March Madness is back in all its glory with the first full day of the 2022 NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 17. After the 2020 Tournament was canceled and last year’s played in a bubble in the state of Indiana because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Big Dance returns to its typical format, meaning there will be games played at different sites across the country starting at noon ET and going through the evening.
Once again, NCAA Tournament games will be broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV and be available to stream via March Madness Live and other services. Once the games start, brackets will surely be busted in short order as the inevitable upset will occur, but everyone will be watching in anticipation to see which top seed tumbles and if this year’s Cinderella makes an early appearance. Three of the No. 1 seeds (Gonzaga, Kansas, Baylor) will be in action on Thursday.
Regardless of which teams win and which lose there will be plenty of action on the hardwood to take in and digest on Thursday as March Madness has arrived!
Thursday games:
7:10 PM [2] Kentucky Wildcats vs. [15] Saint Peter’s Peacocks
Saint Peter’s is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and still looking for its first-ever win. It probably won’t come against a Kentucky team that has Final Four potential and features Oscar Tshiebwe, the nation’s leading rebounder and front-runner for player of the year honors.
Prediction: Kentucky -18
7:20 PM [5] Saint Mary’s Gaels vs. [12] Indiana Hoosiers
Indiana has to travel all the across the country to Portland after Tuesday’s late night win. This is a big advantage for Saint Mary’s team and we believe they will take it.
Prediction: Saint Mary’s -2.5
9:20 PM [4] Arkansas Razorbacks vs. [13] Vermont Catamounts
This year’s Vermont squad is also talented. They take care of the basketball, limit 2nd chance points, shoot the ball well, and throttled the good puppies (UMBC) by 39 in the America East title game.
But Arkansas was an 0-3 SEC start away from competing away for the SEC regular season title. They won 14 of their final 17 games. If Vermont is going to repeat that 2005 upset, seniors Ben Shungu and Ryan Davis are going to have to make three pointers – but both are capable shooters and over 41% on the season so there is a chance.
Prediction: Arkansas -5
9:57 PM [1] Kansas Jayhawks vs. [16] Texas Southern Tigers
This should be an easy one. Kansas are one of the favourites to win it all, while the Tigers are just a team that has no qualities to challenge the Jayhawks at any point of the game.
Prediction: Kansas -22