March Madness 2022: Will Memphis Make the NCAA Tournament?

Memphis has turned itself from one of the most disappointing teams in the country to one of the hottest and most dangerous come March.

After completing a season sweep of AAC regular season champ Houston, Memphis now appears to be a shoe-in to make the NCAA Tournament. Let's check in on where the Tigers stand heading into their conference tournament and where they are forecasted to appear come Selection Sunday.

Memphis NCAA Tournament Projection

Memphis is now consistently appearing in brackets that are tracked and compiled at Bracket Matrix, 113 of 123, with an average seed of 10.98. The club has won 10 of its last 11 games after starting the season 9-8.

The Tigers do appear primed to make the NCAA Tournament with the Alabama and a pair of Houston wins, as of now sitting in the play-in game, per ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

I am confident Memphis will end up in the field of 68 considering who is behind the Tigers in most brackets, such as Xavier, who stands closer to the bubble and lacks the ability to make a run in its respective conference tournament.

An issue for Memphis will be if non-at large teams make runs in their conference tournament and earn the automatic qualifier (see: the Mountain West with a host of sleepers in the field). Every "bid thief" will push Memphis closer to falling out of the field, so keep an eye on smaller conferences and if surprise teams win their tournaments.

Memphis Remaining Schedule

The Tigers need to avoid disaster in the AAC Tournament, and the bracket produces some potential land mines along the way. The team will play the winner of South Florida and UCF on Friday night, with UCF likely considerable favorites. The Knights secured a home win over Memphis earlier in the season. That being said, Memphis did throttle them in early February, winning 88-60.

A win there should be enough to avoid a major change in sentiment, but they are on track to face SMU in the semis, who is the only team to beat Penny Hardaway's group since Jan. 23.

As the No. 2 seed, they are on a collision course with Houston in the AAC Finals, who we have stated has struggled to keep up with Memphis this season.

All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 91-82-3 for +4.58 units.