March Madness 2018: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Top Seeds

While the NCAA tournament is technically more than a week away, madness defines the full month of March in college basketball.

The Top 25 has been a revolving door at every level, and chaos is likely to increase once the conference tournaments tip off. And all bets are off once Selection Sunday comes around to grant wishes, dash dreams and send everyone into a bracket-filling frenzy.

For now, though, let's take advantage of this relative calm before the storm by sorting out the tournament schedule and predicting the four No. 1 seeds.

March Madness Schedule

Selection Sunday (March 11)

First four (March 13 and 14) 

First round (March 15 and 16)

Second round (March 17 and 18)

Sweet 16 (March 22 and 23)

Elite Eight (March 24 and 25)

Final Four (March 31)

National championship (April 2)

No. 1 Seed Predictions

Virginia

The Cavaliers feel as close to a lock as any team in this season's field. They not only held the top spot in the most recent AP rankings, they also claimed 48 of the 65 first-place votes.

Tony Bennett's team has only two losses on its resume and a pristine 15-1 mark in the ACC. Their only defeat in their last 19 outings was a 61-60 overtime loss to in-state rival Virginia Tech on Feb. 10.

Virginia's methodical style might not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's hard to argue with the results.

Kenpom.com's top-ranked defense has held five of its last six opponents to 55 points or less and gave up a paltry 37—only seven in the first half—on 23.9 percent shooting against Pittsburgh its last time out. The offense follows the lead of guards Kyle Guy, Devon Hall and Ty Jerome, each a double-digit scorer and 39-plus percent three-point shooter.

Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

Provided the top-seeded Cavaliers pick up at least one win at the ACC tournament, they should have a stress-free Selection Sunday.

Michigan State

The stat sheet paints the Spartans as perhaps the only team that can challenge the Cavaliers for the No. 1 overall seed. Michigan State completed its regular season nearly as college basketball's only club with top-10 efficiency ranks on offense (11th) and defense (eighth), per kenpom.com.

Some might caution to take those numbers with a grain of salt, since the Big Ten has underwhelmed all season. But Top 25 voters seem convinced, as the Spartans were the only other team collecting first-place votes in the AP and USA Today Coaches polls.

They enter the Big Ten tournament on a 12-game winning streak, and their 16-2 mark in conference play gave them their first outright regular-season championship since 2009. The significance of that achievement wasn't lost on head coach Tom Izzo, who saw the school's athletic director Mark Hollis retire amid a sexual assault scandal and star sophomore Miles Bridges hit with an NCAA violation that briefly left his playing status in doubt.

"It's been kind of an incredible month, or five weeks, and I hope things will work out so that we'll see how that goes," Izzo said, per Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News. "But the emotion in the locker room is still one of great happiness and joy. I just think we're a little mentally worn down from all the things they've been through."

Al Goldis/Associated Press

Bridges is one of three Spartans averaging at least 11 points and five rebounds, along with fellow sophomore Nick Ward and freshman Jaren Jackson Jr. Sophomore point guard Cassius Winston leads the club in assists (6.9), threes (70) and three-point percentage (56.5).

Michigan State's top seed isn't written in permanent marker, but a Big Ten tournament title might cement it.

Kansas

The Jayhawks won the Big 12 regular-season crown. In related news, the sun rose this morning.

Head coach Bill Self has made this feat an annual occurrence, as Kansas claimed its record-setting 14th consecutive championship before even finishing its full slate. It wasn't the easiest title of them all—things looked rocky amid a 3-3 stretch from late January into mid-February—but a second five-game winning streak in as many months sealed the deal.

"It's been a grind," senior guard Devonte' Graham said, per ESPN.com's Mitch Sherman. "There were a lot of people who doubted and kind of lost faith in us. We went through some rough patches. Through it all, we kept grinding and kept believing in each other."

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Kansas' 43rd-ranked defense is cause for concern, but its ninth-rated offense can be overwhelming. Graham leads a group of five Jayhawks who average more than a dozen points per game, four of whom also shoot 37 percent or better from the perimeter. The lone exclusion is sophomore center Udoka Azubuike, who leads the nation with an absurd 77.7 field-goal percentage.

That quintet needs to click, because there isn't much depth on this roster. But it's been enough to get this far, and if it shows up for even a decent run in Kansas City at the Big 12 tournament, it should get Kansas onto a No. 1 line.

Villanova

The Big East deserves a No. 1 seed, but there's some debate over who should claim it. Xavier has fewer conference losses and a higher ranking in both polls. However, there are two reasons to think Jay Wright's Wildcats will come out on top.

For starters, their stats are superior. They lead the nation in points per game (87.5) and adjusted offensive efficiency (126.9), per kenpom.com. Xavier isn't too far behind—eighth and sixth, respectively—but it's still trailing. And the gap is massive between Villanova's defense (24th) and Xavier's (80th).

These teams also matched up twice, and Villanova scored a double-digit victory both times—first 89-65 at home, then 95-79 on the road.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Junior guards Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges lead the attack with scoring averages north of 17 and field-goal percentages on the plus side of 50. But there are four other double-digit scorers also in the rotation, and nearly all of them can stroke.

While this seed could change hands between now and Selection Sunday, it feels like Villanova's to lose.

Statistics used courtesy of ESPN.com and kenpom.com.