The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics last week announced the 2022 Men’s Basketball National Championship brackets. The pairings for the 64-team opening round were divided into four quadrants and will take place at 16 sites throughout the country on March 11-12. The winners at each of those sites will advance to the round of 16 in the 84th annual National Championship in Kansas City, Missouri on March 17-22.

The Central Methodist men’s team, with a 22-10 overall record, was placed in the Liston quadrant of the field of 64. The Eagles have been pitted against the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lions of Waxahachie, Texas. SAGU and Waxahachie, have been designated as hosts for Central, Montana Tech, and Mid-America Christian (Oklahoma) in the opening round.

Oklahoma Wesleyan was named the first seed in the quadrant while Central is seeded 11th and SAGU, with a record of 22-8, earned the sixth seed. The winner of the CMU-SAGU game will advance to play the winner of the game between third-seeded Montana Tech and 14th-seeded Mid-America Christian (Oklahoma).

William Penn (Iowa), Loyola (Louisiana), and Arizona Christian, in the Duer, Naismith, and Cramer quadrants, respectively, are the remaining top seeds in the tournament.

Central had a 12-7 Heart of America Athletic Conference record. The Eagles averaged 75.8 points and 41.6 rebounds per game over the 2021-22 season 

SAGU finished its conference season at 16-6 while winning the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament championship. The Lions averaged 80.1 points and 40 rebounds per game.

Tipoff for the opening round game between Central and SAGU is set for Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The full men’s bracket appears on page 9.