The teams below are displayed below on an S-curve, so they are ranked from left to right within each seeding line.  The italicized teams are ones predicted to win their conference tourney and gain an automatic bid to the dance.  For the conferences who currently have NCAA tourney teams, it is assumed that one of those teams will win their conference tourney.  If not, then a stolen bid would result, and the number of at-large bids would drop.

Also, just to clarify, my bracket projection is intended to project the NCAA Tournament field if it was chosen today.  Unlike some bracketologists, I am not trying to predict how each team will finish the season and then seed the teams based on that.  There is one slight exception to this rule, however, and that is that I have always chosen to award the projected automatic bid for each conference to my projected best team in that conference, and not the team who is currently leading the conference standings.   Given how unbalanced conference schedules are, it just seems like common sense to project that the best team in a conference will win the league championship, not the squad currently in first place.

Brad-ketology columns will be published at least twice a week (typically on Sundays and Fridays) and more often than that when it gets closer to tourney time.  This bracket projection has been updated through all games played on Thursday February 5th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, Arizona

2-seeds: Gonzaga, Villanova, Wisconsin, Duke

3-seeds: Louisville, Maryland, VCU, Wichita State

4-seeds: Notre Dame, North Carolina, Utah, Iowa State

5-seeds: Baylor, West Virginia, Norther Iowa, Butler

6-seeds: Providence, Arkansas, Oklahoma, San Diego State

7-seeds: Georgetown, Cincinnati, Indiana, Oklahoma State

8-seeds: Michigan State, Georgia, Colorado State, SMU

9-seeds: Ohio State, Texas, Dayton, Texas A & M

10-seeds: Old Dominion, Seton Hall, Ole Miss, Xavier

11-seeds: LSU, Iowa, Temple, Stanford

12-seeds: Miami-FL, George Washington, Tulsa, Illinois, Wofford, Green Bay

13-seeds: Buffalo, Eastern Washington, Yale, Iona

14-seeds: Long Beach State, Murray State, Stephen F. Austin, William & Mary

15-seeds: North Carolina Central, Georgia Southern, High Point, Texas Southern

16-seeds: Florida Gulf Coast, South Dakota State, Albany, New Mexico State, St. Francis (NY), Bucknell

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: St. John’s, UCLA, Boise State, Davidson

2-seeds: NC State, Wofford, Tennessee, Alabama

3-seeds: Green Bay, Brigham Young, Buffalo, Eastern Washington

4-seeds: Purdue, UMass, Clemson, Washington

5-seeds: Pittsburgh, Wyoming, Oregon, Florida

6-seeds: Michigan, St. Mary’s, Yale, Rhode Island

7-seeds: Memphis, Iona, Long Beach State, Murray State,

8-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Oregon State, Minnesota, Western Kentucky

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Harvard, Illinois State, William & Mary, Richmond, Colorado, Kansas State, Penn State, La Salle