March Madness 2020: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Top Seeds

The divide between the top four men's college basketball teams and the rest of the pack has grown throughout conference play.

Most projections have the Kansas Jayhawks, Baylor Bears, Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Diego State Aztecs as the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Kansas has the inside track to the No. 1 overall seed after it took down Baylor on February 22 and the other three projected top seeds suffered defeats in the past two weeks.

Gonzaga and San Diego State have wrapped up their regular-season schedules and can lock up automatic bids at the West Coast Conference and Mountain West tournaments before Kansas and Baylor open up the Big 12 tournament.

If the Bulldogs and Aztecs win their respective tournaments, the only thing left to debate regarding the No. 1 seeds is their order on the overall seed list. If one of those teams suffers an upset, the door could be open for a team to jump up a projected seed line, but some of the prospective top contenders, such as the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida State Seminoles, recently suffered defeats.

March Madness Schedule

All games broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

First Four: March 17, 18

Round of 64: March 19, 20

Round of 32: March 21, 22

Sweet 16: March 26, 27

Elite Eight: March 28, 29

Final Four: April 4

National Championship: April 6

Predictions for Top Seeds

Kansas

Kansas is the exception to the trend in the 2019-20 season because it has not suffered a major upset through 29 games.

All three of the Jayhawks' losses occurred against ranked foes. They fell to the Duke Blue Devils and Villanova Wildcats in nonconference play and split their regular-season series with Baylor.

Even if they stumble against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday, it will not be seen as a terrible loss since Chris Beard's side is expected to make the NCAA tournament.

In addition to holding a resume with no bad losses, Bill Self's team has two wins over the West Virginia Mountaineers and triumphs against the Dayton Flyers, BYU Cougars, Colorado Buffaloes, Baylor and Texas Tech to brag about.

Kansas should be the top seed in the Big 12 tournament, which would likely prevent it from playing Baylor until the final.

There is a chance the Jayhawks run into a challenge from the surging Texas Longhorns or the Oklahoma Sooners, both of whom are on the NCAA tournament bubble, but they swept both squads.

Since 2010, Kansas has appeared in the Big 12 tournament final on seven occasions, including three times in the past four seasons, so there is a good chance it will be there again.

If Kansas faces Baylor for a third time in the Big 12 tournament final, look for Udoka Azubuike to once again be the controlling force.

Since January 1, the senior center has 10 double-doubles, and he produced 23 points and 19 rebounds in the win over the Bears.

Leading scorer Devon Dotson, who averages 18.2 points per game, headlines a collection of guards who can threaten opponents on both sides of the court.

Kansas' defense could be its X-factor in March Madness, as it allows 60.5 points per game and it has held five of its past 10 foes under 60.

Baylor

Baylor also possesses a stout defense that gives up 59.6 points per game, which is the sixth-best total in Division I.

Over the past four games, the Bears have allowed more than their average and fallen on two occasions, once to Kansas and the other to the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday.

Those two defeats have kept Scott Drew's team away from the No. 1 overall seed conversation, and even if it beats Kansas again, it has worse losses than the Jayhawks. Baylor's other defeat came at the start of nonconference play on a neutral court to the Washington Huskies, who are now last in the Pac-12.

The Bears' collection of nonconference wins could outweigh the small group of losses because it owns victories over Villanova, the Arizona Wildcats and Butler Bulldogs.

Even if Baylor makes the Big 12 tournament final and loses to Kansas, it should still be in the mix for a No. 1 seed because that will not be viewed as a bad loss.

Just like the Jayhawks, the Bears have an impressive rim protector in Freddie Gillespie, and they also possess a handful of guards, like Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Mark Vital, who can wreak havoc on both ends of the floor.

Gonzaga

Gonzaga's biggest strength is its scoring depth.

The Bulldogs rank first in Division I with 87.7 points per game, which is four points more than the second-best total from the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Six players average more than 10 points per contest, with forward Filip Petrusev leading the charge at 17.8.

Petrusev, Killian Tillie and Corey Kispert possess matchup challenges to opposing big men, while Admon Gilder, Joel Ayayi and Ryan Woolridge complement each other well in the backcourt.

Gonzaga's resume contains wins over the Oregon Ducks, Arizona and Washington and losses to the BYU Cougars and Michigan Wolverines. The losses are not as bad as San Diego State's defeat to the UNLV Rebels because one occurred on a neutral court and the other was on the road at BYU.

Gonzaga needs to keep up its dominant play in the West Coast Conference tournament in order to keep a geographical advantage over San Diego State. If the Zags are rated higher than the Aztecs, they would be the No. 1 seed in the West region, which allows them to play the regional round in Los Angeles after spending the opening two rounds in Spokane, Washington.

If they stumble on their way to earn the WCC automatic bid, the Bulldogs could drop down to the East region, which opens up the possibility to play Dayton, Duke, Maryland or another East Coast team at Madison Square Garden.

San Diego State 

San Diego State's resume has looked better as the season progressed.

In nonconference play, the Aztecs defeated BYU, the Creighton Bluejays and Iowa Hawkeyes, all of whom were unranked at the time but have since made their way into the Top 25.

In comparison, two of Gonzaga's best wins outside of the WCC came against Arizona and Washington, who have struggled with consistency all season.

The home loss to UNLV—and the lackluster showing versus the Colorado State Rams that followed—hurt the Aztecs a bit, but they are still in competition with Gonzaga for the top seed in the West. If everything goes well for Brian Dutcher's team, it will have an automatic bid in hand Saturday night, which would allow it to wait and watch the other results come in during Championship Week.

San Diego State has a strong chance to win its conference tournament because of the combination of guard Malachi Flynn and forward Yanni Wetzell.

The two have helped the Aztecs to produce the third-best scoring defense in Division I (59.9 points per game). Only the Virginia Cavaliers and Liberty Flames have better marks.

Even if San Diego State is sent East for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, it has a rotation that also involves Matt Mitchell, Jordan Schakel and KJ Feagin that can challenge the best squads in the country.

Flynn is the floor general, and Wetzell is the force on the boards, but the others fill in important roles that make the Aztecs jell as well as any ballclub in the nation.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from ESPN.com and NCAA.com.