March Madness 2015: Pre-Conference Tournament Bracketology Predictions

Small pockets of madness are about to pop up all over the place before the entire country gets dragged down in the chaos.

Were this any other month, that'd be a pretty scary sentence. But it's March, so these things get a pass. Conference tournaments are about to begin and play a rather large role in how the Big Dance itself shapes up.

Perhaps the scariest thing of all is the big monster on the loose running across the nation—its name is Kentucky. After it, all sorts of Bracketology analysis is a hodgepodge of names. ESPN's Joe Lunardi always does a great job, while the folks at CBSSports.com do the same.

Let's take a look at the tournament schedule and nail down some new Bracketology predictions before conference showdowns throw everything for a loop.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

Date	Event
Selection Sunday	March 15
First Round	March 17-18
Second Round (Round of 64)	March 19-20
Third Round (Round of 32)	March 21-22
Sweet 16	March 26-27
Elite Eight	March 28-29
Final Four	April 4
National Championship Game	April 6

Bracketology Predictions

The No. 1 Seeds

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

How the top seeds in the tournament shape up is the same at the two aforementioned resources for good reason. 

Start with the monster. Undefeated, even after 11 encounters with teams in the RPI Top 50, per ESPN's RPI Profile, John Calipari's team is a thing of beauty. There's a ton of individual talent, but the man in charge has each player buying into the team approach in the utmost sense.

The Wildcats have shown a weakness on the boards and were almost upset a few times to start SEC play, so it'll be interesting to watch how things develop. The No. 1 seed is assured, though.

Next is Duke, boring but necessary. Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils are unstoppable in large part thanks to Jahlil Okafor, who just posted 14 points in a season-ending triumph in Chapel Hill. All of three losses and the nation's second-best adjusted offense, according to Ken Pomeroy's ratings, put the Blue Devils as a lock for a top seed.

CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein put it best:

Right behind is Virginia, probably the most complete team in the nation. The Cavaliers have lost just two games, and while a last-second loss to Louisville to close the season stings, keep in mind that it happened with one of the team's top scorers (Justin Anderson) watching from the sidelines.

Rounding out the bunch is Villanova, a team with a slight grasp on a seed that is still very much up for grabs. The Wildcats tout two losses and are winners of 11 in a row, although naysayers will point out the weakness of the Big East.

Right now, though, it's silly to knock a proven team for a lack of a star player when six Wildcats average a minimum of 9.3 points. As far as depth and consistency go, few teams match these Wildcats.

Prediction: Kentucky, Villanova, Virginia, Duke

Last in: Texas (19-12)

Michael Thomas/Associated Press

Look, on the bubble, star power and recent momentum go a long way.

Rick Barnes' team is one of the biggest disappointments this year, and the catastrophe even has a way of dragging down other teams. Opposing squads who pulled off the upset early in the season (ahem, Stanford) all of a sudden have a weaker resume because of the bumbling Longhorns.

Except they aren't all that bumbling anymore. In fact, Texas snapped a four-game skid—all at the hands of ranked teams and none by more than eight points—by going on a two-game streak to end the season.

Most impressive was a home dismissal of then-No. 14 Baylor in overtime, 61-59. There, the Longhorns lost an ugly battle on the glass but cashed in on over 40 percent shooting from the field and a team-high 12 points by Demarcus Holland.

It would be nice if the Longhorns were better than 2-9 against the RPI Top 25 and 3-11 against the RPI Top 50, but the folks in charge of bracket selection will recognize recent momentum and busting potential of a team laced with individual talent such as Myles Turner and slip Texas into the proceedings.

First out: Tulsa (21-9)

USA TODAY Sports

While it enjoyed a fun run, Tulsa is now on the outside looking in at the bracket. 

The Golden Hurricane hit on a two-game skid at the worst possible time. In the process of that season-ending stretch, Frank Haith's team surrendered the American Athletic Conference crown to SMU.

In that 67-62 loss to the Mustangs, even a game-high 30 points by James Woodard thanks to a gaudy 10 conversions from deep was not enough to propel Tulsa to a victory.

"I came into this game just focused, just ready to play," Woodard said, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "The championship was on the line. Just trying to play to win."

The loss moves Tulsa to 0-4 against the RPI Top 25 and 2-6 against the RPI Top 50. As USA Today's Eric Prisbell points out, the loss to SMU figures to be the end of the road:

At-large bids aren't easy to come by, and Tulsa has squandered each opportunity to prove it belongs.

Star power such as Woodard is one thing. A lack of winning when it matters, including the end-of-season stretch, does not pair well with a spot in a weak conference.

Stats and info are courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.