Road to Madness: Latest analysis heading into NCAA tourney

We are officially in the final month of action before the NCAA Tournament brackets drop on Selection Sunday. Follow along for weekly analysis of all major happenings to help your bracket research as the Madness approaches.

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Michigan | Florida | Freshman Class | Cinderella | Nebraska

Michigan's a wagon

It's good to be king heading into the NCAA Tournament. A team with the No. 1 seed has won five of the last six national titles and 25 of 39 since the field expanded to 64. That's excellent news for fans of Michigan, as you can essentially write the Wolverines in pen on your bracket as a top seed.

Victory doesn't seem to be enough for Dusty May's program this season; domination and humiliation are held in higher esteem. The Wolverines have blown almost everybody off the court en route to a 24-1 start with a nation-leading scoring margin of 22.3 points per game. That includes nine wins by at least 30 points and 15 by 20 or more. The highlight was a five-game stretch that featured wins over San Diego State, Auburn, Gonzaga, Rutgers and Villanova by an average of 35.8 points.

You learn a couple things watching Michigan's lineup: It's incredibly deep, and Yaxel Lendeborg is a star. Eight different players score at least seven points per game for the Wolverines, with the standout senior leading the way at 14.4 along with 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

The biggest challenge of the season awaits Michigan this week, with a road trip to Purdue and a neutral site game versus Duke. Get through those contests clean and the Wolverines won't just have locked up a No. 1 seed, but they will likely be the top overall team heading into March Madness.

Florida comin'

If you stopped watching college hoops in early December this year, you'd be shocked to find Florida and the NCAA Tournament in the same sentence. The national championship hangover hit like the first night at an all-inclusive resort with a 5-4 start. However, Todd Golden got some improved guard play and standout performances from Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu to right the ship.

The Gators have won 14 of their last 16 games and sit comfortably in first in the SEC. The latest indication that Florida might be fully back came in Saturday's comfortable nine-point win over Kentucky. The schedule is also quite friendly the rest of the way, with dates against Arkansas and the season-ending trip to Lexington representing the only ranked matchups.

A class worth tanking for

Just how good is the talent in college basketball this year? NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been forced to hit teams with tanking fines for holding players out of games. The term "generational draft class" gets overused, but it absolutely fits this elite collection of players across college basketball.

Illinois' Keaton Wagler, BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Houston's Kingston Flemings, and Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr. have all put 40-point games on the board this season. Duke's Cam Boozer might be the best player in the country, and Kansas' Darryn Peterson - when he actually plays - is probably the top NBA prospect. Add Arizona's Brayden Burries to the mix, and most of the top teams in the country this year lean heavily on freshman production. That usually gets dicey come tournament time, but this year's class might be too elite to be affected by the pressures of March Madness.

Cinderellas emerge

It's never too early to look for a tournament Cinderella from a mid-major conference, and there are two clear options lighting up the sport this time around. The first is Miami of Ohio, a MAC program that also doubles as the only remaining undefeated team in the entire country. It's easy to think of the Hurricanes when talking about Miami, but Redhawks alumni will happily remind you that their beloved alma mater was a school before Florida was a state. The Redhawks have raced to a 25-0 record and have coach Travis Steele promising to wear a speedo on national television if they reach Selection Sunday still undefeated.

The story has been incredible, but Miami (Ohio) still likely needs to win the MAC Tournament and grab the conference's automatic bid to be safe for March Madness. That stems largely from a woefully weak schedule that ranks 312th in the country, according to KenPom. Simply put, the Redhawks have handled their business but also haven't played anybody of note.

While the analytics may hate the Redhawks, they absolutely love Saint Louis from the A-10 Conference. The Billikens are the only mid-major outside Gonzaga to hold top-40 KenPom rankings in both offense and defense. Their only loss on the season was a one-point setback to Stanford, and they trail only Michigan in average margin of victory this season at a whopping 21 points per game.

Nebraska should finally get NCAA tourney win

Basketball excellence is not something we've associated with Nebraska in the 130-year existence of the program. The Cornhuskers have topped the 25-win mark once in that entire span and remain the only major conference program that has never won an NCAA Tournament game. However, Fred Hoiberg is pulling off a Curt Cignetti-level turnaround in Nebraska, putting the Cornhuskers seventh in the country with a 22-3 record. The three losses were all close ones against elite competition, with Michigan, Illinois, and Purdue eking out victories by a combined 15 points.

With four wins in the final six games, Hoiberg's outfit would break the program record for single-season victories before the Big Ten Tournament even begins. Nebraska is currently a 3-seed in ESPN's bracketology, setting the program up for its best chance to finally get that elusive tourney victory. Perhaps the bigger question is how many the Huskers will reel off in this year's run.