March Madness 2015: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Top Seeds

The NCAA tournament is coming in less than two weeks. Selection Sunday is on March 15. The entire country will know which teams are in the field and which ones will have to seek postseason glory in one of the secondary tournaments.

Per ESPN.com, here's a breakdown of the tournament schedule and locations for the first, second and third rounds, regional, semifinal and national championship:

Selection Sunday

March 15

First Round

March 17-18

• UD Arena (Dayton, Ohio) 

Second and Third Rounds

March 19 and 21

• Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Florida)
• KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Kentucky)
• Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)
• Rose Garden (Portland, Oregon) 

March 20 and 22

• Time Warner Cable Arena (Charlotte, N.C.)
• Nationwide Arena (Columbus, Ohio)
• CenturyLink Center (Omaha, Nebraska)
• KeyArena (Seattle)

Midwest Regional

March 26 and 28

• Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland, Ohio)

West Regional

March 26 and 28

• Staples Center (Los Angeles)

South Regional

March 27 and 29

• NRG Stadium (Houston)

East Regional

March 27 and 29

• Carrier Dome (Syracuse, New York)

National Semifinals

April 4

• Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

Championship Game

April 6

• Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

The top seeds seem fairly clear-cut barring some upsets in the conference tournaments. By the time the postseason conference champions are crowned, these four teams should have the targets on their backs in their respective regions.

Virginia Cavaliers (28-1)

Rich Barnes/Getty Images

In a season without the Kentucky Wildcats, the Virginia Cavaliers' dominance would be receiving more attention. The Cavs' only stumble came at home against the Duke Blue Devils. While the defeat was at home, it was only a six-point deficit, and the Blue Devils are an elite team.

Riding a nine-game win streak into the regular-season finale with the Louisville Cardinals, the Cavaliers are close to having a No. 1 seed locked down.

If Virginia defeats Louisville and doesn't get upset in its first ACC tournament matchup, a No. 1 seed is a virtual certainty.

Duke Blue Devils (27-3)

With three losses, the Blue Devils' grip on a top seed may not be as tight as Virginia's. Duke has a tough game against the rival No. 19 team North Carolina Tar Heels. It's very important the Blue Devils win that game. It goes beyond bragging rights in the state of North Carolina.

The Tar Heels must win to continue to hold off the Arizona Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers for a No. 1 seed. A fourth loss from Duke could put the pressure on the team to win the ACC tournament to re-establish themselves as a team worthy of a top spot.

Villanova Wildcats (28-2)

Of all the team's I currently have pegged as No. 1 seeds, Villanova's spot is the most fragile. While the Wildcats are on an impressive 11-game win streak, both of the team's losses came at the hands of teams that weren't ranked when the game took place.

Perhaps the worst one was the 20-point drubbing by the Georgetown Hoyas.

Because of the shaky resume, Villanova probably needs to win out if the Badgers and Arizona win the Big 10 and Pac-12 tournaments, respectively.

Kentucky Wildcats

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

What can we say about Kentucky? The team is still perfect through 30 games. After a close game on the road against the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday, it seems head coach John Calipari is ready to skip right past the SEC tournament to the Big Dance. 

After the 72-64 win at Georgia, Calipari was asked if he'd like to skip the conference tournament. He said this to Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal and other reporters:

"

Yeah. I would. I'm going to give them two or three days off after the Florida game, and then we'll practice on Wednesday to get ready for a game on Friday. You guys know how I feel about conference tournaments, but this is a different deal.

Our fans take their rent money, their vacation money, mortgage money, car payments and go to Nashville. We've got to go up there with a sense of urgency and play for them, more than play – because whatever happens up there we've learned for six years has no bearing on a seed, getting in, not getting in. It has no bearing. So, we'll go and do this for the fans.

"

No matter what happens in the regular-season finale against the Florida Gators and in the SEC tournament, Kentucky will be a No. 1 seed.

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