The 7 best matchups to watch during the First Round of March Madness 2022 (2024)

Memphis

Memphis’ mostly-early season struggles are well documented. Penny Hardaway had some visible frustrations, the hyped freshmen Emoni Bates and Jalen Durenreally had a rough go at it, and the Tigers as a whole struggled for much of the season. But things look different in Memphis about now. Duren has found his way, Bates hasn’t played since the end of January and Penny Hardaway’s team had won 10 of 11 games before falling to Houston in the championship game of the AAC Tournament.

Boise State

Meanwhile, Boise State is the Mountain West Conference champion of both the regular season and the conference tourney. Needless to say, this is a surprising development for a team that was projected to finish in fourth place. The Broncos have gotten it done all season long thanks to their seniors Abu Kigab, Marcus Shaver Jr. and Emanuel Akot, while freshman wing Tyson Degenhart looks like he may be an NBA player one day.

What to watch for

The Broncos probably haven’t played any team as talented as Memphis. And while the Tigers are certainly battled tested, they haven’t had great success in those games. Boise allows the 13th fewest points per game on the season (60.8) and Memphis averages 75.4 ppg. A high-scoring game vs. a low one may be indicative of which team comes out on top.

Game Lines

Spread: Memphis -2.5 (-110), Boise State +2.5 (-110)

Moneyline: Memphis -145, Boise State +120

Points Totals: Over 132.5 (-115), Under 132.5 (-107)

Michigan

It’s been a strange year for Michigan, to say the least. After opening the season as the No. 6 team, the Wolverines finished unranked and concluded the Big Ten regular-season seventh in the standings — limping to the finish line. So what’s the deal with Michigan? Juwan Howard is back on the sidelines and they do have Hunter Dickinson, one of the best bigs in the nation, and both Eli Brooks and Caleb Houstan have been pretty good. But they’ll need to put it all together if they want to make a run.

Colorado State

The Rams’ season is already a successful one regardless of the outcome here. However, this team should feel optimistic about its chances of moving on. This season, CSU went 25-5 and did not lose a single game to any team outside of the Mountain West, including against NCAA Tournament teams Creighton and Saint Mary’s.

What to watch for

For as battle-tested as the Rams are, they haven’t faced a big all year long as dominant as Dickinson. But Michigan’s season-long production from Dickinson hasn’t necessarily resulted in wins. Yet, CSU’s David Roddy could have equally as big of an impact on this game for the Rams. It should be a fun head-to-head matchup between those two players.

Game Lines

Spread: Michigan -2.5 (-107), Colorado State +2.5 (-115)

Moneyline: Michigan -145, Colorado State +120

Points Totals: Over 139.5 (-110), Under 139.5 (-110)

Ohio State

The Buckeyes are good, again. The Buckeyes are dancin’, again. Such is par for the course when it comes to Ohio State men’s basketball teams. But we’re dismissing that, for the sake of this article. The Buckeyes, regardless of talent and regular-season success, haven’t accomplished much in the NCAA Tournament recently. In fact, OSU lost in the First Round last season and hasn’t won more than one game in the tourney since 2013. But that should change this season behind the brilliance of big man EJ Liddell who averaged 19.6 points and 7.9 rebounds.

Loyola Chicago

The Ramblers won the MVC Tournament for the third time in five years and punched their ticket to the Big Dance. Although, that auto-bid was desperately needed this time around. Loyola hardly had any significant wins during the non-conference portion of its schedule and ended conference play with the same record as the third and fourth-placed teams. Nevertheless, the Ramblers are back in the tourney, this time led by Drew Valentine (first-year head coach) and Lucas Williamson.

What to watch for

History says that Ohio State could come up short, while Loyola makes another Cinderella run. It’ll be interesting to see how, specifically, the first 10 minutes of this game plays out what tone it could set for the remainder of the game.

Game Lines

Spread: Loyola Chicago +1.5 (-125), Ohio State -1.5 (+100)

Moneyline: Loyola Chicago -108, Ohio State -112

Points Totals: Over 135.5 (-107), Under 135.5 (-115)

Creighton

The Bluejays aren’t supposed to be here. They lost every starter from last year’s Sweet 16 team and thrusted three true freshmen into the rotation. But they are here! In perhaps his best coaching job since taking the job in Omaha, Greg McDermott helped orchestrate a 22-11 season and a fourth-place finish in the Big East. But Creighton will be without its starting point guard Ryan Nembhard, the conference’s freshman of the year, who underwent season-ending surgery on his wrist a few weeks back. We’ll see how deep the Jays can dig for this game.

San Diego State

These aren’t your Kawhi Leonard Aztecs or even your Jamaal Franklin Aztecs. This is a different kind of SDSU team without NBA talent. Yet, it’s a familiar team in the sense that they’re all about their business on the defensive end. The Aztecs win some nasty, low-scoring, grind-it-out games that would make the 1990s proud. But that’s how they like it. The Aztecs led the nation in opponents’ points per game (57.7) and were fourth in opponents’ field goal percentage (38.2). Don’t expect anything other than another gritty defensive approach from San Diego State.

What to watch for

This has the potential to be an extremely low-scoring game. Creighton’s offense has real potential to struggle when it isn’t making threes (see its 54-48 loss to Villanova) while SDSU doesn’t get much production from anyone outside of Matt Bradley. It feels like the first team to 65 points wins this game and moves onto the second round.

Game Lines

Spread: Creighton +2.5 (-108), San Diego State -2.5 (-112)

Moneyline: Creighton +122, San Diego State -150

Points Totals: Over 119.5 (-115), Under 119.5 (-107)

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LSU

The Tigers are a good team. They finished fifth in the loaded SEC and were a tough out on most nights. But they mostly beat up on the teams that fell beneath them in the standings and were average, at best, against the conference’s contenders. On top of that, their head coach Will Wade was just recently fired. The firing and mediocre play during the season makes LSU a legitimate question mark ahead of the tourney.

Iowa State

It’s certainly been a tale of two seasons for the Cyclones. The first half was great, going 12-0 through the non-conference. But Iowa State went just 8-12 the rest of the way and 7-11 in Big 12 play, finishing the season seventh in the standings. The question going forward is which Cyclone team is going to show up? The one that averaged north of 73.0 points per game over the first 12? Or the team that scratched and clawed its way to 62.5 over the final 18 games,

What to watch for

The Cyclones were the Big 12’s worst scoring team (66.5 ppg) and the Tigers only gave up 63.5 over their 33 games played. But we know Iowa State is more than capable of scoring points. I’ll have my eye on Izaiah Brockington in this matchup, the fourth-leading scorer in the conference (17.2 ppg).

Game Lines

Spread: Iowa State +3.5 (-103), LSU -3.5 (-117)

Moneyline: Iowa State +155, LSU -190

Points Totals: Over 127.5 (-108), Under 127.5 (-112)

Iowa

Who is hotter than the Iowa Hawkeyes these days? The Hawkeyes won eight of its final 10 regular-season games before heading into the Big Ten Tournament and reeling off four-straight wins to capture the conference tourney championship. Consider their recent level of play and then factor in that the Hawkeyes have Keegan Murray, one of college basketball’s best scorers this season (23.6 ppg). There’s a lot to like about Iowa’s chances moving forward.

Richmond

There’s also a lot to like about Richmond. Maybe you haven’t heard of them, so here’s a quick rundown:

• Experienced— six seniors averaging double-digit minutes.
• Balanced — three players averaging more than 13.0 points per game.
• A10 champs — knocked off Davison to punch their ticket to the dance.

There’s a bit of a Cinderella vibe to them given the team’s makeup, but they’ll need to be clicking to make this thing work.

What to watch for

Watch for Keegan Murray being the best player on the floor. That seems inevitable at this point, given his stats throughout the season. But also watch for Tyler Burton and Jacob Gilyard potentially playing as the second and third best players on the court. This Richmond-Iowa matchup will be a good one should the aforementioned players live up to the hype.

Game Lines

Spread: Richmond +10.5 (-112), Iowa -10.5 (-108)

Moneyline: Richmond +440, Iowa -650

Points Totals: Over 150.5 (-110), Under 150.5 (-110)

Texas

What do we make of Texas? The Longhorns are a talented team, created mostly via the transfer portal, that checks a ton of boxes on paper. The reality is that this team just hasn’t been great. But I’d hate to trash them, they’re a perfectly “solid” team. They went 10-8 in the Big 12 and found themselves fourth in the standings as the regular season ended. Chris Beard and his talented squad can still make good on their preseason Final Four projections by tapping into a level of play that they occasionally flashed, but never sustained, during this season.

Virginia Tech

Do you like fun? Well then, you must like the Hokies. Go watch the ACC Tournament championship game between Va Tech and Duke and you’ll see the brand of basketball that the Hokies play. And look at the way they turned things up a notch during the second half of ACC play, winning nine of their final 11 games. It’s easy to find all the good with the conference tourney winners, and Tech is no different.

What to watch for

I’m going to be monitoring the three-point line. VT puts them up and converts at a high rate (best in ACC). Texas, on the other hand? Not so much. It feels like this game could be decided by how wide of a margin there might be in the three-point department. At least, that’s what I think. Time will tell.

Game Lines

Spread: Virginia Tech +1.5 (-115), Texas -1.5 (-107)

Moneyline: Virginia Tech +102, Texas -125

Points Totals: Over 123.5 (-115), Under 123.5 (-107)

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