The 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2021–22 season. The 83rd annual edition of the tournament began on March 15, 2022, and concluded with the championship game on April 4 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the Kansas Jayhawks defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels, 72–69, overcoming a 16-point first-half deficit (the largest deficit overcome in championship game history), to claim the school’s fourth national title.
Big South Conference champion Longwood and Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Bryant made their tournament debuts. Bryant was eliminated in the First Four by Wright State, and Longwood was eliminated by Tennessee in the first round.
A major upset occurred on the first full day of the tournament, when 15-seed Saint Peter's upset 2-seed Kentucky, and subsequently became the third 15-seed to reach the Sweet 16 (the second consecutive year in which this occurred and third in the last nine years) and the first ever 15-seed to advance to the Elite Eight. This was the tenth time a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed overall, but it was the sixth time since 2012 this occurred. The defending champions Baylor were defeated by North Carolina in the second round, ensuring the defending champion and at least one top seed was eliminated before the regional semifinals for the fifth consecutive tournament, and at least one double-digit seed (this year, four: 15-seed Saint Peter's, 11-seeds Michigan and Iowa State, and 10-seed Miami) made the Sweet 16 for the 15th straight tournament. Also, when Kansas defeated Providence in the Sweet 16, the Jayhawks passed Kentucky for the most all time wins by a Division I program, with 2,354.
Tournament procedure
A total of 68 teams have been entered into the 2022 tournament. A total of 32 automatic bids were awarded to each program that won a conference tournament (with one exception, as the tournament winner in the ASUN Conference was ineligible, due to its transition from Division II). The remaining 36 bids were issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee. The Selection Committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.
Eight teams (the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams) played in the First Four. The winners of these games advanced to the main bracket of the tournament.
The top four teams outside of the ranking (commonly known as the "first four out" in pre-tournament analyses) acted as standbys in the event a school is forced to withdraw before the start of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Any recipient of an automatic bid would designate a replacement from within their own conference if they need to withdraw. Otherwise, the replacement teams were as follows, in order:
Once the tournament starts, any team that is forced to withdraw will not be replaced; the bracket will not be reseeded, and the affected team's opponent will automatically advance to the next round.
2022 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues
After the 2020 tournament was cancelled and the 2021 tournament was held in a single location due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reverted to the standard format for the first time since 2019.
The sites selected to host each round of the 2022 tournament were:
First Four
March 15 and 16
University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
First and second rounds (Subregionals) March 17 and 19 Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, Texas (Host: Texas Christian University) Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League and IUPUI) KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York (Host: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Niagara University and Canisius College) Moda Center, Portland, Oregon (Host: Oregon State University) March 18 and 20 Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina (Hosts: Southern Conference and Furman University) Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University) PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: Duquesne University) Viejas Arena, San Diego, California (Host: San Diego State University)