4 Virginia Teams To Play In 2022 NCAA March Madness Tournament

VIRGINIA — Selections are in for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, better known as "March Madness," which is slated to begin Tuesday with the First Four games in the tournament to be played in Dayton, Ohio.

Four teams from Virginia made the annual men's tournament this year, none of them seeded higher than 11:

• Norfolk State University, 16th seed: The Norfolk State Spartans will take on the 1-seed and defending national champion Baylor Bears on Thursday, March 17 at 2 p.m.
• Longwood University, 14th seed: The Longwood Lancers, in their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, will face the 3-seed Tennessee Volunteers, who won the SEC Championship this year, on Thursday, March 17 at 2:45 p.m.
• University of Richmond, 12th seed: The Richmond Spiders will go up against the 5-seed Iowa Hawkeyes, who won the 2022 Big Ten Championship, on Thursday, March 17 at 3:10 p.m.
• Virginia Tech, 11th seed: The Virginia Tech Hokies will face the 6-seed Texas Longhorns on Friday, March 18 at 4:30 p.m.

No teams from the immediate D.C. area made the men's tournament this year. Since 1978, the D.C. area has had only one other tournament — 2018 — without one of its teams in the field, according to The Washington Post.

Selection Sunday was held Sunday for both the men's and women’s tournaments. Below are the major dates to know for the 2022 March Madness tournament. Printable brackets are available.

• Selection Sunday: March 13
• First Four: March 15-16
• First round: March 17-18
• Second round: March 19-20
• Sweet 16: March 24-25
• Elite Eight: March 26-27
• Final Four: April 2
• NCAA championship game: April 4

Baylor is the defending national champion after the Bears defeated Gonzaga to win the national title last year. Both teams were among the favorites to return to the championship this year. The odds for the top five were as follows, according to DraftKings:

• Gonzaga : +350 (23.8 percent chance)
• Arizona: +650 (13.3 percent chance)
• Kentucky: +700 (12.5 percent chance)
• Baylor: +1,000 (9.1 percent chance)
• Duke: +1,200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Auburn: +1,200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Purdue: +1,400 (6.7 percent chance)
• Kansas: +1,400 (6.7 percent chance)