NCAA Basketball: Breakdown of all 32 autobids for 2022 NCAA Tournament
By Bryan Mauro
Montana State Bobcats – Big Sky
Record: 27-7 and 16-4 in Conference
Location: Bozeman, Montana
Colors: Blue and Gold
Last Appearance: 1995-1996
Montana State has been to one other NCAA tournament in history. The point guard on their last NCAA tournament team is their current head coach Danny Sprinkle. Sprinkle has been a catalyst for both tournament appearances in history. The Bobcats do score an awful lot of points without playing overly fast or by shooting a ton of threes. They do it with great shots and great efficiency. The Bobcats get fouled a lot and shoot a good percentage from the free throw line.
Montana State doesn’t have the talent that any of the power five schools have so they are going to have to play hard to stay in a game. Coach Sprinkle is going to get his alma mater, Montana State to the tournament more than once.
Virginia Tech Hokies – ACC
Record: 23-12 and 11-9 in Conference
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Colors: Burnt Orange and Chicago Maroon
Last Appearance: 2020-2021
Given that Virginia Tech received an 11 seed even after beating Duke in the ACC title game, it shows that they were a bid stealer and would not have gotten in had they not beaten Duke. The Hokies are a hard team to peg because there is not an in-between with them, when they are playing like they are heading into the tournament they are extremely hard to beat, but their bad is bad.
Hopefully, Virginia Tech continues their hot play. They are great on the defensive end as they make teams operate in the half-court at a snail’s pace. Virginia Tech also denies the three-point line and is a good rebounding team. Those are things that have typically led to good success in the NCAA tournament.
Another thing that leads to a ton of success in the NCAA tournament is that Virginia Tech is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country as they shoot 39% as a team. The Hokies are an interesting team to watch in the NCAA tournament.