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 22nd.
NCAA Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Virginia, Villanova, Kansas, Xavier,
2-seeds: Purdue, Auburn, Duke, North Carolina
3-seeds: Michigan State, Arizona, Cincinnati, Rhode Island
4-seeds: Tennessee, Clemson, Texas Tech, West Virginia
5-seeds: Wichita State, Oklahoma, Texas A & M, Seton Hall
6-seeds: Kentucky, Ohio State, Nevada, TCU
7-seeds: Arizona State, Butler, Michigan, Houston
8-seeds: Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Creighton
9-seeds: Florida State, Gonzaga, Providence, Miami-FL
10-seeds: Saint Mary’s, Southern California, St. Bonaventure, Texas
11-seeds: NC State, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Utah, Washington, Temple
12-seeds: Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Loyola-IL, UL-Lafayette
13-seeds: South Dakota State, Buffalo, Vermont, Murray State
14-seeds: East Tennessee State, College of Charleston, Rider, Bucknell
15-seeds: UC Santa Barbara, Wright State, Montana, UNC-Asheville
16-seeds: Wagner, Penn, Nicholls State, Florida Gulf Coast, Savannah State, Southern
NIT Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Baylor, Kansas State, Florida, Marquette
2-seeds: Syracuse, Louisville, Mississippi State, Middle Tennessee
3-seeds: Boise State, Western Kentucky, LSU, Nebraska
4-seeds: Georgia, Maryland, New Mexico State, Loyola-IL
5-seeds: UL-Lafayette, South Dakota State, Buffalo, Vermont
6-seeds: South Carolina, Notre Dame, UCF, Oregon
7-seeds: Stanford, Colorado, Murray State, East Tennessee State
8-seeds: College of Charleston, Rider, Penn State, Oklahoma State
Ranking of Other Postseason Contenders: Boston College, Tulsa, SMU, Bucknell, Brigham Young
