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BRACKET BREAKDOWN: February 6th

This is ONLY February.

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 in their respective league will be listed as that league’s “automatic qualifier”.

The Current Field

America East (1)
UMBC (AQ)
American Conference (1)
Tulsa (AQ)
ASUN (1)
Austin Peay (AQ)
Atlantic 10 (1)
Saint Louis (AQ)
ACC (9)
Duke (AQ), Louisville, North Carolina, Clemson, SMU, Virginia, Miami, NC State, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (7)
Arizona (AQ), BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, UCF
Big East (3)
UConn (AQ), St. John’s, Villanova
Big Sky (1)
Portland State (AQ)
Big South (1)
Winthrop (AQ)
Big Ten (11)
Michigan (AQ), Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, USC, Wisconsin, UCLA, Indiana
Big West (1)
UC Irvine (AQ)
CAA (1)
Charleston (AQ)
Conference-USA (1)
Liberty (AQ)
Horizon League (1)
Wright State (AQ)
Ivy League (1)
Harvard (AQ)
MAAC (1)
Merrimack (AQ)
MAC (1)
Miami (OH) (AQ)
MEAC (1)
NC Central (AQ)
Missouri Valley (1)
Belmont (AQ)
Mountain West (1)
Utah State (1)
NEC (1)
LIU (AQ)
OVC (1)
UT Martin (AQ)
Patriot League (1)
Navy (AQ)
SEC (10)
Texas A&M (AQ), Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Texas
Southern (1)
East Tennessee State (AQ)
Southland (1)
Stephen F. Austin (AQ)
SWAC (1)
Bethune Cookman (AQ)
Summit (1)
North Dakota State (AQ)
Sun Belt (1)
Troy (AQ)
WCC (3)
Santa Clara (AQ), Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s
WAC (1)
Cal Baptist (AQ)

First Four Out

Cal, New Mexico, San Diego State, Oklahoma State

Top 16 Seeds

1: Arizona (No. 1 overall seed), Duke, Michigan, UConn
2: Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State, Houston
3: Purdue, Kansas, Gonzaga, Florida
4: Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Virginia

Five Things To Know

  • Duke has been a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament 15 times, with 14 of those appearances coming under Mike Krzyzewski.
  • Houston is on track to be one of the top seeds in the South Region on Selection Sunday. Why is that so significant? If the Cougars advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, they’ll then play Sweet 16 and potentially Elite Eight games at the Toyota Center in Downtown Houston.
  • Gonzaga’s Quad 3 loss to Portland on Wednesday night may ultimately prevent the Bulldogs from being better than a three seed on Selection Sunday.
  • NC State has not been better than an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
  • Miami’s (OH) NET non-conference strength of schedule is 364th. The Redhawks better win the MAC Tournament in Cleveland if they want to sleep well on the night before the brackets are released on March 15th.

Leftovers