March Madness Bracketology 2017: Picks & Must-See Predictions

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In a little over a week, the NCAA Tournament will be underway, and you, me, your friends, and basically everyone else in America will call off work on Friday to watch college basketball and drink beer all day, and it’s going to be awesome. But before that, we have to see how the Conference Tournaments play out to see which teams get the automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament and which bubble teams get a bid (or not).
So far, 11 teams have won their conference tournaments and have clinched an automatic bid, which means that we have 57 spots still up for grabs. Now, we still have to see how Selection Sunday and the Conference Tournaments play out before anything is final, but if the NCAA Tournament were to begin today, here’s how I think each region of the bracket would shape out. And to be fair, my opinion is based on what Joe Lunardi thinks, because that guy knows his stuff.

Midwest Region

1. Kansas
2. Louisville
3. UCLA
4. Purdue
5. Virginia
6. Saint Mary’s
7. Oklahoma State
8. Wichita State (clinched automatic bid)
9. VCU
10. Providence
11. Vanderbilt
12. Nevada
13. Akron
14. CSU Bakersfield
15. Northern Kentucky (clinched automatic bid)
16. North Dakota / New Orleans

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East Region

1. Villanova
2. Baylor
3. Florida State
4. Florida
5. Notre Dame
6. Wisconsin
7. Maryland
8. Miami
9. Michigan
10. Seton Hall
11. Middle Tennessee
12. UNC Wilmington (clinched automatic bid)
13. East Tennessee State (clinched automatic bid)
14. Winthrop (clinched automatic bid)
15. Omaha
16. Mount Saint Mary’s (clinched automatic bid) / North Carolina Central

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West Region

1. Gonzaga (clinched automatic bid)
2. Oregon
3. Butler
4. Duke
5. SMU
6. Iowa State
7. South Carolina
8. Virginia Tech
9. Northwestern
10. Marquette
11. Wake Forest / Illinois State
12. USC / Xavier
13. Princeton
14. Florida Gulf Coast (clinched automatic bid)
15. South Dakota State (clinched automatic bid)
16. Texas Southern

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South Region

1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Arizona
4. West Virginia
5. Cincinnati
6. Minnesota
7. Creighton
8. Dayton
9. Arkansas
10. Michigan State
11. Syracuse
12. UT Arlington
13. Vermont
14. Bucknell
15. Iona (clinched automatic bid)
16. Jacksonville State (clinched automatic bid)