March Madness bracketology: NCAA Tournament final field prediction for Selection Sunday

It’s a proverbial Christmas Day for fans of college basketball. The presents aren’t opened in the morning. They’re opened in the evening of Selection Sunday with the reveal of the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket of the 68-team field for March Madness.

So who will be the top seeds and who will see their bubble burst. The final version of the USA TODAY Sports Bracketology will answer those questions.

The No. 1 seeds appear straightforward with Duke going to the East Region as the top overall seed and Michigan, Florida and Arizona staying in their respective geographical areas in the Midwest, South and West part of the bracket.

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It’s not so clear-cut at the bottom of the at-large selections. This year’s bubble saw several contenders flame out early in their conference tournaments. Auburn, Indiana, Cincinnati, West Virginia are among the teams that failed to win a game in the postseason. That opened the door for other contenders to make their case. San Diego State and Oklahoma each won two games but ultimately fell short of the field.

One bubble spot went to Miami (Ohio), the regular-season champion of the MAC that lost its only game of the season in the conference tournament, creating a bid-stealing situation with Akron grabbing the league’s automatic spot. Texas and Missouri were able to withstand losses in the SEC tournament and keep their place.

There’s still some drama to unpack Sunday with five conference championship games. Should Dayton win the Atlantic 10 that could lead one of those aforementioned three teams sweating when the bracket is unveiled.