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BRACKET BREAKDOWN: December 5th

This is ONLY December.

Between now and Selection Sunday, each Friday during the regular season I’ll give a “BRACKET BREAKDOWN” with my 68 projected teams for the 2026 NCAA Tournament along with my Top 16 seeds as well as emerging trends.

The team who’s currently in first place or was picked first in their respective conference’s preseason poll if they’re a mid-major will be listed as that league’s “automatic qualifier”.

The Current Field

Atlantic Sun (1)
Lipscomb (AQ)
America East (1)
Vermont (AQ)
American Athletic Conference (1)
Memphis (AQ)
Atlantic 10 (1)
VCU (AQ)
ACC (7)
Duke (AQ), Louisville, North Carolina, Clemson, SMU, Virginia, Miami
Big 12 (10)
Houston (AQ), BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, TCU
Big East (3)
St. John’s (AQ), UConn, Butler
Big Sky (1)
Portland State (AQ)
Big South (1)
Radford (AQ)
Big Ten (11)
Purdue (AQ), Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, USC, UCLA
Big West (1)
UC Santa Barbara (AQ)
CAA (1)
Towson (AQ)
Conference-USA (1)
Liberty (AQ)
Horizon League (1)
Milwaukee (AQ)
Ivy League (1)
Yale (AQ)
MAAC (1)
Quinnipiac (AQ)
MAC (1)
Kent State (AQ)
MEAC (1)
Norfolk State (AQ)
Missouri Valley (1)
Illinois State (AQ)
Mountain West (1)
Utah State (AQ)
NEC (1)
LIU (AQ)
OVC (1)
Little Rock (AQ)
Patriot League (1)
Colgate (AQ)
SEC (10)
Florida (AQ), Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Vanderbilt, LSU, Georgia
Southern (1)
Chattanooga (AQ)
Southland (1)
Lamar (AQ)
SWAC (1)
Jackson State (AQ)
Summit (1)
St. Thomas (AQ)
Sun Belt (1)
James Madison (AQ)
WCC (2)
Gonzaga (AQ), Saint Mary’s
WAC (1)
Cal Baptist (AQ)

First Four Out

Colorado, Villanova, Wake Forest, Creighton

Top 16 Seeds

1: Michigan (No. 1 overall seed), Arizona, Purdue, Duke
2: UConn, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Houston
3: BYU, Alabama, Iowa State, North Carolina
4: Louisville, Illinois, Florida, Vanderbilt

Five Things To Know

  • The four power conferences — ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC — combined for 38 of the 68 teams in the bracket projection above.
  • Michigan has only been a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament three times — — 2021 (Juwan Howard), 1993 (Steve Fisher), and 1985 (Bill Frieder) — in the last 40 years.
  • Virginia’s last NCAA Tournament win? The 2019 national title game against Texas Tech under Tony Bennett.
  • Butler hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
  • SMU hasn’t earned an at-large bid to March Madness since 1993. The Ponies earned an automatic bid via the American Conference Tournament in both 2015 and 2017.

Leftovers