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 28th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Virginia, Villanova, Purdue, Xavier

2-seeds: Kansas, Auburn, Duke, Oklahoma

3-seeds: North Carolina, Clemson, Tennessee, Arizona

4-seeds: Texas Tech, West Virginia, Michigan State, Rhode Island

5-seeds: Kentucky, Seton Hall, Butler, Arkansas

6-seeds: Ohio State, Creighton, Florida, Arizona State

7-seeds: Michigan, Louisville, Miami-FL, TCU

8-seeds: Wichita State, Cincinnati, Florida State, Texas

9-seeds: Alabama, Nevada, Providence, Syracuse

10-seeds: St. Mary’s, Gonzaga, Washington, Texas A & M

11-seeds: Houston, Kansas State, Marquette, Missouri, SMU, Southern California

12-seeds: Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Buffalo, Loyola-IL

13-seeds: South Dakota State, Vermont, East Tennessee State, Wright State

14-seeds: UL-Lafayette, Belmont, Northeastern, UC Davis

15-seeds: Rider, Bucknell, Montana, Stephen F. Austin

16-seeds: Radford, Wagner, Penn, Florida Gulf Coast, North Carolina A & T, Arkansas-Pine Bluff

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: South Carolina, St. Bonaventure, UCLA, Georgia 

2-seeds: Utah, NC State, Maryland, Middle Tennessee

3-seeds: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Buffalo, Boise State

4-seeds: UCF, Temple, Nebraska, Notre Dame

5-seeds: Loyola-IL, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Boston College

6-seeds: Mississippi State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, South Dakota State

7-seeds: Vermont, East Tennessee State, Baylor, LSU

8-seeds: Ole Miss, Wright State, UL-Lafayette, Belmont

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Northeastern, Minnesota, Penn State, UC Davis, Stanford, Northwestern, Wyoming, Brigham Young, UConn, Missouri State, Indiana

 

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 Thursday January 25th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Duke

2-seeds: Xavier, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina

3-seeds: Auburn, Clemson, West Virginia, Tennessee

4-seeds: Arizona, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Rhode Island

5-seeds: Seton Hall, Kentucky, Butler, Arkansas

6-seeds: Ohio State, Creighton, TCU, Miami-FL

7-seeds: Florida, Arizona State, Michigan, Louisville

8-seeds: Wichita State, Cincinnati, Florida State, Texas

9-seeds: Nevada, Syracuse, Providence, Alabama

10-seeds: Texas A & M, Missouri, Marquette, St. Mary’s

11-seeds: Gonzaga, Washington, Houston, South Carolina, Kansas State, SMU

12-seeds: New Mexico State, Middle Tennessee, Buffalo, Loyola-IL

13-seeds: South Dakota State, Vermont, East Tennessee State, Wright State

14-seeds: Northeastern, UL-Lafayette, Belmont, UC Davis

15-seeds: Bucknell, Montana, Radford, Canisius

16-seeds: Robert Morris, Penn, Florida Gulf Coast, Nicholls State, Bethune Cookman, Arkansas Pine Bluff

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Georgia, Utah, St. Bonaventure, New Mexico State

2-seeds: UCLA, Maryland, Notre Dame, Southern California

3-seeds: Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Buffalo, Boise State

4-seeds: NC State, UCF, Nebraska, Loyola-IL

5-seeds: Colorado, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Boston College

6-seeds: Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, Minnesota, Baylor

7-seeds: South Dakota State, LSU, Vermont, Ole Miss

8-seeds: East Tennessee State, UConn, Stanford, Wright State

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Iowa State, Missouri State, Northeastern, UL-Lafayette, Belmont, Memphis, UC Davis, Northwestern, Wyoming, Brigham Young

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 21st.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Duke

2-seeds: Kansas, North Carolina, Xavier, West Virginia

3-seeds: Clemson, Auburn, Oklahoma, Tennessee

4-seeds: Arizona, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Rhode Island

5-seeds: Seton Hall, Kentucky, Ohio State, Arizona State

6-seeds: Butler, Arkansas, Florida, Louisville

7-seeds: Michigan, Creighton, Miami-FL, Wichita State

8-seeds: Nevada, Cincinnati, TCU, Florida State

9-seeds: Alabama, Texas A & M, Missouri, Texas

10-seeds: Marquette, Syracuse, Providence, St. Mary’s

11-seeds: Georgia, Gonzaga, Washington, SMU, Houston, Maryland

12-seeds: New Mexico State, Western Kentucky, Buffalo, South Dakota State

13-seeds: Loyola-IL, Vermont, East Tennessee State, Wright State

14-seeds: Northeastern, UL-Lafayette, Belmont, UC Davis

15-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Bucknell, Montana, Radford

16-seeds: Canisius, Robert Morris, Penn, Florida Gulf Coast, North Carolina A & T, Arkansas-Pine Bluff

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: South Carolina, St. Bonaventure, New Mexico State, UCLA

2-seeds: Notre Dame, Western Kentucky, Southern California, Kansas State

3-seeds: UCF, Buffalo, Middle Tennessee, Boise State

4-seeds: Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, NC State

5-seeds: Minnesota, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, South Dakota State

6-seeds: Boston College, Loyola-IL, Baylor, Oregon

7-seeds: Temple, Stanford, Missouri State, Virginia Tech

8-seeds: Vermont, Iowa State, East Tennessee State, LSU

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Wright State, Ole Miss, Northeastern, Tulane, UL-Lafayette, UConn, Belmont, Memphis, UC Davis

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 Thursday January 18th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Duke

2-seeds: Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Xavier

3-seeds: West Virginia, Clemson, Auburn, Texas Tech

4-seeds: Michigan State, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Kentucky

5-seeds: Arizona, Rhode Island, Creighton, Ohio State

6-seeds: Arizona State, Butler, Wichita State, Arkansas

7-seeds: Louisville, Michigan, Miami-FL, TCU

8-seeds: Nevada, Cincinnati, Florida, Missouri

9-seeds: Texas, Florida State, Alabama, Texas A & M

10-seeds: Marquette, Syracuse, Providence, Georgia

11-seeds: Notre Dame, St. Mary’s, St. Bonaventure, UCLA, Washington, Gonzaga

12-seeds: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Buffalo, Missouri State

13-seeds: South Dakota State, Wright State, UC Davis, Vermont

14-seeds: East Tennessee State, Hofstra, UL-Lafayette, Belmont

15-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Radford, Iona, Bucknell

16-seeds: Montana, Robert Morris, Penn, Florida Gulf Coast, North Carolina A & T, Jackson State

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Houston, Western Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico State

2-seeds: NC State, Southern California, Colorado, South Carolina

3-seeds: Boise State, Buffalo, SMU, Utah

4-seeds: Nebraska, Boston College, UCF, LSU

5-seeds: Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

6-seeds: Middle Tennessee, Oregon, Stanford, Missouri State

7-seeds: South Dakota State, Loyola-IL, Baylor, Minnesota

8-seeds: UConn, Ole Miss, Memphis, Wright State

With college football season officially over, it’s time to start dreaming about the glory that is March Madness.  It also means that is time for me to publish my first edition of Brad-ketology for the 2017 season (my personal NCAA/NIT bracket projections).  For the ninth consecutive season, this column will become the staple of my blog from now until Selection Sunday.   Brad-ketology is a little different than other NCAA bracket projections in that it is much more expansive, as it also includes the NIT field and bubble.  Furthermore, it is one of the columns used in the nationally-recognized bracket project which seeds NCAA teams by taking an average of the most prominent bracket projections in the country.  As you will see here, my bracket projection has been the 14th most accurate  amongst the 113 nationally recognized veteran bracketologists.  That’s not too bad considering I am ahead of the chief bracketologists for Yahoo, SI, CBS, and ESPN (Joe Lunardi’s got nothing on me).  In fact, last season I actually finished with the third most accurate bracket in the entire country!

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 the best team in that conference, and not the team who is currently leading the conference standings.  F 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 typically be published twice a week (typically on Mondays and Fridays) and more often than that when it gets closer to tourney time.  Please feel free to comment or debate.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Duke

2-seeds: Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Xavier

3-seeds: West Virginia, Clemson, Seton Hall, Texas Tech

4-seeds: Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wichita State

5-seeds: Michigan State, Arizona, Arizona State, Rhode Island

6-seeds: Arkansas, Ohio State, Creighton, Michigan

7-seeds: Butler, Louisville, Miami-FL, TCU

8-seeds: Nevada, Marquette, Cincinnati, Florida State

9-seeds: Florida, Texas, Alabama, Texas A & M

10-seeds: Missouri, Syracuse, Providence, UCLA

11-seeds: Washington, Gonzaga, Georgia, Notre Dame, Houston, Maryland

12-seeds: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Buffalo, Missouri State

13-seeds: South Dakota State, Wright State, UC Davis, Vermont

14-seeds: East Tennessee State, William & Mary, UL-Lafayette, Belmont

15-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Radford, Iona, Bucknell

16-seeds: Montana, Robert Morris, Penn, Florida Gulf Coast, North Carolina A & T, Jackson State

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, NC State, LSU

2-seeds: St. Bonaventure, Saint Mary’s, Southern California, Colorado

3-seeds: Boise State, Middle Tennessee, Buffalo, UCF

4-seeds: South Carolina, San Diego State, Utah, Boston College

5-seeds: SMU, Oregon, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech

6-seeds: Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Minnesota, Ole Miss

7-seeds: UConn, Missouri State, South Dakota State, Stanford

8-seeds: Kansas State, Baylor, Memphis, Wright State

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: UC Davis, Vermont, Dayton, Indiana, Iowa State, Northwestern

1	UCF
2	Alabama
3	Wisconsin
4	Georgia
5	Clemson
6	Oklahoma
7	Ohio State
8	Penn State
9	Notre Dame
10	TCU
11	Oklahoma State
12	Michigan State
13	Northwestern
14	Southern Cal
15	Miami-FL
16	Washington
17	Troy
18	South Florida
19	Auburn
20	South Carolina
21	NC State
22	Mississippi State
23	Washington State
24	LSU
25	Virginia Tech
26	Florida Atlantic
27	Boise State
28	Army
29	San Diego State
30	Toledo
31	Memphis
32	Stanford
33	Iowa
34	Iowa State
35	Wake Forest
36	Kansas State
37	Michigan
38	Louisville
39	Fresno State
40	Appalachian State
41	Ohio
42	Texas
43	Utah
44	Florida State
45	Purdue
46	Duke
47	Arizona State
48	Texas A & M
49	Arizona
50	Kentucky
51	Oregon
52	Missouri
53	West Virginia
54	Boston College
55	Houston
56	Wyoming
57	Marshall
58	Georgia State
59	North Texas
60	Central Michigan
61	FIU
62	Northern Illinois
63	UAB
64	Arkansas State
65	Southern Miss
66	Georgia Tech
67	Ole Miss
68	Navy
69	Louisiana Tech
70	Temple
71	Middle Tennessee
72	New Mexico State
73	Colorado State
74	SMU
75	Akron
76	UCLA
77	Texas Tech
78	Virginia
79	Western Kentucky
80	Utah State
81	Western Michigan
82	UTSA
83	Buffalo
84	Pittsburgh
85	Florida
86	Colorado
87	Minnesota
88	Vanderbilt
89	California
90	Indiana
91	Syracuse
92	Nebraska
93	Tennessee
94	Maryland
95	Arkansas
96	Rutgers
97	Tulane
98	Eastern Michigan
99	Air Force
100	Miami-OH
101	UNLV
102	Old Dominion
103	UL-Lafayette
104	North Carolina
105	UMass
106	Cincinnati
107	Brigham Young
108	South Alabama
109	Idaho
110	UL-Monroe
111	Illinois
112	Nevada
113	East Carolina
114	New Mexico
115	UConn
116	Hawaii
117	Coastal Carolina
118	Baylor
119	Oregon State
120	Kansas
121	Tulsa
122	Bowling Green
123	San Jose State
124	Ball State
125	Georgia Southern
126	Kent State
127	Texas State
128	Charlotte
129	Rice
130	UTEP