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BRACKET BREAKDOWN: November 7th

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 (5)
Duke (AQ), Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Miami
Big 12 (9)
Houston (AQ), BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Iowa State, Kansas, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Baylor
Big East (5)
St. John’s (AQ), UConn, Creighton, Marquette, Georgetown
Big Sky (1)
Portland State (AQ)
Big South (1)
Radford (AQ)
Big Ten (10)
Purdue (AQ), Michigan, UCLA, Oregon, Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Washington, Maryland
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)
San Diego State (AQ)
NEC (1)
LIU (AQ)
OVC (1)
Little Rock (AQ)
Patriot League (1)
Colgate (AQ)
SEC (12)
Florida (AQ), Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma
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

USC, Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Virginia

Top 16 Seeds

1: Purdue, Houston, St. John’s, Arizona
2: Michigan, UConn, Duke, BYU
3: UCLA, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Kentucky
4: Louisville, Iowa State, Florida, Alabama

Five Things To Know

  • Duke’s game with Michigan on Feb. 21st is at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., which is the same site that the East Regionals will be played during the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Both the Blue Devils and Wolverines could return to the venue about a month after they play if they wind up as high seeds in the East Region.
  • Under Shaka Smart, Marquette has been a single digit seed in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments.
  • One of the least talked about, but most impressive streaks in college basketball? Gonzaga hasn’t missed the NCAA Tournament since 1998.
  • Three teams from the Mountain West — Boise State, UNLV, and Fresno State — have lost buy games during the first week of the season. This conference has had at least four teams in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments.
  • The NCAA will release the first NET ratings of the 2025-26 college basketball season on Dec. 1st, per an NCAA official.

Leftovers