The 2022 NCAA Tournament was a reminder that the season resets once March Madness begins
Once the bracket is created, a new season begins. The number to the left of the team's name is trivial. Teams no longer have months to prove themselves. One defeat and their season is over. There is no time to recover from injury. There's no waiting for the next game when you make a bad matchup. It is alive and moving.
The 2022 NCAA Tournament often did not reflect regular-season performance. Two double-digit seeds made it to the Elite Eight and two more advanced to the Sweet 16. A number 8 seed (North Carolina) played for the national championship.
It should come as no surprise, then, that if the team's performance did not reflect that of the regular season, the conference's performance did not either. Here are the details of how each conference fared. In parentheses are the number of teams from that conference, its overall tournament record, and the number of wins against high seeds versus the number of losses against low seeds.
Metro Atlantic (1, 3-1, 3-0): One of the best stories of the tournament was the race to the Elite Eight by No. 15 seed St. Peters. Peacock defeated No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 7 seed Murray State and No. 3 seed Purdue along the way before losing to North Carolina. This would be talked about for years, in a tournament of great stories.
ACC (5, 14-5, 7-1): The ACC's regular season was the worst in recent memory. Throughout the season, Duke was much better than anyone else in the league. 2 seed to the Blue Devils, but the next highest seeding was North Carolina. However, both made it to the Final Four and Miami were ranked number 10 seed in the Elite Eight. It was about as critical a difference between regular-season performance and tournament performance as you can get.
Big 12 (6, 13-5, 3-1): This was a solid performance from the Big 12, which included Kansas' six-game run to the national title. Iowa State was a team that some people should not have fielded at all, but the No. 11 seed Cyclone got in Sweet 16. The only disappointment was No. 1 seed Boiler who fell to eventual finalist North in Round of 32. Carolina.
Americans (2, 4-2, 3-0): There were only two teams in the American Athletic Conference, but each won a game as the lower-seeded team. Memphis defeated Boise State and gave Gonzaga everything he wanted before the fall. 5 seed Houston beat Illinois and top seed Arizona before falling to Villanova in the Elite Eight.
Pac-12 (3, 4-3, 0-3): Arizona, UCLA and USC each lost to the lower-seeded teams. The Trojans did not escape Miami in their opening round of games. Everyone else made Sweet 16, but they were upset at the time. The Bruins were another victim of North Carolina's run in the final.
Big East (6, 7-6, 1-2): The Big East was a mixed bag. Villanova made it to the Final Four before losing to Kansas in the semifinals on Saturday night. Providence also lost to the Jayhawks, but in Sweet 16. 5 seed UConn was upset in the first round by New Mexico State. The other three teams in the league were in games 8–9 and none advanced beyond the second round.
Big Ten (9, 9-9, 3-5): There was a lot of complaint about the Big Ten getting nine teams in the field, but only two for the Sweet 16. The league was technically weak as three teams were seeded in the suite. 16, but it wasn't serious. No team was seeded for the Elite Eight and no one reached there. Nevertheless, the door was opened wide for No. 3 seed Purdue to advance to the Final Four when the top two seeds in the East Zone were bounced past Sweet 16, but the Boilers were undone by No. 15 seed St. Peters. was done. Michigan was the lone bright spot for the conference, reaching Sweet 16 as the No. 11 seed. The conference is still looking for its first title since 2000.
West Coast (3, 3-3, 0-1): The West Coast Conference had a strong regular season, sending three teams to the NCAA Tournament. This corresponds to the highest league mark ever put on the field. However, Gonzaga fell again as the No. 1 seed in his fifth attempt; In fact, the Bulldogs were No. 1 overall for the second consecutive season. This time, they lost to Arkansas in Sweet 16.
WAC (1, 1-1, 1-0): New Mexico State had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1993, which included a total of 11 appearances. The Aggies eventually broke that streak against the Yukon and gave Arkansas a good fight before bowing out.
SWAC, Horizon (1-1, 0-0): Each league won the first four games between the No. 16 seeds.
SEC (6, 5-6, 1-5): This was one of the strongest leagues in regular season play, especially at the top, but it was a disaster once tournament play began. All six teams were seeded sixth or better, but only Arkansas played to their seed level. In fact, Hoggs outperformed him. The other five teams, including No. 1 seed Auburn, lost to double-digit seeds.
Ohio Valley (1, 1-1, 0-1): Murray State's regular season was overwhelming and earned a No. 7 seed, so it should come as no surprise that the racers were eliminated in the second round. It was surprising, however, that they bowed down to St. Peter.
A-10 (2, 1-2, 1-0): Richmond stole a bid by winning the conference tournament, then knocking out No. 5 seed Iowa in the first round. 10 seed Davidson nearly beat Michigan State in the opening round, but fell one point short.
Mountain West (4, 0-4, 0-4): This was a banner regular-season for Mountain West. The conference fielded four teams in the NCAA Tournament, the most since fielding five in 2013. Things didn't go well once the tournament began, however. All four teams lost their first game to the lower seeded teams.