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BRACKET BREAKDOWN: December 19th

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 (11)
Houston (AQ), BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, TCU, UCF
Big East (3)
St. John’s (AQ), UConn, Seton Hall
Big Sky (1)
Portland State (AQ)
Big South (1)
Radford (AQ)
Big Ten (11)
Purdue (AQ), Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Ohio State, Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, USC, UCLA, Washington
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 (9)
Florida (AQ), Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia, LSU
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

NC State, Butler, Wisconsin, Oklahoma

Top 16 Seeds

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

Five Things To Know

  • Gonzaga has advanced to 25 straight NCAA Tournaments under Mark Few. The Bulldogs have been a single digit seed in 21 of those trips to March Madness.
  • San Diego State’s at-large chances for the 2026 NCAA Tournament will hinge on whether or not the Aztecs can beat Arizona on Saturday night in Phoenix. As of Thursday, the Aztecs were ranked 82nd in the NET.
  • Nebraska has an all-time record of 0-8 in NCAA Tournament games.
  • Why is Washington in the bracket above? The Huskies have only lost one game this season — at home to UCLA — with both Desmond Claude (12.5 points) and Hannes Steinbach (17.9 points, 11.9 rebounds) in the lineup.
  • 12 of the Big Ten’s 18 teams are currently ranked teams are currently ranked in the Top 75 of the NET.

Leftovers