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.   The bold teams are ones who have already clinched an automatic bid to the respective postseason tournament (NCAA or NIT).  You will notice that some teams are listed both the NCAA and NIT brackets.  These are teams predicted to be automatic qualifiers to the NCAA tournament that would also earn at-large bids to the NIT tournament but not the NCAA tourney.  The reason these teams are displayed like 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 12th.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Baylor, Gonzaga, Michigan, Villanova

2-seeds: Ohio State, Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee

3-seeds: Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Houston

4-seeds: Texas, Iowa, West Virginia, Wisconsin,

5-seeds: Kansas, Florida State, Missouri, Virginia Tech

6-seeds: Creighton, Southern Cal, Colorado, Purdue

7-seeds: Rutgers, Florida, Xavier, Louisville

8-seeds: Oklahoma State, Clemson, Minnesota, Brigham Young

9-seeds: Arkansas, UCLA, San Diego State, Indiana

10-seeds: Boise State, Seton Hall, Colorado State, North Carolina

11-seeds: St. Bonaventure, LSU, Ole Miss, VCU

12-seeds: Stanford, UConn, Drake, Loyola-IL, Toledo, UC Santa Barbara

13-seeds: UAB, Wright State, Winthrop, Belmont

14-seeds: Colgate, Abilene Christian, Furman, Liberty

15-seeds: Vermont, Siena, Grand Canyon, Northeastern

16-seeds: Bryant, South Dakota, Texas State, Prairie View, Eastern Washington, North Carolina A & T

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Oregon, Richmond, Utah State, Georgia Tech

2-seeds: Maryland, Syracuse, Saint Louis, St. John’s

3-seeds: Saint Mary’s, SMU, Memphis, Toledo

4-seeds: Penn State, Davidson, Pittsburgh, UC Santa Barbara

5-seeds: UAB, Western Kentucky, Wichita State, Wright State

6-seeds: Winthrop, Belmont, Colgate, Abilene Christian

7-seeds: Duke, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Michigan State

8-seeds: Furman, TCU, Liberty, Dayton

Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Utah, NC State, Georgia