Men’s Bracketology: 2026 NCAA Tournament
By Joe Lunardi Updated: 10/28/2025 at 9:00 a.m. ET
The 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 Watch
How 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 Bubble
68-Team Bracket
SOUTH (HOUSTON)
Oklahoma City
Portland
St. Louis
Buffalo
WEST (SAN JOSE)
Greenville
Buffalo
Portland
Greenville
MIDWEST (CHICAGO)
St. Louis
San Diego
St. Louis
Philadelphia
EAST (WASHINGTON D.C.)
Tampa
Oklahoma City
San Diego
Philadelphia
Conference Breakdown
Photo illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, USA TODAY Sports, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock
