Men’s Bracketology: 2026 NCAA Tournament
By Joe Lunardi Updated: 12/30/2025 at 8:30 a.m. ET
The conference play portion of the 2025-26 season will begin in earnest with the arrival of the new calendar year. Which means Bracketology, too, will update its schedule: Beginning in January, we will have two updates each week, all the way through to the end of the regular season.
Bracket Watch
The SEC dominated headlines last season, but at least one of its record 14 NCAA tournament teams remained under the radar: Vanderbilt. Under new coach Mark Byington, the Commodores went 20-13 and earned the school’s first NCAA bid in eight years. But they also lost their last four games, including their SEC (Texas) and NCAA (Saint Mary’s) tournament openers. Incremental improvement was thus the forecast for this season, so it’s fair to say their unbeaten record (13-0) and projected 2-seed have caught most of the nation off guard — or at least those who voted them 11th in the SEC’s preseason poll. Will this nonconference success carry over? KenPom pegs Vandy with the second-best offense and third-best defense in the SEC, so a run good enough to match the Sweet 16 years of 2004 and 2007 seems plausible. The Dores haven’t been further than that since 1965, but we could be witnessing history in the making.
On the Bubble
68-Team Bracket
MIDWEST (CHICAGO)
Buffalo
San Diego
Philadelphia
Greenville
EAST (WASHINGTON D.C.)
Philadelphia
Oklahoma City
Buffalo
Greenville
WEST (SAN JOSE)
San Diego
Tampa
Oklahoma City
Portland
SOUTH (HOUSTON)
St. Louis
Tampa
Portland
St. Louis
Conference Breakdown
Photo illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, USA TODAY Sports, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock
