March Madness 2015: Men's Bracket Release Info, Full Tournament Schedule

The greatest tournament in sports is back. Now that the calendar has turned to March, we're just days away from Selection Sunday and the beginning of another edition of March Madness.

Sure, Kentucky has been the story of the year. A remarkable campaign saw the Wildcats win 31 games without a single loss, making them obvious favorites heading into the tournament. Other favorites include Duke, Virginia, Villanova and others. But sometimes it's not the favorites who steal headlines in the tourney.

Lower-seeded teams can make waves and ruin brackets beginning in mid-March. Some of those teams begin the month on the bubble, as multiple factors must be considered before they're allowed to punch their tickets to the Big Dance.

There are a bevy of teams on the bubble as things stand today. It'll all be sorted out by Sunday, when brackets will be announced. For now, let's take a look at three teams who each present interesting cases.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

Note: For game locations for each date on the schedule, head to ESPN.com.

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

Bubble Teams to Watch

Temple (21-9, 13-5)

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The Temple Owls finished the season strong, winning their last three and 10 of their last 12. But victories against Houston, East Carolina and Connecticut did very little for Temple's resume. Each team had a worse record, and only UConn was over .500 (17-13).

That's the problem with the Owls. They were steamrolled by Duke and Villanova earlier in the season, and they lost a single-digit contest to SMU in February. A 77-52 win over Kansas in December was impressive, but Temple really hasn't had a highlight win since.

But don't blame the Owls for that problem. Sure, they could have played far better against Duke, Villanova and SMU, and that would have helped immensely. The American Athletic Conference simply lacks any semblance of consistent quality outside its top four (SMU, Tulsa, Cincinnati and Temple).

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Temple and Cincy traded blowout wins in January and February, while Tulsa got the better of the Owls on both occasions.

Whether or not you think Temple should get into the tourney is a matter of preference. Do raw wins count more than a resume filled with upsets and competitive play against the nation's top programs?

Unfortunately, your personal preference doesn't matter all that much.

A 13-5 record in conference play is impressive, regardless of the competition. All five of Temple's losses came in the aforementioned contests to the three teams ranked higher in the American. The Owls didn't lose to any other conference foe.

But the experts will cite Temple's 2-7 record against the top 50 as a reason why this team simply isn't deserving of a trip to the Dance.

Prediction: Temple misses out.

Colorado State (26-5, 13-5)

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It's been a wonderful season for the Colorado State Rams.

Ripping off 14 wins to start the season was just the beginning. They matched a school record for wins in a season (26) after taking care of Utah State, 75-70, on Saturday.

Senior J.J. Avila has led the charge, converting 55.9 percent of his field goals and averaging 16.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest. The 6'7" forward has been a machine for the Rams, and it has been his consistency (and overall improvement from last season) that has helped propel the team into the discussion as a bubble team.

Finishing third in the Mountain West behind No. 25 Boise State and San Diego State—who were co-champions of the conference at 14-4—means that the Rams have found success against decent competition. They split the season series against San Diego State and also split against Boise State.

That leaves the team feeling like they can make noise in the tournament...if they get there.

"I don't think there's a team in the conference that is more ready to try to go prove something than our team," head coach Larry Eustachy told Kelly Lyell of The Coloradoan. "It could not go right, it may not work out. But it's obviously something that would go down in the history books."

Like Temple, the Rams might also be judged based on the weakness of their wins. Notching win after win is impressive, especially when the streak reaches 14. But who were those wins against? The answer is: teams that Colorado State was expected to dismantle.

And it did, for the most part. Fourteen of the Rams' wins were by double digits.

Selection Sunday will still be a nail-biter for the Rams and Eustachy. The lack of depth in the Mountain West Conference could prove detrimental to their bid. Their only hope is that the selection committee focuses heavily on their 26 total wins—a mark that actually led the conference.

Prediction: Colorado State barely sneaks in.

Murray State (27-5, 16-0)

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And now on to the most controversial bubble team in the nation.

Murray State did this to itself. The Racers finished the regular season 16-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference and were easily the favorite for the conference's at-large bid. They made it to the tournament's final against Belmont and were expected to win.

Oh well.

Belmont ousted Murray State by one point, winning the at-large bid and putting the Racers in a peculiar situation. Many believe the Ohio Valley Conference isn't strong enough to have a second team represented in the NCAA tournament outside of the at-large winner.

There isn't a ton of depth in the conference, so their 16-0 mark might not even be enough to get them to the promised land. Naturally, everyone has opinions on the matter.

This from Mark Story of Kentucky.com:

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To my way of thinking, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee should empower teams from small conferences that have produced excellence — and a 25-game winning steak is that, I don't care who you played — rather than reward programs from power-five leagues that have produced mediocrity.

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ESPN's Jeff Goodman and CBS Sports' Gary Parrish also expressed their concerns with the system:

But ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan writes that, based on the hard statistics, the Racers have probably missed their shot at the tourney:

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In any case, that has left Murray State with a resume that only barely compares with the fringe of the bubble it now hopes it is on. If you compare the Racers the way we compare teams -- as a list of results and numerical values therein -- it's hard to see how they'd get a bid.

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As unfair it may be, this is the way college basketball works. A mid-major like Murray State needs to win out to ensure a bid to the tourney. There's no other guarantee. Not even a 16-0 record.

Prediction: Murray State misses out.

Kenny DeJohn is a Breaking News Team Featured Columnist. Follow him on Twitter.