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 NCAA Tournament.  You will notice that some of these squads are also listed in the NIT bracket.  The reason for this is two-fold.  First and foremost, it shows how close those teams are to getting at-large bids in the NCAA tournament field.  Secondly, it shows where those squads would be seeded if in fact they lost in their conference tournament and garnered an automatic bid to the NIT.

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 February 7th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Tennessee, Duke, Virginia, Gonzaga

2-seeds:  Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, Michigan State

3-seeds: Iowa State, Houston, Louisville, Kansas

4-seeds: Marquette, Villanova, Nevada, Purdue

5-seeds: LSU, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Texas Tech

6-seeds: Iowa, Kansas State, Maryland, Florida State

7-seeds: Cincinnati, Buffalo, Mississippi State, Ohio State

8-seeds: Auburn, Texas, Indiana, Baylor

9-seeds: Syracuse, Oklahoma, Washington, TCU

10-seeds: St. John’s, Ole Miss, Minnesota, Alabama

11-seeds: Nebraska, Florida, NC State, Seton Hall, Temple, UCF

12-seeds: Wofford, VCU, Lipscomb, Belmont

13-seeds: Hofstra, New Mexico State, Vermont, Yale

14-seeds: Old Dominion, South Dakota State, Radford, Montana

15-seeds: UC Irvine, Northern Kentucky, Loyola-Chicago, Georgia State

16-seeds: Bucknell, Sam Houston State, Rider, Prairie View A & M, Robert Morris, Norfolk State

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Butler, Arkansas, Wofford, VCU

2-seeds: Arizona State, Clemson,Oregon, Utah State

3-seeds: Arizona, Lipscomb, Oregon State, Liberty

4-seeds: Northwestern, Creighton, Belmont, Davidson

5-seeds: Georgetown, Saint Mary’s, Hofstra, Murray State

6-seeds: UNC Greensboro, New Mexico State, Pittsburgh, Furman

7-seeds: Toledo, Vermont, Notre Dame, Yale

8-seeds: South Florida, San Francisco, Providence, Missouri

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Southern California, UConn, Colorado, Memphis, East Tennessee State