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 20th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga, San Diego State

2-seeds: Dayton, Maryland, Duke, Florida State

3-seeds: Louisville, Seton Hall, Creighton, West Virginia

4-seeds: Arizona, Villanova, Colorado, Penn State

5-seeds: Auburn, Kentucky, Michigan State, Butler

6-seeds: Iowa, Oregon, Marquette, Michigan

7-seeds: Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Ohio State, BYU

8-seeds: LSU, Saint Mary’s, Illinois, Houston

9-seeds: Rhode Island, Florida, Rutgers, Arizona State

10-seeds: Virginia, Xavier, Oklahoma, Southern Cal

11-seeds: Purdue, Stanford, Georgetown, Wichita State, Mississippi State, NC State

12-seeds: East Tenn. State, Northern Iowa, Liberty, Yale

13-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Vermont, North Texas, Akron

14-seeds: UC Irvine, Wright State, Colgate, Hofstra

15-seeds: New Mexico State, South Dakota State, Montana, Winthrop

16-seeds: Arkansas Little Rock, Austin Peay, St. Francis-PA, Siena, Prairie View, Norfolk State

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Indiana, Cincinnati, Providence, Alabama

2-seeds: Richmond, Utah State, Arkansas, VCU

3-seeds: Minnesota, ETSU, Northern Iowa, South Carolina

4-seeds: Tennessee, Memphis, Liberty, Syracuse

5-seeds: Notre Dame, Yale, Oregon State, SMU

6-seeds: Clemson, St. John’s, Virginia Tech, Texas

7-seeds: UNC Greensboro, UConn, Oklahoma State, Utah

8-seeds: Stephen F. Austin, Saint Louis, Vermont, Furman

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: North Texas, DePaul, Missouri, Ole Miss, Akron, Tulsa