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 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 twice a week (typically on Mondays and Fridays). This bracket projection has been updated through all games played on Thursday March 14th.
NCAA Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky
2-seeds: Tennessee, Gonzaga, LSU, Michigan State
3-seeds: Michigan, Houston, Kansas, Purdue
4-seeds: Texas Tech, Kansas State, Florida State, Wisconsin
5-seeds: Virginia Tech, Auburn, Villanova, Mississippi State
6-seeds: Marquette, Buffalo, Iowa State, Louisville
7-seeds: Maryland, Nevada, Wofford, Cincinnati
8-seeds: UCF, Syracuse, Ole Miss, Florida
9-seeds: Seton Hall, Iowa, Baylor, Oklahoma
10-seeds: VCU, Utah State, NC State, TCU
11-seeds: Washington, St. Mary’s, St. John’s, Minnesota
12-seeds: Alabama, Ohio State, Arizona State, Indiana, Murray State, New Mexico State
13-seeds: Liberty, UC Irvine, Northeastern, Vermont
14-seeds: Old Dominion, Harvard, Georgia State, Northern Kentucky
15-seeds: Montana, Colgate, Bradley, Gardner-Webb
16-seeds: Sam Houston State, Iona, North Dakota State, Prairie View A & M, Farleigh Dickinson, Norfolk State
NIT Tourney Field:
1-seeds: Temple, Nebraska, Texas, Clemson
2-seeds: Belmont, Lipscomb, Xavier, Creighton
3-seeds: Furman, UNC Greensboro, Oregon, Georgetown
4-seeds: New Mexico State, Memphis, Colorado, Arkansas
5-seeds: Dayton, Providence, Davidson, Butler
6-seeds: Toledo, UC Irvine, Vermont, South Carolina
7-seeds: Penn State, Oregon State, Hofstra, South Dakota State
8-seeds: Loyola-Chicago, Wright State, Campbell, St. Francis (PA)
First Four Out of of NIT: East Tennessee State, San Francisco, Wichita State, Fresno State
