Grip's Bracket: December 26

And now for the bracket.  First comes the S-Curve, which in case you've forgotten or don't know is the ranking of the teams in order from 1 to 68.  It's the guide for bracketing the teams and as its name implies, it snake ends so that the best 2 seed goes in the region with the worst 1 seed and so on. However, there are also bracketing rules and regulations that need to be followed.  The main ones:
1) The top 4 seeds in each region must be from 4 different conferences
2) No more than 1 team per conference in each half of a region (unless there's 9 teams from a conference obviously.)
3) Avoid regular season rematches in the first two rounds (although the committee has broken this one a number of times in recent years.)

S Curve

Kentucky Duke Virginia Gonzaga
Louisville Wisconsin Arizona Villanova
Kansas Washington Texas North Carolina
Utah Wichita State Maryland VCU
Iowa State St. John's Ohio State San Diego State
West Virginia Oklahoma Old Dominion LSU
Baylor Northern Iowa Arkansas Butler
Georgia Seton Hall Illinois Colorado State
SMU California George Washington Miami (FL)
Indiana Xavier TCU Notre Dame
Georgetown Michigan State Syracuse Iowa
Green Bay Harvard Dayton/Stanford Cincinnati/N.C. State
Wofford Georgia State Buffalo Belmont
Eastern Washington Stephen F. Austin UC Davis Northeastern
North Carolina Central American Florida Gulf Coast Coastal Carolina
St. Francis (PA) Canisius Texas Southern Stony Brook South Dakota State New Mexico State

MIDWEST (Cleveland)

Louisville
(1) Kentucky (SEC)
(16) New Mexico State (WAC)/Stony Brook (AE)

(8) Illinois
(9) SMU (AAC)

Louisville
(5) Iowa State
(12) Dayton/Stanford

(4) VCU (A10)
(13) Wofford (SoCon)

Portland
(6) West Virginia
(11) Syracuse

(3) Washington
(14) Northeastern (CAA)

Pittsburgh
(7) Baylor
(10) Notre Dame

(2) Villanova (BE)
(15) North Carolina Central (MEAC)

WEST (Los Angeles)

Seattle
(1) Gonzaga (WCC)
(16) St. Francis (PA) (NEC)

(8) Colorado State
(9) George Washington

Seattle
(5) Ohio State
(12) Green Bay (Horizon)

(4) Utah
(13) Belmont (OVC)

Omaha
(6) LSU
(11) Iowa

(3) Kansas (Big 12)
(14) Eastern Washington (Big Sky)

Columbus
(7) Butler
(10) TCU

(2) Louisville
(15) Coastal Carolina (Big South)

EAST (Syracuse)

Charlotte
(1) Duke
(16) South Dakota State (Summit)/Texas Southern (SWAC)

(8) Georgia
(9) California

Pittsburgh
(5) St. John's
(12) Cincinnati/N.C. State

(4) Maryland
(13) Georgia State (Sun Belt)

Jacksonville
(6) Old Dominion (C-USA)
(11) Michigan State

(3) Texas
(14) UC Davis (Big West)

Portland
(7) Northern Iowa
(10) Indiana

(2) Arizona (Pac-12)
(15) American (Patriot)

SOUTH (Houston)

Charlotte
(1) Virginia
(16) Canisius (MAAC)

(8) Seton Hall
(9) Miami (FL)

Omaha
(5) San Diego State (MW)
(12) Harvard (Ivy)

(4) Wichita State (MVC)
(13) Buffalo (MAC)

Jacksonville
(6) Oklahoma
(11) Georgetown

(3) North Carolina
(14) Stephen F. Austin (Southland)

Columbus
(7) Arkansas
(10) Xavier

(2) Wisconsin (Big Ten)
(15) Florida Gulf Coast (A-Sun)