2015 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Updated Projection for the Field Entering December

Selection Sunday is still three-and-a-half months away, but we're welcoming in the month of December with an updated projection for the 2015 NCAA tournament bracket.

Can you believe that many teams have already played more than 20 percent of the games that will appear on their tournament resume?

It's been a jam-packed 17 days of action to open the year, and we foolishly believe we now know more about these teams than we did on the night the season began.

It's still way too early to even reference computer metrics like RPI let alone use them as the basis for seeding teams. At the start of the day on Monday, Green Bay was No. 1 in the country in RPI. Holy Cross was No. 13. If you think those teams are still going to be anywhere near those positions 15 weeks from now, you've lost your mind.

As such, seedings are based on a combination of preseason projections and early-season results.

No. 1 seeds Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke and Arizona scored quite well in both departments. Disappointments like Florida, Connecticut and VCU are still comfortably in the tournament field but not nearly as high as we once thought.

Surprises like Maryland, Texas A&M and Washington are on the rise but still need to prove that they belong.

As always, we'll take a look at the last five teams into the field, the first five out and another few on the horizon.

After that, we'll present each seeded region, including the subregional locations in which each pod would be played and some commentary on the teams that moved the most since the last bracket. Then we'll defend the ranking of the No. 1 seeds, followed by a summary of the entire field broken up by conference.

Last 5 In

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Last Team In: Oklahoma State (6-0, Previous: Out)

There are arguably more deserving teams out there for this final at-large spot. However, we're still at least six weeks away from projected brackets sort of starting to resemble the final product, so let's take the liberty of throwing a "we see you" bid to Oklahoma State.

Back in June—before the team added LSU transfer Anthony Hickey Jr.—I projected Oklahoma State to finish eighth in the Big 12. Losing Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, Kamari Murphy and Brian Williams was supposed to be more than the Cowboys could handle.

Instead, they've opened the season 6-0 with an average margin of victory of 23.0 points per game—winning each game by at least 13 points.

Granted, Tulsa is the only team they've played that ever had any hope of earning an at-large bid, but they're beating up on the teams they're supposed to beat up.

Enjoy the ride while it lasts, though. From January 3-17, Oklahoma State plays Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. If the Cowboys are still in projected brackets in late January, let's go ahead and put a moratorium on all "Fire Travis Ford" message board threads for at least three years.

Second-to-Last Team: Providence (6-1, Previous: Out)

The Friars have been one of the most Jekyll-and-Hyde teams in the country to date. They barely got past Albany in the season opener before destroying Navy and Florida State in back-to-back games.

They proceeded to struggle with Yale, but they gave Kentucky a real battle for the first 30 minutes before completely running out of gas over the final 10.

If Providence can start consistently playing well, it only makes the Big East that much stronger.

Third-to-Last Team: Dayton (4-1, Previous: 11)

The jury is still out on whether this year's Dayton team can shoot (30.3 percent from three-point range as a team through five games), but the Flyers can move the ball like no other. They have an assist on 62.5 percent of their made field goals and have five more assists than they do turnovers.

Their only loss of the season came against Connecticut, but let's see how they do on December 13 against Arkansas before really moving them into the field.

Fourth-to-Last Team: Texas A&M (4-1, Previous: Out)

In two games since being ruled eligible to play, Houston transfer Danuel House has scored 32 points while shooting 5-of-12 from three-point range. The Aggies nearly beat Dayton in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off without him and could be one of the best teams in the SEC.

Fifth-to-Last Team: Washington (6-0, Previous: Out)

I fell in love with Washington a week or two before the season began, and that hasn't changed one bit, as the Huskies have opened the season with six consecutive wins.

Robert Upshaw has been such a huge factor for them—both literally and figuratively. The 7'0" transfer from Fresno State is only averaging 16.8 minutes per game, but he is still blocking 4.0 shots per night.

In the Wooden Legacy (three games), Upshaw was 14-of-19 from the field for 30 points, with 18 rebounds and 14 blocks. He's a real game-changer when he can stay out of foul trouble.

First 5 Out

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First Team Out: Nebraska (5-1, Previous: 8)

A lot of Big Ten teams have been very impressive in the opening weeks of the season.

Nebraska is not one of those teams.

Yes, the Cornhuskers won a road game against Florida State on Monday night, but they tried like heck to blow it after opening up an 18-point lead. Also, Florida State might be the most disappointing team in the country at the moment.

Despite playing just one other game against a remotely respectable team—an overtime loss to Rhode Island—the Cornhuskers are averaging 15.0 turnovers per game.

They have two very talented scorers in Terran Petteway (21.0 PPG) and Shavon Shields (20.0 PPG), but we're still waiting on the rest of the offense to show up—especially Walter Pitchford.

The Huskers are pretty much out of warm-up games. They do have a gimme against Incarnate Word sandwiched between difficult home games against Creighton and Cincinnati.

After that, it's the Diamond Head Classic and the gauntlet known as Big Ten conference play. They better figure out how to stop turning the ball over—and fast.

Second Team Out: Wyoming (6-0, Previous: Out)

For the second time in three years, Wyoming is out to a hot start that includes a resume-boosting win over Colorado. This time, that win was in "holy cow" fashion, as Wyoming held Colorado to just 33 points.

The Cowboys are a very unique team. Since Larry Shyatt became the head coach before the 2011-12 season, they have consistently played at one of the slowest paces in the country.

Thus far this season, though, they've had one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. Larry Nance Jr. is playing nothing like a guy who had ACL surgery in February, and Derek Cooke Jr. is insanely shooting 84.6 percent from the field (22-of-26).

As a team, Wyoming has recorded an assist on 76.7 percent of made field goals and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.62.

Upcoming road games against SMU and California should be a good barometer for how good this team actually is.

Third Team Out: Iowa (5-2, Previous: 7)

Another lackluster Big Ten team, Iowa went 0-2 in its only noteworthy games to date.

The Hawkeyes rebounded admirably in the 2K Sports Classic, averaging 14.5 offensive rebounds per game against exceptional rebounding teams in Syracuse and Texas, but they simply weren't able to get shots to fall.

Iowa still has several watermark games before the start of Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes have a road game against North Carolina on Wednesday, a home game against Iowa State next Friday and a neutral-court game against Northern Iowa later in the month.

Fourth Team Out: Pittsburgh (4-2, Previous: Out)

The Panthers looked pretty great in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational against Kansas State, but the losses to Hawaii and San Diego State before that one keep them on the outside of the field.

They're still figuring things out in the wake of losing Durand Johnson for the year—will we ever find out why he was suspended?—but they'll vie for a bid once they buckle down on defense and start forcing some turnovers.

Fifth Team Out: Creighton (6-1, Previous: Out)

Creighton doesn't have anything close to the outrageously efficient offense it displayed over the past three seasons, but that was to be expected with all the Bluejays lost to graduation.

What wasn't expected was the team's win over Oklahoma two weeks ago or its 6-1 record to open the season. The Bluejays have big road games in the next few days against Tulsa and Nebraska.

Next 10 Out

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In no particular order, here are 10 other teams who were at least momentarily considered for a bid.

Memphis (2-2) and SMU (4-3)

You know the AAC is off to a horrendous start when South Florida, Central Florida and Tulane are all in the top four of the conference standings.

We have Connecticut (No. 7) and Cincinnati (No. 10) in the field, but that's it from the pseudo power conference. Either Memphis or SMU will make a strong run in conference play, but we'll be left to question whether it's too little too late.

LSU (4-2), Ole Miss (5-1) and Auburn (3-2)

Much like the AAC, things haven't exactly been going well for the SEC in the opening weeks of the season. Kentucky is great and Arkansas is looking pretty solid, but that's about all she wrote.

Texas A&M is our favorite to finish fourth in the conference, thus earning a spot in the Last 5 In, but any one of these teams could just as easily accomplish that feat if it can figure out how and why it has already suffered miserable losses.

Old Dominion (5-1)

Given how weak the AAC and SEC have been thus far, there may be some conferences vying for an atypical number of bids in this year's tournament.

Could Conference USA send three teams?

UTEP and Louisiana Tech have long been considered the favorites to be the C-USA tournament representative this March, but let's give it up for Old Dominion's start to the season.

The Monarchs did take a bit of an ugly beating at the hands of Illinois State in the Paradise Jam, but they also already have wins over VCU, LSU and Richmond.

If they can get to 8-1 with a road win over George Mason and a home win over Georgia State, the Monarchs will officially be on the bubble.

St. John's (4-1) and Xavier (5-2)

We expected the Big East to be considerably better than last year, but this is a bit ridiculous.

DePaul is even looking pretty competent after a 15-point win over Stanford on Sunday.

Creighton just missed the cut, and St. John's and Xavier aren't far behind. That's 80 percent of the Big East in the tournament discussion.

Just like the good ol' days.

Minnesota (4-2)

The Golden Gophers looked solid for the first 29 minutes against St. John's this past week, but they completely melted down from there. Over the final 11 minutes, they had two made field goals against six turnovers and were outscored 21-6 in a nine-point loss.

As a result, the closest thing Minnesota will have to a signature nonconference win is a neutral-court victory over a Georgia team that you won't find mentioned on any other slide in this article.

It's going to take a phenomenal run through the Big Ten schedule for the Golden Gophers to make the tournament.

Georgia Tech (5-1)

Really?

The Yellow Jackets have good-not-great wins over Georgia and Rhode Island and might be undefeated if Matt Carlino hadn't lost his mind and scored 38 points for Marquette in the two-point win in the Orlando Classic.

(Then again, that loss might have been a blessing in disguise, as a win would have forced the Yellow Jackets to play Michigan State and Tennessee instead of Rider and Rhode Island.)

With Florida State spiraling out of control, could it be Georgia Tech that rises up for an eighth- or ninth-place finish in the ACC and a spot on the bubble?

East Region (Syracuse)

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Charlotte, North Carolina

No. 1 Duke (7-0, Previous: 1)
No. 16 Utah Valley (3-3, Previous: Out)

No. 8 UCLA (5-2, Previous: 8)
No. 9 Northern Iowa (7-0, Previous: 11)

Columbus, Ohio

No. 4 Michigan State (5-2, Previous: 5)
No. 13 UC Santa Barbara (3-3, Previous: 14)

No. 5 Florida (3-3, Previous: 2)
No. 12 Dayton / Oklahoma State (Last 5 In)

Seattle, Washington

No. 3 Gonzaga (7-0, Previous: 3)
No. 14 Stephen F. Austin (3-3, Previous: 13)

No. 6 Miami (7-0, Previous: 12)
No. 11 Georgetown (4-2, Previous: 7)

Omaha, Nebraska

No. 2 Kansas (5-1, Previous: 2)
No. 15 Eastern Kentucky (4-1, Previous: Out)

No. 7 VCU (4-2, Previous: 3)
No. 10 Cincinnati (5-1, Previous: 12)

Commentary

There was so much movement in this region that it's hard to know where to begin.

Let's kill two birds with one stone by talking about teams that struggled in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Georgetown deserves better than a No. 11 seed, and the Hoyas can prove as much when they host Kansas on December 10. For now, though, they're 1-2 against teams likely to finish the year in the RPI top 100, and the overtime win over Florida is looking less and less valuable by the day.

That's because the Gators are 0-3 against quality opponents and barely look capable of beating below-average opponents.

We dismissed Florida's early struggles because Dorian Finney-Smith and Eli Carter were injured and Chris Walker was either suspended or still getting up to speed.

What's the excuse now?

Maybe losing four starters really was too much for Billy Donovan's team to handle, because the Gators are rapidly moving in the wrong direction.

Then again, it wasn't until early December that they really started putting it together last season. We'll see what happens when they face Kansas on Friday, but we're fully prepared to drop them at least onto the bubble if they don't show up for that game.

Elsewhere in disappointing news, what has happened to VCU? It looks like the Rams have had their superpowers sapped. They have a total of 14 steals over the last three games after averaging 13.7 steals through their first three contests.

If VCU continues to struggle, at least there's another mid-major team in this region ready to step up and take its place.

Northern Iowa is 7-0 with wins over Richmond, Stephen F. Austin, Northwestern and Virginia Tech—all but Richmond came away from home.

Those aren't big wins for a power-conference team, but they're pretty huge when trying to prove one's worth alongside Wichita State atop the Missouri Valley. Two more massive nonconference games are coming up for Northern Iowa in the form of VCU and Iowa.

Let's wrap up this slide with a positive spin, as Miami has rocketed from Last 5 In to a cozy spot as a No. 6 seed.

We're not ready to compare these Hurricanes to the ones that won the ACC and nearly earned a No. 1 seed in the 2013 NCAA tournament. But they have certainly closed the gap between the top four ACC teams and everyone else swimming in their wake.

Midwest Region (Cleveland)

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Louisville, Kentucky

No. 1 Kentucky (7-0 Previous: 1)
No. 16 Alabama State / Delaware State

No. 8 Stanford (4-2, Previous: 7)
No. 9 Maryland (7-0, Previous: Out)

Jacksonville, Florida

No. 4 Ohio State (5-0, Previous: 5)
No. 13 Georgia State (5-2, Previous: 9)

No. 5 Oklahoma (4-2, Previous: 9)
No. 12 Texas A&M / Providence (Last 5 In)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

No. 3 Wichita State (4-0, Previous: 4)
No. 14 IPFW (3-2, Previous: 15)

No. 6 Syracuse (5-1, Previous: 6)
No. 11 Colorado (4-1, Previous: 6)

Columbus, Ohio

No. 2 Louisville (5-0, Previous: 3)
No. 15 Stony Brook (5-2, Previous: 16)

No. 7 Connecticut (3-2, Previous: 4)
No. 10 Colorado State (6-0, Previous: 9)

Commentary

Save for one reigning national champion plummeting a few seed lines, not much has changed in the top eight lines of this region.

Are we being too generous or too harsh by having Connecticut as a No. 7 seed? Other than a couple of in-game spurts, the Huskies haven't looked very good yet this season.

In fact, the loss to Texas this past weekend was probably their best game of the season, as they committed just eight turnovers and won the rebounding battle against a group of massive Longhorns.

But in an issue that figures to plague them all season long, no one other than Ryan Boatright could seem to put the ball in the hoop.

Forget Shabazz Napier—Boatright is doing his best Sean Kilpatrick impersonation by averaging 20.8 points per game for a team that is scoring just 65.6. Kilpatrick put up 20.6 PPG last season while Cincinnati scored 68.4 as a team.

The good thing about that comparison? Cincinnati earned a No. 5 seed last year. San Diego State also got a No. 4 seed with Xavier Thames solely leading the charge, both proving that it's possible to succeed with one great scorer and a strong defense.

Connecticut does still play a neutral-court game against Duke and a road game against Florida that could help its RPI better than anything it does in AAC play.

Meanwhile, the 2002 national champs have taken the world by storm. Maryland has surprisingly jumped out to a 7-0 record despite dealing with all sorts of injuries and players transferring away this past summer. If the Terrapins can somehow keep their hot start going this week against Virginia, the sky is the limit.

Earlier today, ESPN's Eamonn Brennan wrote of the results of the CBE Classic, "Maryland scored maybe the biggest and most important victory of Mark Turgeon's tenure, a 72-63 neutral-court upset of No. 13 Iowa State."

Moving in the opposite direction of Maryland is Colorado.

The Buffaloes have looked very good at home. They've put together a 4-0 record that includes the decimation of an Auburn team that may or may not be good. But it's hard to look past the one road game that Colorado has played: a 56-33 loss to Wyoming.

The Buffaloes still have noteworthy nonconference games against San Francisco, Georgia, Colorado State and in the Diamond Head Classic. They'll need to show us something pretty positive in those opportunities in order to make us forget about that Wyoming game.

There's one other team to note in this region.

This commentary is usually reserved for teams that receive a No. 12 seed or better, but we wanted to point out that we've already given up hope on Georgia State.

The Panthers may well still be one of the best Cinderella teams come tournament time, but they've got a long way to go if they want to be seeded higher than any of the at-large teams.

They already lost to Iowa State and Colorado State and inexplicably struggled with Oakland and IUPUI. Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter are phenomenal, but this team desperately needs a rebounding presence and a third scorer.

South Region (Houston)

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Omaha, Nebraska

No. 1 Wisconsin (7-0, Previous: 1)
No. 16 St. Francis (PA) / Winthrop

No. 8 Massachusetts (5-2, Previous: Out)
No. 9 Arkansas (6-0, Previous: 9)

Seattle, Washington

No. 4 Iowa State (3-1, Previous: 3)
No. 13 Florida Gulf Coast (6-1, Previous: 14)

No. 5 Utah (5-1, Previous: 5)
No. 12 Seton Hall (5-0, Previous: 12)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

No. 3 Virginia (7-0, Previous: 5)
No. 14 Buffalo (4-1, Previous: Out)

No. 6 Illinois (6-0, Previous: 10)
No. 11 Louisiana Tech (5-1, Previous: 11)

Jacksonville, Florida

No. 2 Texas (6-0, Previous: 2)
No. 15 Wofford (5-2, Previous: Out)

No. 7 Butler (5-1, Previous: Out)
No. 10 Notre Dame (6-1, Previous: Out)

Commentary

First things first, let this serve as my public apology to Virginia for seeding the Cavaliers at No. 5 before the season began.

They have the best defense in the country and will enter the tournament with at least 27 wins.

I still have my doubts about their offense. But they're about to go through a gauntlet of five games (Maryland, VCU, Cleveland State, Harvard and Davidson) that will give them an excellent nonconference SOS in addition to how well they do in the ACC.

As far as big movers are concerned, Illinois jumped a few seed lines to No. 6 after winning the Las Vegas Invitational against Indiana State and Baylor. The Illini have some great resume-building opportunities coming up in the near future against Miami, Villanova, Oregon and Missouri—all away from home.

Butler was First 5 Out when the season began, but the Bulldogs are comfortably in the field today because of a great three-day trip to Atlantis.

Wins over North Carolina and Georgetown on a neutral court are only going to look better as the season progresses. Coupled with the fact that the Big East might be the strongest top-to-bottom conference in the country, Butler figures to have one heck of a computer profile all season long.

It's the No. 8 seed in this region that makes us so confident in Butler's chances of dancing.

Massachusetts wasn't a great team by the end of last season, but the Minutemen had a very strong nonconference schedule before scuffling a bit through an A-10 conference that was loaded with strong RPIs. Even losses to Saint Bonaventure and George Mason weren't enough to keep them from a No. 6 seed.

However, UMass debuts in this year's projected field as a No. 8 seed. Cady Lalanne has been incredible in the paint, averaging 14.9 PPG, 10.0 RPG and 2.4 BPG, and Derrick Gordon is among the best in the country at both creating steals and getting to the free-throw line.

This is a very tough team in a conference that doesn't look anywhere near as tough as it did last year.

The last big mover on this slide, Notre Dame is getting the benefit of the doubt. The Fighting Irish are 6-1, but five of those games were played at home against some of the worst teams in the entire country—and they still have four ugly home games left on the schedule.

Suffice it to say, their nonconference schedule won't endear them to the selection committee, but the eye test will.

This isn't a deep Notre Dame team—in the two games that mattered, the starting five played 87.8 percent of possible minutes—but this is a team like Saint Joseph's, Saint Louis or Stanford from yesteryear that could make some serious noise without much of a bench.

West Region (Los Angeles)

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Portland, Oregon

No. 1 Arizona (6-0, Previous: 1)
No. 16 Northeastern (5-1, Previous: Out)

No. 8 North Carolina State (6-0, Previous: 10)
No. 9 Baylor (6-1, Previous: Out)

Portland, Oregon

No. 4 San Diego State (5-1, Previous: 4)
No. 13 Iona (4-2, Previous: 14)

No. 5 Michigan (5-1, Previous: 6)
No. 12 Washington (Last 5 In)

Charlotte, North Carolina

No. 3 North Carolina (5-1, Previous: 2)
No. 14 Eastern Washington (6-1, Previous: 15)

No. 6 West Virginia (7-0, Previous: Out)
No. 11 Green Bay (5-1, Previous: 13)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

No. 2 Villanova (6-0, Previous: 3)
No. 15 Army (5-1, Previous: Out)

No. 7 Harvard (4-1, Previous: 6)
No. 10 UTEP (4-1, Previous: Out)

Commentary

Pour one out for North Carolina, as the Tar Heels get bounced from No. 2 in the East to No. 3 in the West. This is because of a loss to Butler and a bracketing principle that requires the top four teams from the same conference be assigned to different regions if they all receive at least a No. 4 seed.

It's a rule that didn't make a difference in last year's bracket, but it could come into play on multiple levels this year with the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each potentially having (at least) four teams in the selection committee's top 16.

All three of those conferences have at least five teams on the top six lines of this projection.

After losing three of its last four games, Kansas State plummeted from a No. 7 seed in the preseason bracket to not even being mentioned in this one, but another Big 12 team shot up out of nowhere to replace the Wildcats.

West Virginia was the biggest riser in the country, making its debut as a No. 6 seed.

We're not 100 percent convinced the Mountaineers are for real, but we're also not even 50 percent convinced anyone on the schedule will be able to beat them before Big 12 play begins.

If the team enters the month of January with a 13-0 record and avoid suffering bad losses to TCU or Texas Tech in conference play, it's hard to see West Virginia missing the tournament.

Elsewhere in middling seed news, the AP Top 25 may have completely forgotten about Harvard, but we haven't. The one-point loss to Holy Cross was pretty brutal, but the close win over Massachusetts and blowout win over Houston were impressive.

We'll see what the Crimson do later this month against Virginia and Arizona State, but it's tough to envision them entering the tournament with anything worse than a 24-4 record.

Continuing down the seed line, NC State might be the least talked about undefeated team in the country. The Wolfpack don't have any signature wins, but going through Hofstra, South Florida, Richmond and Boise State without a loss is strong.

Maybe they'll get more attention after beating Wake Forest on Saturday to sit atop the ACC standings as the only 1-0 team.

Lastly, Baylor has gotten out to a nice start on the back of exceptional defense. Even in the loss to Illinois, the Bears held the Illini to 39.0 percent shooting and dominated the glass. It will be fun to watch Baylor and West Virginia try to continue exceeding expectations in the Big 12.

Ranking the No. 1 Seeds

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No. 4: Arizona (6-0)

On the one hand, we're still waiting for a "We are Arizona, hear us roar!" type of game.

The Wildcats have played four games against top 200 teams, according to KenPom.com (subscription required). They comfortably beat Missouri, but they were trailing UC Irvine with 10 minutes remaining and narrowly survived against both Kansas State and San Diego State.

On the other hand, they're still undefeated against a pretty solid schedule and have been extremely efficient on both ends of the court.

Perhaps upcoming games against Gonzaga and Michigan will serve as reminders of why many of us considered Arizona the top challenger to Kentucky this season, but Duke and Wisconsin have been more impressive to this point in the year.

No. 3: Duke (7-0)

No. 2: Wisconsin (7-0)

I'm well aware that the entire idea of doing a projected bracket in early December could be viewed as an exercise in futility.

But it especially seems pointless to have a debate about whether Duke or Wisconsin is more deserving of the No. 2 overall seed when they'll be playing each other on Wednesday night to settle the score for us.

In his preview of the ACC/B1G Challenge, College Basketball Talk's Rob Dauster wrote of the showdown between Duke and Wisconsin:

"

The marquee matchup of the challenge will arguably be the best matchup we get all season long. Two of the nation’s top three teams. The favorite in the ACC vs. the favorite in the Big Ten. Perhaps most importantly, the nation’s two best big men in Frank Kaminsky and Jahlil Okafor will square off. I could not be more excited about this matchup.

"

If that game wasn't happening, though, we'd have to give the edge to Wisconsin.

Duke has nice neutral-court wins over Michigan State and Stanford, but the Badgers have neutral-court wins over Georgetown and Oklahoma, in addition to dominant home wins over Boise State and Green Bay.

If we ignore their head-to-head game and assume that both teams win every other game on their schedule, Duke's resume would be better than Wisconsin's because of six quality wins over North Carolina (twice), Syracuse (twice), Louisville and Virginia.

Given the games that have been played, though, advantage Wisconsin.

No. 1: Kentucky (7-0)

Was there any doubt?

Kentucky's average margin of victory through seven games is 34.4 points.

No matter how much we try to dissect Kentucky for weaknesses or how much we freak out when the Wildcats aren't winning by eleventy billion at halftime, they have consistently and systematically destroyed every opponent they have faced.

Every now and then a team will hang with Kentucky for 30 minutes. Only the truly elite will still be within striking distance in the final minute. And chances are Willie Cauley-Stein or Karl Towns Jr. will then record one of Kentucky's 9.3 blocks per game to break the backs of any serious threats.

Seeding by Conference

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In case seeded regions aren't for you and you just want to know where the "top" 68 teams stand in relation to one another, here is the list of each team's overall seed, broken out by conference (First 5 Out in italics).

Atlantic 10: 26. VCU, 31. Massachusetts, 47. Dayton

American: 25. Connecticut, 37. Cincinnati

ACC: 3. Duke, 6. Louisville, 9. Virginia, 11. North Carolina, 22. Miami, 24. Syracuse, 32. North Carolina State, 38. Notre Dame, 72. Pittsburgh

Big 12: 5. Texas, 7. Kansas, 15. Iowa State, 19. Oklahoma, 21. West Virginia, 34. Baylor, 50. Oklahoma State

Big East: 8. Villanova, 27. Butler, 43. Georgetown, 45. Seton Hall, 49. Providence, 73. Creighton

Big Ten: 2. Wisconsin, 14. Ohio State, 16. Michigan State, 18. Michigan, 23. Illinois, 36. Maryland, 69. Nebraska, 71. Iowa

C-USA: 39. UTEP, 42. Louisiana Tech

Missouri Valley: 12. Wichita State, 35. Northern Iowa

Mountain West: 13. San Diego State, 40. Colorado State, 70. Wyoming

Pac-12: 4. Arizona, 20. Utah, 29. Stanford, 30. UCLA, 44. Colorado, 46. Washington

SEC: 1. Kentucky, 17. Florida, 33. Arkansas, 48. Texas A&M

Other: 10. Gonzaga, 28. Harvard, 41. Green Bay, 51. Georgia State, 52. Florida Gulf Coast, 53. Iona, 54. UC Santa Barbara, 55. Stephen F. Austin, 56. Buffalo, 57. IPFW, 58. Eastern Washington, 59. Army, 60. Eastern Kentucky, 61. Stony Brook, 62. Wofford, 63. Northeastern, 64. Utah Valley, 65. St. Francis (PA), 66. Winthrop, 67. Delaware State, 68. Alabama State

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.