2022 NCAA Tournament South Region bracket picks: Upset watch, Arizona's toughest test and more to know

Arizona was always a national title contender under former coach Sean Miller but could never reach a Final Four. Might that change under first-year coach Tommy Lloyd? He knows a thing or two about Final Four runs as a former assistant at Gonzaga under Mark Few. And I'll just say it now: This writer believes Arizona will face Gonzaga for the national championship on April 4 from New Orleans. 

Every team that has won the national title since 2002, except for the surprising 2013-14 UConn team, finished the year in the Top 25 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency via KenPom. Arizona is No. 5 in offensive efficiency and No. 20 defensively. Frankly, that latter number seems low with UA among the national shot-blocking leaders are 5.7 per game. Per KenPom, the Cats are the second biggest team in the country.  

Sophomore Bennedict Mathurin, a likely 2022 NBA lottery pick, was the Pac-12 Player of the Year and 7-foot-1 center Christian Koloko was named Defensive Player of the Year as well as Most Improved Player of the Year. Pelle Larsson brought home Sixth Man of the Year honors.

Lloyd's club has six wins this season when trailing by at least 10 points in a game, second-most in the nation. The Cats also are 26-0 when scoring at least 80 points and hit that number in all three Pac-12 Tournament games.

I would argue the South is the deepest of the four regions as behind Pac-12 regular-season and tournament champion Arizona are: No. 2 Villanova, the Big East Tournament champion; No. 3 Tennessee, the SEC Tournament champion; No. 4 Illinois, the Big Ten regular-season champion; and No. 5 Houston, the AAC Tournament winner and a 2021 Final Four team. No team in the country shoots free throws better than Villanova (82.3 percent), and that's always an important stat in the Big Dance.  Four of the top six players in the rotation shoot at least 83 percent.

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Before you lock in your bracket, here's everything you should consider about the South Region.

More regional breakdowns: West | Midwest | East | South

Who wins the South Regional? And which team has a better chance than expected of knocking out Arizona early? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out what you need to know about the South Regional before filling out your bracket, all from the SportsLine expert who is 89-64-4 (+1850) on his last 157 college basketball ATS picks!