NCAA Tournament Selection Show Preview 2022: Info, Bracketology, How to Watch

UCLA is being projected as a No. 4 seed in March Madness, but the committee will make its final decision Sunday.

With the regular season over and conference tournaments wrapping up, it’s time for the real March Madness to begin.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will get started Tuesday with the First Four, followed by several weeks of high-stakes hoops that culminate in the Final Four and national title game. UCLA men’s basketball – the winningest program in history with 11 championships – will be vying for a bid not only to the Big Dance, but to its closing moments as well.

Before that time comes, though, there is Selection Sunday.

The famed selection show will begin at 3 p.m. on CBS, the broadcast home of the entire tournament. The show will begin with the No. 1 seeds being revealed, and then the entire bracket will be announced region by region.

Looking at the projections by expert bracketologists – including ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’s Jerry Palm – the Bruins seem to be in line for a No. 4 seed. A No. 3 seed remains within reach, although it would have been a near-lock for UCLA to earn had they beat Arizona in the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday night.

The Wildcats are one of the presumed locks for a No. 1, right behind Gonzaga, who also beat the Bruins earlier this season.

UCLA is currently No. 7 in the KenPom rankings, No. 9 in the BPI and No. 10 in the most recent NET Rankings, which suggests a No. 3 seed is certainly still in play. The Bruins’ strength of schedule ranked No. 61 in the country this year, though, putting them at No. 15 in strength of record.

With a top-four seed all but locked up, UCLA will also get assigned to a region with geography taken into account. The Bruins are more than likely going to end up playing their first round game in either Portland or San Diego, Lunardi said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week.

If they end up in the West Region, UCLA would play its Sweet 16 and Elite Eight contests in San Francisco, should they make it that far. The Final Four is located in New Orleans.

UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond is a representative on the selection committee this year, but he will have to abstain from any votes or decisions that involve his Bruins.

Here is the schedule for the entire NCAA tournament:

March 13: Selection Sunday

March 15-16: First Four

March 17-18: Round of 64

March 19-20: Round of 32 

March 24-25: Sweet 16

March 26-27: Elite Eight

April 2: Final Four

April 4: Championship

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