My 2022 March Madness Bracket

There’s a moment in The Dark Knight where The Batman apprehends The Joker in what seems like it might be a decisive victory. The citizens of Gotham have just made a remarkable show of solidarity, and Batman assumes the Joker’s plans have been completely foiled. The Joker dangles upside down from Batman’s grapple as the police swarm their location. But he’s unfazed and still sporting a sinister grin. We find out why he’s in good spirits as he begins revealing the details of his scheme: having broken Harvey Dent’s spirit and thus transformed him from  a public servant to a public menace, he’s set in action a series of events that will unleash chaos and a cause Gotham’s to destroy itself from the inside out. “Madness is like gravity,” he pontificates. “All it takes is a little push!”

What will be the “push” that turns this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament into a complete madhouse? Let’s see…

I think the biggest surprise I have projected in my bracket is Memphis in the Sweet 16. For the first time in 8 years, the Memphis Tigers make an appearance in the big dance; this is Penny Hardaway’s first Championship chance as a head coach. I’ve somewhat romanticized their story as the comeback kid in the tournament. I have long begrudged John Calipari for his scandalous departure from Memphis, which led to the Tigers program stagnating under Josh Pastner, followed by a couple of abysmal and uneventful seasons with Tubby Smith as Head Coach. When Penny Hardaway took the helm of the program, I’m sure it felt like a homecoming of sorts. There is no doubt in my mind that he hopes to pick up where he left off in the 1992 tournament – when he led the Tigers to the Elite Eight – and take the team all the way.

The state of Tennessee actually gets quite a bit of my sympathy this year. Memphis and Chattanooga figure prominently in my bracket up through the Sweet Sixteen. I would’ve loved to carry them forward, but sound mind wouldn’t allow such an endorsement for either team. Fortune favors the bold… but that’s no excuse for hubris. Memphis fell a bit short on luck less than a week ago and lost the AAC Championship title to the University of Houston, a defensive fortress with just enough artillery on its roster. Chattanooga barely secured their tournament spot, but that incredible overtime buzzer-beater shot from 30 feet away is too hard to ignore. I’m hoping for at least enough magic to manage a few upsets, before luck runs out.

All my faith, therefore, lies in Tennessee. The journey I’ve charted is a difficult one – requiring them to knock Arizona off of their peg –  but I hear Rick Barnes is a praying man, so my hope is that he has confessed and been blessed. 

• Trust thyself…

The rest of my picks are driven by nostalgia, favoritism, cluelessness, and hate. (That is to say the motivations that belie my bracket are not much different than those of anyone else’s). This year, instead of employing various complicated methodologies or relying on the outputs from any of those state-of-the-art, artificially intelligent, analytical and quantitative performance predictors, I decided to go with my emotions in making selections. Doing so allowed me to save paper, ink, and countless hours of agony… [Edit: it also led me to make a few mistakes on my bracket, for example: not choosing a winner between St. Mary’s and Indiana… doh!]

• Words vs Actions

I have always maintained that UNC is “my team”, but history seems to show that I am much more confident in betting on Michigan State. I bet on them as Finalists in 2019 and again this year (excuse my incorrect designation of Michigan State as just Michigan– thanks!)

• Love of Angels

My infatuation with the city of Los Angeles has never been more apparant. Location and a cursory glance at the seeding led to me awarding UCLA and USC optimistic placements on my bracket.

• Logic vs. Reason

As usual, I’ll never allow Kentucky a substantive win on my bracket for as long as John Calipari is around. Admittedly, the idea of Murray St. defeating Kentucky defies all logic but…where does logic fit into this? How fitting is it that at the same time this tournament begins, I’m reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Oh, how I love life’s ironies!