March Madness 2023: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Top Men's Seeds

We're getting closer.

The NCAA tournament is now two weeks away, and college basketball fans are surely experiencing that old familiar feeling of excitement. And what better way to get pumped, before we even get to the conference tournaments, than by going through the event's schedule and predicting the top seeds?

So, to start, here's the abridged version of the NCAA men's tournament schedule:

• Selection Sunday: Sunday, March 12 (6 p.m. ET on CBS)
• First Four: March 14-15
• First round: March 16-17
• Second round: March 18-19
• Sweet 16: March 23-24
• Elite Eight: March 25-26
• Final Four: April 1
• NCAA championship game: April 3 

For the full schedule, be sure to check out NCAA.com.

OK, but what about those seeding predictions? Let's take an early stab at projecting the tournament's top 12 seeds.

• 1-seeds: Alabama, Houston, Kansas, UCLA
• 2-seeds: Purdue, Baylor, Texas, Marquette
• 3-seeds: Arizona, Gonzaga, Kansas State, Tennessee

Keeping Purdue out of a potential 1-seed isn't easy, but the Boilermakers get knocked for losing four times in a six-game stretch during February. Has that negated an impressive 22-1 start and non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Duke?

Not completely, obviously, as they still find themselves earning a 2-seed here. But Purdue has two games left in the regular season and a conference tournament to prove they deserve to be one of the top seeds. A deep run in the Big Ten tournament would likely see them climb to a 1-seed.

Hand it to UCLA, meanwhile. The Bruins have recovered from a 3-2 start, including losses to Illinois and Baylor, to win 22 of their next 24 games. Purdue's two losses to their top conference counterpart this season, No. 15 Indiana, may hurt them in the chase for the final top seed if UCLA can avenge a loss against No. 8 Arizona with a win to close the regular season.

Purdue's counter-argument will be playing in a better overall conference. It should be a fun debate, especially if both teams make deep tourney runs or win their respective conference tournaments.

Houston and Kansas, alongside Alabama, likely just need to keep things business as usual to stay as top seeds at this point. Alabama's non-conference wins over Houston, Michigan State, North Carolina and Memphis, meanwhile, bode well for them to earn the top overall seed, as does a series of quality losses to UConn, Gonzaga and Tennessee.

It's hard to find many flaws with the Crimson Tide's resume.

Granted, a lot is going to change in the next week or so. The conference tournaments will not only be huge for teams on the bubble but also see the top seeds shuffled about. We're in March now, folks—every last game matters.

The best time of the year is here.