Well, after 4½ months of play, the bracket for the 2026 men’s NCAA tournament is set with the 68 teams that will vie for the national title.
How do we feel about the way the seedings and pairings played out?
It’s hard to be critical of a 12-person selection committee that just made you look a whole lot smarter than you really are, so I won’t go there.
What I’ll do, instead, is offer a handful of “kudos” and “crank” that came to mind as the selection show unfolded:
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Kudos: For swapping Arizona and Michigan as the respective No. 2 and No. 3 overall seeds. This was justified when Michigan lost the Big Ten championship game but something most past selectors would have ignored. (So much so that I forgot to do it myself!) It’s also a swap that has absolutely no impact on any team’s seeding or placement — but it will bring a smile to bracket nerds everywhere.
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Kudos: For going beyond the numbers in the cases of 2-seed Purdue and 3-seed Virginia, with both landing in better spots than was the case just a week or two ago. Selfishly, I did the same thing but wasn’t at all sure of that decision. Also selfishly, I’m delighted to have UVA leading one of the two pods in Philadelphia, where I plan to spend the first weekend as a happy spectator. If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to say hello.
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Crank: For putting Miami (Ohio) in the First Four. We were all too close to a 31-1 team missing the tournament with this decision. I’m going to spare everyone the histrionics since that didn’t actually happen, but seriously? Selection committee chair Keith Gill did a nice job explaining that the RedHawks weren’t actually the last team selected, despite their ignominious place on the seed list.
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Kudos: Three WCC teams, two Atlantic 10 teams and two MAC teams in the field makes me smile. It’s still not enough mid-major representation, but it’s a step in the right direction. Remember, over the past 20 years, high-end mid-majors win almost twice as often in the NCAA tournament as “middling” high-majors despite worse seeding and far fewer selections.
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Crank: Utah State is the only team with an overt argument about its seeding. The Aggies could easily have been a 7-seed, and they probably deserved to be spared the assignment (and likely fate) of an 8-9 matchup.
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Semi-crank: Speaking of seeds, I thought Vanderbilt more than earned a spot on the top four lines. As it is, the two SEC finalists were 16 and 17 overall on the seed list, so clearly, the Commodores and Arkansas were playing for the final 4-seed on Sunday. Me? I’d have had both on that line and bumped unpredictable Kansas.
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Kudos: Across the past five tournaments, Saint Mary’s has been a 5-seed thrice and a 7-seed twice. That’s a remarkable run for any mid-major, especially one of the smallest schools in Division I.
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Kudos: It doesn’t appear the committee had to apply any bracket gymnastics to accommodate the unique needs of BYU (which can’t play on Sundays) or Hawai’i (which must travel excessive distances). Both have been slated to open in Portland, Oregon, for a Thursday/Saturday subregional in the West.
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Crank: I am officially not a fan of Selection Sunday being staged the same Sunday as the Oscars. Whoever came up with that should be sent to the NIT. For now, let me close by saying that the Oscars would be a whole lot more interesting — like pretty much everything else — with a bracket.
Now that you’ve processed it all, fill out your own brackets with the ESPN Tournament Challenge.
Enjoy the madness!
