Source: ESPN College Sports
Men’s Bracketology: 2026 NCAA TournamentBy Joe LunardiUpdated: 10/28/2025 at 9:00 a.m. ETThe 2025-26 campaign will finally tip off Nov. 3, which means what follows is the last preseason edition of Bracketology before weekly updates begin Nov. 11. Happy hoops!Bracket WatchTop Overall SeedHoustonFirst Team OutOklahomaLast Team InVillanovaHow often does the best version of a team actually win a championship? In college basketball, were the 2003 champions the best team of Jim Boeheim’s career? Of UConn’s six titlists and multiple additional contenders, where would Kevin Ollie’s 2014 champions rank? You get the idea. Champions need to be good and timely. Since the pandemic, one could reasonably place Purdue as the nation’s second-best program, after UConn. That includes the Boilermakers falling well short of UConn in the 2024 title game as well as their head-scratching NCAA tournament exits at the hands of North Texas, Saint Peter’s and Fairleigh Dickinson — all of which is to note the 2025-26 version of Purdue might not be Matt Painter’s best team of this era, but it could be the timeliest. And sometimes, that’s all it takes.On the BubbleLast Four ByesCincinnatiIowaVirginiaSaint Mary’sLast Four InMarquetteWashingtonBoise StateVillanovaFirst Four OutOklahomaIndianaClemsonTexas A&MNext Four OutSMUMarylandUtah StateGeorgia68-Team BracketMoved UpMoved DownNew Team to BracketAutomatic Qualifier16Navy16Southern11Boise State11Villanova16Norfolk St.16Long Island University11Marquette11WashingtonSOUTH (HOUSTON)Oklahoma City1Houston- aq16Montana- aq8Missouri9USCPortland5Gonzaga- aq12Akron- aq4Alabama13Utah Valley- aqTampa6North Carolina11VCU- aq3Tennessee14James Madison- aqBuffalo7Creighton10Mississippi St.2Michigan15Youngstown St.- aqWEST (SAN JOSE)Greenville1Duke- aq16Navy- aq/Southern- aq8Texas9CincinnatiBuffalo5Iowa State12Liberty- aq4Illinois13High Point- aqPortland6Oregon11Boise State/Villanova3BYU14St. Thomas- aqGreenville7San Diego St.- aq10Iowa2Kentucky15Little Rock- aqMIDWEST (CHICAGO)St. Louis1aq -Purdue16aq -Norfolk St.aq -Long Island University/8Baylor9Ole MissSan Diego5Arkansas12aq -Northern Iowa4Arizona13aq -UC IrvineSt. Louis6Kansas11MarquetteWashington/3Louisville14aq -UNC WilmingtonPhiladelphia7Wisconsin10Saint Mary’s2St. John’s15aq -SienaEAST (WASHINGTON D.C.)Tampa1aq -Florida16aq -Vermont8N.C. State9VanderbiltOklahoma City5Michigan St.12aq -Yale4Texas Tech13aq -McNeeseSan Diego6Auburn11aq -Memphis3UCLA14aq -FurmanPhiladelphia7Ohio State10Virginia2aq -UConn15aq -Florida Gulf CoastConference BreakdownConferenceTeamSEC11Big Ten11Big 128ACC5Big East5Mountain West2WCC2All NCAAM ConferencesPhoto illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, USA TODAY Sports, Icon Sportswire, EPA/ShutterstockRelated StoriesRanking 80 men’s NCAA basketball teams by March Madness potentialJoe Lunardi’s 14 most unmissable men’s games of NovemberTop 100 men’s NCAA basketball players ranked going into 2025-26Borzello’s…
Published: 2025-11-03T13:53:37
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