NCAA Bracket 2015: Final Four Predictions and Overall Tournament Odds

We're nearly on the precipice of college basketball's crown jewel.

There are few things like March Madness, especially those first two days, when you find any excuse you can to get out of work or school and park yourself in front of a television for hours on end. Tracking each result from the second and third rounds and checking on the health of your bracket is one of the best parts of the sporting year.

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The Kentucky Wildcats' pursuit of a perfect season is by far this year's biggest storyline. The SEC champions look like quite literally the perfect team, and it's hard envisioning who could stop them.

Just take a look at the championship odds for the top five seeds in each region, courtesy of Odds Shark.

Team	Region	Seed	Odds
Kentucky Wildcats	Midwest	1	1/1
Kansas Jayhawks	Midwest	2	20/1
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Midwest	3	25/1
Maryland Terrapins	Midwest	4	50/1
West Virginia Mountaineers	Midwest	5	75/1
Wisconsin Badgers	West	1	9/1
Arizona Wildcats	West	2	12/1
Baylor Bears	West	3	75/1
North Carolina Tar Heels	West	4	33/1
Arkansas Razorbacks	West	5	66/1
Villanova Wildcats	East	1	16/1
Virginia Cavaliers	East	2	12/1
Oklahoma Sooners	East	3	66/1
Louisville Cardinals	East	4	50/1
Northern Iowa Panthers	East	5	50/1
Duke Blue Devils	South	1	17/2
Gonzaga Bulldogs	South	2	14/1
Iowa State Cyclones	South	3	33/1
Georgetown Hoyas	South	4	100/1
Utah Utes	South	5	28/1

It's almost comical how Kentucky is boasting even odds, while the Kansas Jayhawks, the second seed in the Midwest Region, sit on 40-1 odds. That's quite the disparity.

Although the Wildcats might not get much competition leading up to the national semifinals, the other three regions should provide a lot of drama.

Midwest Region: Kentucky Wildcats

This really shouldn't warrant much explanation. The Wildcats are a perfect 34-0 on the season and by far the best team in college basketball.

They have more star power than anybody else, but their strength comes from their depth. Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker are the only players averaging 10 or more points a game, but nine different players are averaging at least 5.5 points a night.

FiveThirtyEight's Carl Bialik illustrated just how high the Wildcats' chances of winning a national title are:

What's perhaps most striking about John Calipari's team is its balance on both sides of the floor. According to KenPom.com, Kentucky ranks fifth in adjusted offense and second in adjusted defense. There aren't many flaws in the Wildcats that opponents can exploit.

Kentucky is the obvious pick to advance out of the Midwest Region.

West Region: Wisconsin Badgers

Kamil Krzaczynski/Associated Press

Making the Final Four on its own can be tough. Making the Final Four two years in a row is exceedingly difficult.

The Wisconsin Badgers are one year removed from just their third Final Four appearance in school history. The question was whether Bo Ryan could get his team over the hump after narrowly missing out before, and he put any doubt to rest in 2014.

In Frank Kaminsky, the Badgers have the kind of player who can single-handedly drag his team to a title if necessary. He's averaging 18.2 points and 8.1 rebounds a game. According to Sports-Reference.com, Kaminsky also led the country in player efficiency rating (35.5) and win shares (8.5).

The senior big man stepped up big for Wisconsin last season, so there's no worry that he might not rise to the occasion over the next few weeks.

What should be noted about the Badgers as a whole is that they might slow the game to a crawl—they're 347th in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.com—but it doesn't mean sacrificing offensive efficiency. They sit first in adjusted offense.

Arizona is arguably the best No. 2 seed in the tournament and could present a massive hurdle for Wisconsin in the Elite Eight should both reach that stage. Having the game in Los Angeles would also be a bit of a boost for the Wildcats, given that Tucson, Arizona, is roughly eight hours away.

The two teams met in the tournament last year, with Wisconsin winning by a point in overtime. As ESPN's Jeff Borzello tweeted, it's a shame they have to be in the same region again:

You can't go wrong picking either team. The Badgers get the slight edge because Kaminsky's having a special kind of season.

East: Virginia Cavaliers

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

The Virginia Cavaliers aren't a lot of fun to watch, but it's hard to argue with their success this year. They've lost three games all year and narrowly missed out on completing the regular-season/postseason conference championship double.

The Cavaliers' greatest asset is that, like Kentucky, they boast strength in depth.

After Virginia fell to the Louisville Cardinals on March 7, Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton wrote that even the injury to Justin Anderson couldn't throw the team off its game:

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It is a commentary on his team's resolve and interdependence that it didn’t matter until Saturday. Virginia hadn't lost a game after Anderson was sidelined. It didn't let slip a grip on a No. 1 seed. Anderson was perhaps only noticeable in his absence when Virginia threw a long, last-gasp inbounds pass out of bounds with 2.7 seconds left; in normal circumstances, Anderson is the triggerman for that play.

There has been no discernible issue replacing Anderson, leading scorer Malcolm Brogdon said, because there is an active mission to dissolve the line between starter and role player. "We give people that come off the bench a lot of confidence," Brodgon said. "We make them feel like they're a part of the starting lineup."

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Anderson made his return to the court during the ACC tournament, but as College Basketball Talk's Rob Dauster noted, the junior guard still needs more time until he's fully back to his old self:

It's fair to question Virginia's ceiling if Anderson is at 90 or 95 percent. Points come at a premium for the Cavaliers, and having their second-leading scorer limited won't help matters.

However, the team is good enough to at least make the Elite Eight, by which time Anderson may be back to 100 percent. If he is, then the Cavaliers would be good enough to topple Villanova.

South: Iowa State Cyclones

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish provided the blueprint for beating the Duke Blue Devils. They allowed Jahlil Okafor to get what he wanted inside, but when Duke tried to get the ball out on the perimeter, the Notre Dame defense went on high alert.

The Blue Devils shot 3-of-17 from behind the arc in defeat. To put that in perspective, they averaged 7.6 made threes during the season at an average clip of 38.6 percent.

That game might have also showed teams that the easiest way to slow down Okafor is sending him to the free-throw line. The freshman big man went 2-of-8 from the charity stripe and missed two critical free throws down the stretch that could've gotten Duke to within two points.

Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis wonders whether Okafor's poor foul shooting might cost Duke down the line:

The Iowa State Cyclones aren't necessarily a lockdown defensive unit, but neither are the Fighting Irish, and they slowed down the high-powered Duke attack.

Of course, should the Blue Devils and Cyclones tussle, Duke would have problems of its own trying to stop a lethal Iowa State offense. According to Sports-Reference.com, the Cyclones rank 23rd in both offensive rating and effective field goal percentage. KenPom.com also lists ISU seventh in adjusted offense.

Borzello questions whether the Blue Devils will be able to handle the Cyclones' massive spacing:

In the end, Duke's reliance on Okafor will be exposed, and Iowa State will reach its second-ever Final Four.