the Volunteer shuffle, but his offensive appearance was the driving force behind their 12-game, 13-game winning streak in the NCAA Tournament. James’ height, versatility, defensive prowess and recent 3-point hit make him an X factor.
Jordan Walker, CJSC: As kids say, C-USA Player of the Year is a bucket. This season, he scored two games with 40 points and 27 points in Saturday’s C-USA title game on just 11 shots. He often gets to the free throw line and makes 88.3% of his attempts there. The 5’11 guard also leads the UAB in assists. He is a March superstar waiting in the wings.
Jameer Nelson Jr., Delaware: Does the name sound familiar? Perhaps for those who remember the St. Joseph’s Elite Eight in 2003. Nelson is the son of the team’s star, Jamir Nelson. The younger Nelson is a guard like his father and leads the Blue Hens in scoring. He has reached double figures in 12 of his last 13 matches and will attract Villanova’s attention.
David Roddy, Colorado: At 6’5″ and 252 pounds, Mountain West’s Player of the Year is a real bowling ball that’s causing trouble for everyone. Roddy scores at all three levels and does everything else for the Rams. The Mountain West defense knows his game well and still can’t defend him. The NCAA tournaments don’t know him well, and they don’t have much time to prepare for his unique skill set.
South Region Winner
(1) Arizona: For a team as dominant as Arizona, the Wildcats have been somewhat under the radar this season due to their Pac-12s returning to mediocrity in 2021. However, make no mistake. Arizona is an elite college basketball team with all the qualities of a national champion. With a great under-the-rim duo of Christian Koloko and Umar Ballo, the Wildcats are testing the defense. However, it is in attack that they thrive. Freshman coach Tommy Lloyd has easily adopted Gonzaga’s philosophy after a long stint at the Zags staff, and he has a deep rotation of quality defenders and wingers to implement it. The group is led by would-be lottery player Bennedict Mathurin, and his high-end talent is a key part of the formula.
The Wildcats have already played two of their biggest rivals in the region, beating Illinois on the road. They lost in Tennessee, but the Volunteers went undefeated at their home field, and a rematch on neutral ground would likely lead to a different outcome. The No. 2 seed in the region, Villanova, will be no match for Arizona in the interior, and it’s hard to imagine any of the other candidates having the talent to hold this offense for 40 minutes.