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, and the bolded teams are squads who have already clinched automatic bids to either the NCAA or NIT.  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 January 29th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Baylor, Villanova, Kansas, Gonzaga

2-seeds: Louisville, Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina

3-seeds: Butler, Florida State, Creighton, Virginia

4-seeds: West Virginia, UCLA, Duke, Florida

5-seeds: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Oregon

• It’s weird to seed the projected Big 10 Champ this low but that conference appears to lack a legitimate title contender this season.

6-seeds: Maryland, South Carolina, Saint Mary’s, Xavier

• The Terps are a very quiet 19-2 this season.

7-seeds: Purdue, SMU, Southern California, Northwestern

• Can the Wildcats earn their first ever tourney bid?  Right now they are well in but will it hold?

8-seeds: Minnesota, Virginia Tech, VCU, Marquette

9-seeds: Dayton, Middle Tennessee, Michigan State, Clemson

• Sparty is much improved after looking like an NIT team during the first month of their season.

10-seeds: Tennessee, Seton Hall, Indiana, Georgia Tech

11-seeds: Kansas State, Arkansas, Iowa State, TCU, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh

12-seeds: Illinois State, UNC-Wilmington, Valpo, Nevada

• The Seahawks are my local team so I’ve followed them closely all season.  They are going to be a dangerous NCAA tourney out depending on their matchup, assuming they can repeat as CAA champions.

13-seeds: Akron, Monmouth, New Mexico State, UT-Arlington

• Monmouth and its lovable bench are back and hopefully they won’t choke away a tourney bid like they did last season.

14-seeds: Vermont, Belmont, East Tennessee State, Winthrop

• The Catamounts are rocking a surprisingly high RPI.

15-seeds: North Dakota State, Bucknell, Florida Gulf Coast, Princeton

16-seeds: Texas Southern, Sam Houston, Weber State, UC Davis, Mount St. Mary’s, North Carolina Central

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Michigan, Miami-FL, California, Texas Tech

2-seeds: Georgetown, Georgia, Wake Forest NC State

3-seeds: Illinois, Providence, Rhode Island, Houston

4-seeds: Illinois State, UNC Wilmington, Valpo, Nevada

5-seeds: Akron, Wichita State, Stanford, Monmouth

6-seeds: Auburn, Alabama, Penn State, Utah

7-seeds: Memphis, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas A & M

8-seeds: Boise State, New Mexico State, La Salle, New Mexico

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Temple, UT-Arlington, Syracuse