NCAA Tournament 2015: Selection Sunday Schedule, Latest Bracketology

The 2015 NCAA tournament is almost here. Only a couple of days of conference tournament action remain before the always highly anticipated Selection Sunday show. Bubble teams around the country are probably already on edge.

March Madness is one of the most exciting events on the sports calendar each year. The first two full days of games—Thursday and Friday—are like nothing else. First tip comes shortly after noon, and the last bucket normally comes after midnight.

Stars are born, shocking upsets are completed, and for one team, championship dreams are realized. The journey in the Big Dance starts with the selection show. Let's check the key details for that event followed by some bracketology outlooks and things to watch on Sunday.

Key Details for Selection Sunday Show

When: Sunday, March 15, at 6 p.m. ET

Watch: CBS

Live Stream: CBS Sports Live

Latest Bracketology

Outlet	Analyst	Projected Bracket
ESPN	Joe Lunardi	View
CBS Sports	Jerry Palm	View
USA Today	Shelby Mast	View
Fox Sports	Stewart Mandel	View
Bracket Matrix	Composite	View

What to Watch for

How Hard Is Kentucky's Path?

The Wildcats are going to enter the NCAA tournament as the clear favorite regardless of what happens over the final few rounds of the SEC tournament. Obviously, the story is a lot of more interesting if they enter the Big Dance with an undefeated record, though.

Kentucky is incredibly talented, remarkably deep and plays a physical brand of defense that really starts to take a toll on opponents late in games. Larry Vaught of The Advocate Messenger passed along comments from leading scorer Aaron Harrison about how the team must play.

"We just know how important it is, and we know how hard you have to play, so we just know that we can't underestimate any team, and we have to go out every game and play as hard as we can," Harrison said. "Don't stress about it, don't worry about it, just go play ball."

Now the question is how the journey will set up for the Wildcats. Does the selection committee give them a pretty straightforward path as the top overall seed, or will there be some potential pitfalls? The latter could be a vastly underseeded opponent early or just a generally tricky region of the bracket.

For them to lose, it's going to take an off night on their part and a terrific performance from the other team. An easier region would give them more margin for error just in case they do struggle. But regardless of how it shakes out, Kentucky is the team to beat.

5 vs. 12 Matchups

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

This particular matchup has become a ground for almost sure upsets. Eight times over the past three editions of March Madness, a No. 12 seed has knocked off a No. 5 seed. Sometimes, it's a major-conference school that just made the field, and other times, it's an upstart mid-major.

Odds Shark notes there have been a total of 44 underdog victories in this round-of-64 matchup since the current format began in 1985. In fact, over the past seven years, the No. 12 seeds actually have a winning record of 15-13.

So if you're filling out a bracket and looking for some upsets—which is especially necessary if you're picking Kentucky to win it all, like a vast majority likely will—this is a good place to start. Examine which No. 12 seeds could make some noise.

Surprise Selections and Snubs

Chris Covatta/Getty Images

As mentioned, there are a lot of teams around the nation right on the fringe of the Big Dance and hoping they make the final cut right now. The bubble features a lot of squads with middling resumes, which puts a lot of pressure on the selection committee.

What makes the situation more interesting is the fact very few borderline teams are stepping up to ensure themselves a spot. Greg Wrubell of KSL highlighted some of those teams that came up short just on Thursday alone:

Texas is one team of interest on the bubble. The Longhorns have a lot of talent, but they couldn't translate it into consistent success during the regular season because of a tough schedule. They could be dangerous if they sneak in and suddenly get hot.

Ultimately, it could set up a situation where a team or two from off the radar get surprise bids—perhaps a mid-major school thought to have too weak of a schedule to warrant an at-large bid but gets in anyway due to a lack of definite tournament teams.

That could also make it tough to make a snub argument this year. We'll find out for sure on Sunday.