NCAA Bracket 2016: Latest Expert Bracketology and Predictions

Conference tournament week has arrived. It's a time when several teams will seal their seeding, or even fate, for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

In this season of parity, the outcomes over the next several days may carry more weight than usual. With a lot of teams looking good rather than elite, the committee will likely look at conference tournament results as tiebreakers of sorts.

However, that hasn't stopped pundits from publishing their predictions for the full NCAA tournament field. We'll be analyzing Sunday's Bracketology from CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and USA Today's Shelby Mast.

Finally, we'll discuss the tournament chances for a few of the teams sitting on the bubble.

Jerry Palm's Bracketology

Seed	Midwest	East	South	West
1	Kansas (27-4)	Villanova (27-4)	Oklahoma (24-6)	Michigan State (26-5)
2	Xavier (26-4)	West Virginia (24-7)	Virginia (24-6)	Oregon (25-6)
3	Miami (24-6)	Maryland (24-6)	Utah (24-7)	North Carolina (25-6)
4	Purdue (23-7)	Duke (22-9)	Indiana (25-6)	Texas A&M (24-7)

Palm is high on No. 6 Oklahoma, placing it as a top seed along with its conference foe, No. 4 Kansas. The Sooners' overall body of work has been impressive, but four conference stumbles in the past month (three of which came against unranked teams) do make them a tough sell as the headliner of a region.

Perhaps he expects a strong bounce-back by senior guard Isaiah Cousins (9.7 points per contest on 32.2 percent shooting in his last six games) in the conference tournament.

The team that got the biggest shaft is No. 4 Virginia, which is coming off a solid week. The Cavaliers took down Clemson on the road, which wasn't much of an accomplishment, but they followed it up by drubbing No. 11 Louisville, 68-46.

It was indicative of the team's defensive performances all year, as the Cavaliers lead the conference with just 59.9 points allowed per game.

Palm is also bullish on No. 13 Utah, a squad that has a solid resume but is wildly inconsistent. The Utes finished just a game behind No. 9 Oregon in the Pac-12, but the Ducks won both games between the teams by double figures.

Their recent seven-game winning streak means something, but the lack of quality opponents in that stretch makes the Utes tougher to trust.

Shelby Mast's Bracketology

Seed	Midwest	East	South	West
1	Kansas (27-4)	Villanova (27-4)	Virginia (24-6)	Oklahoma (24-6)
2	Michigan State (26-5)	North Carolina (25-6)	Xavier (26-4)	Oregon (25-6)
3	Utah (24-7)	West Virginia (24-7)	Kentucky (23-8)	Miami (24-6)
4	Duke (22-9)	Maryland (24-6)	California (22-9)	Indiana (25-6)

There doesn't seem to be a good reason to keep No. 2 Michigan State out of a top seed at this point unless, of course, Mast has it failing to win the Big Ten tournament in disastrous fashion. The Spartans have won their last six games by an average of 21.2 points, and their last three losses have all been by a single point.

Minus some of the dominance, Michigan State is the college basketball equivalent of the Golden State Warriors: awesome at passing, shooting and defending.

It's not Palm's or Mast's fault, since they released their brackets earlier on Sunday, but No. 12 Indiana seems to be in line for something better than a No. 4 seed after beating No. 14 Maryland 82-60 on Sunday night. Five of the Hoosiers' last seven games have come against opponents that entered the game ranked, and they won four, losing only to Michigan State.

It's going to be tough for No. 25 California to sneak into a top-four seed. As important as recent play is to the committee, the Golden Bears had an ugly stretch during the middle of the season (five losses in seven games, none of which came against teams that were ranked at the time), and their eight wins in their last nine games may not matter as much.

The developing games of freshmen Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb make this squad a nice tournament dark horse, but probably as a seed lower than No. 4.

Thoughts on Bubble Teams

Paul Vernon/Associated Press

Ohio State

A 68-64 win against No. 16 Iowa on Feb. 28 was a bright spot for Ohio State's season, but the Buckeyes have looked out of place against the nation's elite teams. They played badly against Michigan State and Maryland, losing three games against those two squads by a combined 69 points. There's almost no feasible Big Ten tournament outcome that could give Ohio State a trip to the Big Dance.

Michigan

The Buckeyes' biggest rival has been the bigger disappointment this season, with an eighth-place finish in the Big Ten regular-season standings. The Associated Press poll ranked Michigan at No. 24 in Week 2, but the team hasn't appeared in the Top 25 since. To get a bid, the Wolverines will have to beat Northwestern in the play-in game of the conference tournament, then at least give Indiana a challenge in the following round. Depending on how their fellow bubble teams do, that may not even be enough.

Oregon State

The Beavers' spot in the field of 68 is somewhat safe, as they finished with a 9-9 record in the ultra-competitive Pac-12 conference. They did their part in nonconference play as well, going a solid 9-2. As long as Oregon State puts forth a decent showing at the Pac-12 tournament, it should be headed to its first NCAA tournament since 1990.

Note: All rankings are from the Feb. 29 edition of the AP Top 25 unless noted otherwise.