This is ONLY November.
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, Virginia Tech, SMU, Virginia
Big 12 (10)
Houston (AQ), BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, TCU
Big East (4)
St. John’s (AQ), UConn, Georgetown, 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, Washington, Nebraska, Iowa, USC
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, Texas, Missouri, Vanderbilt
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
Seton Hall, Villanova, Kansas State, Miami
Top 16 Seeds
1: Purdue, Arizona, Michigan, Duke
2: Michigan State, Louisville, Gonzaga, Tennessee
3: Houston, UConn, BYU, Iowa State
4: Alabama, Illinois, Florida, Auburn
Five Things To Know
- Two teams from the Big Ten — Purdue and Michigan — are listed as number one seeds in the bracket projection above. A team from this conference has not won the national title since 2000.
- UConn still has four more potential Quad 1 opportunities — starting with today’s game against Illinois at MSG — before the start of Big East play. The Huskies will also visit Kansas next week, host Texas, and return to MSG on Dec. 9th to take on Florida in the Jimmy V Classic.
- Iowa State has never been worse than a six seed in each of the past three NCAA Tournaments under T.J. Otzelberger.
- Saint Mary’s has won 21 or more games in 17 of the last 18 seasons under Randy Bennett.
- Reminder: The first NET rankings of the 2025-26 season will be released on Dec. 1st, which is Monday.
Leftovers
- The Breakfast Buffet: Brayden Burries, Nebraska, UCLA’s defense needs to improve
- The Breakfast Buffet: Melvin Council, Kentucky is getting healthy, Chad Baker-Mazara
- The Breakfast Buffet: Darius Acuff/Christian Anderson, Darrion Williams, Arizona/Alabama
- INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW (12/12): Guest — Alabama’s Nate Oats
- BRACKET BREAKDOWN: December 12th
