Welcome to The Fieldhouse’s first-ever Bracket Watch!

Thank you to Seth Davis for entrusting me with such an important responsibility for his site. You, the readers, may know me primarily as “the football guy,” but for the past three seasons I doubled as bracketologist for my former employer. It turned out I wasn’t half-bad at it.

So I’m happy to immerse myself once again in troves and troves of RPI data. I’ll be posting new brackets every Tuesday from here until Selection Sunday.

One thing that stands out in compiling this first edition is that Villanova and Virginia, both 20-1, currently stand a cut above the rest in the race for the No. 1 overall seed. I give the Wildcats a slight edge because of their four road or neutral-site victories against Top-50 foes, but the Cavs got a big one of their own last weekend at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Speaking of Duke, I assumed going in the Blue Devils (19-3) would land one of my other No. 1 seeds, but ultimately Purdue (21-2) and Kansas (18-4) edged them out.

What’s interesting is that there is the geographic ripple effect. Because the committee avoids putting the top No. 2 seed in the same region as the top No. 1 seed (in this case Villanova), Duke gets placed in the Midwest instead of the East. In turn, No. 6 overall seed Xavier gets bumped to the South, which prevents No. 7 overall seed Auburn from an ideal placement in nearby Atlanta.

On with the bracket …

This edition’s bracket is East vs. West and Midwest vs. South in the national semifinals, based on the order of my No. 1 seeds.

*-indicates current conference leader (automatic berth)

Seed Team Location 1 Villanova* 16 Wagner* Pittsburgh 8 Miami 9 Texas 4 Texas Tech 13 Vermont* Boise 5 Tennessee 12 Buffalo* 6 Seton Hall 11 Kansas St./Missouri Pittsburgh 3 Clemson 14 Bucknell* 7 Rhode Island* 10 NC State Nashville 2 Auburn* 15 Rider*

Seed Team Location 1 Kansas* 16 Long Beach St.*/New Orleans* Wichita 8 Saint Mary’s* 9 Michigan 4 Arizona* 13 Montana* San Diego 5 Kentucky 12 New Mexico St.* 6 TCU 11 Houston Dallas 3 Michigan State 14 South Dakota St.* 7 Alabama 10 USC Nashville 2 North Carolina 15 Winthrop*

Seed Team Location 1 Purdue* 16 Harvard* Detroit 8 Louisville 9 Nevada* 4 Cincinnati* 13 Loyola-Chicago* Boise 5 Arizona State 12 Louisiana* 6 Gonzaga 11 Middle Tennessee* Dallas 3 Oklahoma 14 Northeastern* 7 Wichita State 10 Providence Charlotte 2 Duke 15 Wright State*

Seed Team Location 1 Virginia* 16 NC AT&T*/Ark.-Pine Bluff* Charlotte 8 Arkansas 9 Butler 4 Ohio State 13 East Tennessee St.* San Diego 5 Florida 12 Marquette/Western Kentucky 6 Creighton 11 SMU Wichita 3 West Virginia 14 Belmont* 7 Florida State 10 Texas A&M Detroit 2 Xavier 15 Florida Gulf Coast*

* * *

LAST FOUR BYES: USC, Providence, Houston, SMU

LAST FOUR IN: Kansas State, Marquette, Missouri, Western Kentucky

FIRST FOUR OUT: South Carolina, Syracuse, Washington, Boise State

MULTIPLE BID CONFERENCES: ACC (8), SEC (8), Big East (7), Big 12 (7), Big Ten (4), AAC (4), Pac-12 (3), C-USA (2), WCC (2)

(Top photos by Stacy Revere (Brunson) and Ryan M. Kelly (Jerome)/Getty Images)