NCAA Tournament 2017: Predicting Favorites for March Madness Bracket

The 2017 NCAA men's basketball tournament field is one of the deepest and talented pools this century, featuring great teams and future NBA stars.

The favorites leading into the tournament are all but set barring any last-minute upsets or odd committee decisions: Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga figure to be the No. 1 seeds as well as the teams with the best chances to win the national championship.

Here's a look at the NCAA tournament schedule as it stands now (the bracket will not be released until Sunday, March 12) as well as a quick look at the four likely No. 1 seeds.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

Date	Round	Location
Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15	First Four	Dayton, Ohio
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Buffalo, New York
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Milwaukee
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Salt Lake City
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Orlando, Florida
Friday, March 17 and Sunday, March 19	First/Second	Greenville, South Carolina
Friday, March 17 and Sunday, March 19	First/Second	Indianapolis
Friday, March 17 and Sunday, March 19	First/Second	Tulsa, Oklahoma
Friday, March 17 and Sunday, March 19	First/Second	Sacramento, California
Thursday, March 23 and Saturday, March 25	Midwest Regional	Kansas City, Missouri
Thursday, March 23 and Saturday, March 25	West Regional	San Jose, California
Friday, March 24 and Sunday, March 26	South Regional	Memphis, Tennessee
Friday, March 24 and Sunday, March 26	East Regional	New York
Saturday, April 1 and Monday, April 3	Final Four	Glendale, Arizona

Source: NCAA.com

Villanova and Kansas

The Wildcats and Jayhawks are going in the same category because they are heavy favorites to return to the Final Four for the same reasons.

If they advance past the first two rounds, both teams will play the regional semifinals and finals close to home, which would mean that they would play in front of partial crowds.

Villanova would be in Madison Square Garden, which is essentially a home away from home for the Wildcats. It's only a two-hour drive away from Villanova's campus, and furthermore, 'Nova has a strong alumni base in New York City that will flood the Garden.

Kansas would play in the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which is a 45-minute drive from campus in Lawrence. Like Villanova, KU fans will likely make the Sprint Center feel like a home away from home.

This is in addition to the fact that Villanova and Kansas are great teams.

The Wildcats have followed up last year's national championship with a 28-3 record and a Big East regular-season title, led by seniors Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins. They've beaten stiff competition this year, including Purdue, Notre Dame and Virginia.

The Jayhawks have the best tag team in the nation: guard Frank Mason III and guard/forward Josh Jackson. The former is a strong Naismith Player of the Year candidate, and the latter will be picked high in this summer's NBA draft. The Jayhawks have only lost one game in regulation (and two others in overtime) en route to a 28-3 record.

Nothing is guaranteed in March, but these teams look to be on the fast track to University of Phoenix Stadium this season.

North Carolina

The Tar Heels just won the most loaded conference in men's college basketball by a full two games, going 14-4 in conference play. It's likely that 10 teams make the field this year, and two others still have an outside shot to make it, per ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.

UNC just finished a 26-6 regular season, which included an undefeated record at home. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com explained why UNC could win the national championship after it beat Duke, 90-83 on Saturday:

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The Tar Heels have a star in Justin Jackson, who put 15 points on Duke in a win that kept them in contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They also have superb point guard play -- proof being Joel Berry's 28-point performance in 36 minutes against the Blue Devils. And they also have two other players (Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks) who average double-digits in points, a possible one-and-done first-round pick (Tony Bradley), and a finally healthy junior (Theo Pinson) who makes UNC better in obvious ways.

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UNC ranks fourth in the Ken Pomeroy College Basketball rankings and the Sagarin ratings, and it currently sits fifth in the Associated Press poll. It's a deep team led by four upperclassmen who are looking to get back to the college basketball pinnacle after losing to Villanova on a buzzer-beater in the national championship last season.

Some dangerous teams lurk in the No. 2-No. 4 seed range, such as UCLA, West Virginia and Oregon, but UNC is a cut above them and on the same plane as Villanova and Kansas.

Gonzaga

Don't dismiss the Bulldogs because of their bad loss to BYU to close the regular season or their poor performances as a high seed in the NCAA tournament in recent years.

This is the best Gonzaga team in school history. The Bulldogs finished 29-1 in the regular season despite a tough nonconference schedule, which featured wins over teams ranked seventh (Arizona), 12th (Florida) and 24th (Iowa State) in the latest Associated Press poll. In conference, the Zags also swept St. Mary's, which is 20th.

Gonzaga ranks first in the Sagarin ratings and Pomeroy rankings. More specifically, the Zags are the only team that ranks in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency per Pomeroy, sitting sixth for offense and third for defense.

Seven players average at least 7.7 points per game for the balanced Zags, led by junior guard Nigel Williams-Goss with 16.3. That balanced scoring attack should bode well in March. Four players average at least 5.6 boards a game as well.

Gonzaga may not be loaded with future NBA talent like other teams, but it's probably the deepest team in the country.