March Madness is officially here. After the 68-team 2022 NCAA men’s basketball tournament was unveiled on Selection Sunday, I went through every first-round matchup, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each team, and picked the winner of each game.

Here’s every first-round matchup in the 2022 NCAA tournament, picked. Advanced stats are courtesy of kenpom.com.

West Region

No. 1 seed Gonzaga vs. No. 16 seed Georgia State

Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, has advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the last six NCAA tournaments, including two national runner-up finishes and two Elite Eight exits, so the Zags haven’t only been a safe pick in the first round, they’ve been a safe pick to make it through the first weekend.

Pick: Gonzaga

No. 8 seed Boise State vs. No. 9 seed Memphis

This matchup will be a clash of styles in terms of tempo, as the Tigers, who play at the 34th-fastest tempo nationally, want to push the ball, while the Broncos (307th) would like to buck that trend. There’s also going to be a strength-on-strength matchup on the boards, where Memphis ranks fifth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and Boise State ranks fifth in defensive rebounding percentage.

Offensive rebounding is of particular importance to Memphis because the Tigers commit a turnover on almost 23 percent of their offensive possessions, which ranks 352nd nationally, so offensive rebounds allow them to maximize the possessions in which they do attempt a shot.

Pick: Boise State

No. 5 seed UConn vs. No. 12 seed New Mexico State

UConn’s 6-foot-9, 240-pound sophomore Adama Sanogo had just four points and four rebounds in 16 minutes in UConn’s first-round loss to Maryland in the 2021 NCAA tournament. Thanks to a breakout second season in which he’s averaging 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, he could reasonably put up four points and grab four rebounds in…