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 Mondays and Fridays). This bracket projection has been updated through all games played on Sunday February 28th.
NCAA Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Kansas, Villanova, Oklahoma, Virginia
2-seeds: Oregon, Michigan State, North Carolina, Xavier
3-seeds: Miami-FL, Utah, West Virginia, Maryland
4-seeds: Texas A & M, Kentucky, Duke, California
5-seeds: Iowa, Purdue, Iowa State, Texas
6-seeds: Baylor, Texas Tech, Indiana, Dayton
7-seeds: Colorado, St. Joe’s, Arizona, Notre Dame
8-seeds: Seton Hall, Wisconsin, Oregon State, Pittsburgh
9-seeds: South Carolina, Southern California, Providence, UConn
10-seeds: Wichita State, Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt
11-seeds: Tulsa, Monmouth, Syracuse, St. Bonaventure, Cincinnati, Michigan
12-seeds: Arkansas-Little Rock, St. Mary’s, Valpo, Princeton
13-seeds: San Diego State, Akron, Chattanooga, South Dakota State
14-seeds: Stony Brook, Hofstra, UAB, Hawaii
15-seeds: Belmont, Stephen F. Austin, New Mexico State, Weber State
16-seeds: North Florida, High Point, Hampton, Bucknell, Wagner, Texas Southern
NIT Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Temple, VCU, Butler, Arkansas-Little Rock
2-seeds: George Washington, Florida State, St. Mary’s, Gonzaga
3-seeds: Valpo, Princeton, Stanford, San Diego State
4-seeds: LSU, Ohio State, UCLA, Akron
5-seeds: Chattanooga, Washington, South Dakota State, Georgia Tech
6-seeds: Yale, Kansas State, Davidson, Creighton
7-seeds: Stony Brook, Brigham Young, Georgia, Hofstra
8-seeds: Houston, UAB, UNC-Wilmington, Hawaii
Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: UC-Irvine, Boise State, Ole Miss, IPFW, Marquette, William & Mary, Evansville, Fresno State