The madness if officially upon us. (Getty)
The road to Houston begins right now.
With conference tournaments coming to a close, the madness is only just beginning. The NCAA tournament field of 68 has been unveiled, and you can find a printable bracket right here:
2016 NCAA Tournament Printable Bracket
You can click here for a printable NCAA tournament bracket in PDF format.
You can also view the full bracket below. Click on the image to enlarge:
Preview
The theme of the 2015-16 college basketball season has been parity.
Sure, pundits say that pretty much every year, but it has felt especially true during this campaign, with the ever-rotating crop of No. 1 teams in the country and the run of upsets in conference tournaments over the last two weeks.
Kansas, the No. 1 overall seed, enters as the favorite to cut down the nets in Houston next month, but there are a handful of teams who could rip off six wins in a row without it being surprising.
North Carolina, Michigan State, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Villanova have all been No. 1 in America at some point this season, and all boast the talent that comes with that distinction. The first three on that list all won their conference tournament, and each of them is arguably playing its best basketball of the season, which should be a scary thought for the rest of the field.
Then there’s Virginia, arguably the most balanced team this side of Kansas, and Oregon, a super-athletic squad that blasted through an improved Pac-12 field in Las Vegas and might just be flying under the radar even as a No. 1 seed.
That’s seven teams with a legitimate claim to being the favorite:
Men’s NCAA Tournament odds updated
Kansas 9/2
Michigan St 5/1
North Carolina 5/1
Virginia 12/1
Villanova 12/1
Kentucky 15/1
Oregon 15/1
Buckle up. It’s going to be a fun three weeks.