Bracketology 2022: 5 mid-major squads with potential for at-large bids

Chattanooga Mocs (Southern)

Chattanooga basketball is another mid-major basketball squad that hasn’t seen the NCAA Tournament since 2016. They’re 20-5 this season and on top of the SoCon basketball landscape at 10-2 in the standings heading into a pivotal part of the season.

The Mocs are led by sophomore star guard Malachi Smith in 2021-22. He’s producing 20.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.2 apg and 1.8 spg on 42.1 percent shooting from 3-point land and 51 percent from the field. He leads SoCon basketball in scoring and ranks 11th among the NCAA basketball ranks.

Former Kansas signee Silvio De Sousa has landed on his feet with Chattanooga basketball as well. He’s averaging 11.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, and 1.2 bpg in their starting rotation.

The Mocs will need to prove themselves this month, though. With losses against Belmont and Murray State on their non-conference slate and conference losses against Western Carolina and Samford, there’s little room for error for the Mocs if they have hopes for an at-large bid.

They’re 0-2 against Q1 teams but 2-0 against Q2 teams heading into their final stretch of the regular season conference schedule. It could be better for them to win the automatic bid by winning the Southern Conference tournament so they don’t put their fate in the hands of the committee.