2026 Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket: Latest Projection of the Field of 68

Purdue at Alabama, Kentucky at Louisville and a BYU-UConn clash in Boston highlighted a week of college hoops in which there were seven matchups between AP Top 25 teams and a whole host of games that had an impact on our still-way-too-early bracketology projection for the 2026 men's NCAA tournament.

The first NET rankings of the season won't be released for another two weeks, which means we're still at least two weeks away from banter about the nitty-gritty details on the team sheets.

We do have plenty of other team rankings at our disposal and will make more than a few references to KenPom. However, we all know bracketology is mostly vibes and gut feelings at this point in the campaign—and we are vibing with Georgetown's hot start.

With Feast Week just beyond the horizon, here is our latest bracketology forecast.

The Projected Bracket

Lance King/Getty Images

Duke's Cameron Boozer

East Region (Washington, D.C.)

Greenville, SC
No. 1 Duke vs. No. 16 Navy
No. 8 Ole Miss vs. No. 9 Iowa

Portland, OR
No. 4 Michigan State vs. No. 13 Northern Iowa
No. 5 Baylor vs. No. 12 Liberty

Buffalo, NY
No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Youngstown State
No. 6 Indiana vs. No. 11 Utah State / Texas

Philadelphia, PA
No. 2 Connecticut vs. No. 15 Siena
No. 7 San Diego State vs. No. 10 Georgia

Midwest Region (Chicago)

St. Louis, MO
No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 16 Florida Gulf Coast
No. 8 NC State vs. No. 9 Oregon

San Diego, CA
No. 4 Iowa State vs. No. 13 Hawaii
No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 High Point

Greenville, SC
No. 3 Louisville vs. No. 14 Utah Valley
No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 11 Saint Louis

Tampa, FL
No. 2 Florida vs. No. 15 Vermont
No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 SMU

South Region (Houston)

Oklahoma City, OK
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 16 Long Island / Norfolk State
No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Missouri

Oklahoma City, OK
No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 13 McNeese
No. 5 BYU vs. No. 12 South Florida

Tampa, FL
No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 14 Troy
No. 6 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 Nebraska / Georgetown

St. Louis, MO
No. 2 Illinois vs. No. 15 South Dakota State
No. 7 Vanderbilt vs. No. 10 Cincinnati

West Region (San Jose)

San Diego, CA
No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 16 SIU-Edwardsville / Southern
No. 8 USC vs. No. 9 Saint Mary's

Philadelphia, PA
No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 13 Towson
No. 5 St. John's vs. No. 12 Akron

Buffalo, NY
No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 14 East Tennessee State
No. 6 Auburn vs. No. 11 Yale

Portland, OR
No. 2 Gonzaga vs. No. 15 Montana
No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Creighton

Disclaimer: Though I do my best to construct a legal bracket as far as regional balance of the top four seed lines and potential same-conference matchups are concerned, I won't start worrying about avoiding non-conference rematches in the first round until the first projection of January. Please excuse any of those that you may find.

Ranking the No. 1 Seeds

Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn

1. Purdue Boilermakers
2. Houston Cougars
3. Duke Blue Devils
4. Arizona Wildcats
5. Connecticut Huskies
6. Illinois Fighting Illini
7. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Purdue jumps to No. 1 overall following an impressive road win over Alabama. Making his season debut, Trey Kaufman-Renn went for 19 points and 15 rebounds in that one before also amassing 17 and 15 a few nights later in a rout of Akron. Now that the trio of TKR, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer is off and running alongside double-double machine Oscar Cluff and the 7'4" Daniel Jacobsen, Purdue is already looking like the team to beat.

Of course, with the exception of Duke, every team in this No. 1 seed conversation had a solid win this week. Houston eked out a "semi-road" game against Auburn. Arizona did the same with UCLA. UConn won a "semi-home" game against BYU. Illinois picked up a nice W over Texas Tech. And Gonzaga eviscerated Creighton.

And, to be clear, Duke wasn't unimpressive this week, beating Army and Indiana State by a combined margin of 93 points. The Blue Devils simply didn't face a projected tournament team.

They will on Tuesday, though, drawing Kansas in the Champions Classic.

The following night will be the colossal Arizona at Connecticut game, followed immediately by Illinois hosting Alabama.

Purdue will probably draw Texas Tech in the Baha Mar Bahamas title game on Friday.

And on Monday, the Players Era Festival begins, which could culminate in a Houston-Gonzaga championship game on Wednesday.

In other words, if you don't like the order of these seven title contenders, just wait a week. For as much as everyone has been griping about a perceived lack of marquee games early in the year, these teams have provided quite a few and will continue to do so throughout Feast Week.

10 Words on Each of the 10 'Bubbliest' Teams

Rich Barnes/Getty Images

Syracuse's Donnie Freeman

Fifth-to-Last In: Georgia Bulldogs—Narrowly beat Georgia Tech in first game of any consequence.

Fourth-to-Last In: Utah State Aggies—Texas A&M-CC transfer big man Garry Clark averaging a double-double.

Third-to-Last In: Texas Longhorns—Should pick up at least two wins in Maui Invitational.

Second-to-Last In: Nebraska Cornhuskers—Erased big early deficit for "defense optional" victory over Oklahoma.

Last Team In: Georgetown Hoyas—Wins over Maryland and Clemson get Georgetown into the field.

***Cut Line***

First Team Out: Virginia Cavaliers—At 90.8 PPG, these aren't the Tony Bennett Cavaliers anymore.

Second Team Out: Oklahoma State Cowboys—Could become a menace in Big 12 with Anthony Roy.

Third Team Out: Syracuse Orange—Hasn't faced anyone yet, but allowing 46.7 points per game.

Fourth Team Out: Clemson Tigers—Slips out for Georgetown loss; has Charleston Classic this weekend.

Fifth Team Out: Mississippi State Bulldogs—Got smoked by Iowa State, then barely beat Southeastern Louisiana.

ACC Summary

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr.

5 Teams in the Projected Field: 3. Duke, 9. Louisville, 14. North Carolina, 30. NC State, 38. SMU

Also Considered: Virginia, Syracuse, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami

Biggest Development: Louisville Makes a Statement; Pitt Makes a Much Worse One

For the first time since 1993, the annual Louisville-Kentucky showdown took place within the first 10 days of the regular season instead of in its usual spot in late December or even early January.

Nevertheless, the Cardinals sure looked to be in midseason form, leading by as many as 20 points in the second half of what was quite the mutual three-point shooting contest. Freshman star Mikel Brown Jr. led all players with 29 points and five assists as Louisville leaned on its turnover-forcing defense to score an early marquee win.

The Cardinals were our No. 17 overall seed one week ago, but we've vaulted them and their 103 points per game all the way up to No. 9—one spot ahead of Kentucky.

Two nights later in a different regional nonconference rivalry, Pittsburgh got boat-raced by West Virginia.

The Panthers led early, but the Mountaineers went on an extended 27-2 run that spanned halftime en route to a 71-49 laugher.

The "glass half full" perspective? The only time Pitt has made the tournament under Jeff Capel was three years ago—when WVU blasted the Panthers by 25 in mid-November. Maybe they can bounce back once again from a major egg-on-the-face defeat, but that's a brutal start for a coach who always seems to be on the hot seat.

Big 12 Summary

Jason Homan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Houston's Kingston Flemings

8 Teams in the Projected Field: 2. Houston, 4. Arizona, 15. Iowa State, 17. BYU, 20. Baylor, 22. Texas Tech, 25. Kansas, 37. Cincinnati

Also Considered: Oklahoma State, Kansas State, West Virginia

Biggest Development: Houston Survives First Big Test; BYU Does Not

Let's start with the latter of those two developments, as we were quite impressed with the Cougars in their two-point "neutral" loss to Connecticut in Boston.

They were playing without starting small forward Kennard Davis, who was arrested for suspicion of DUI on Thursday and suspended indefinitely from the team on Saturday. Given their Honor Code, they might need to get used to that absence for the rest of the season, but we'll see how that plays out.

The Cougars also lost starting center Keba Keita to what sure looked like a concussion midway through the first half. And from there, UConn seemed destined to cruise to a blowout win in a Top 10 battle.

Despite trailing by as many as 20 points, though, BYU never threw in the towel. AJ Dybantsa heated up and they almost came all the way back.

There are no moral victories, but that surely wasn't an ugly loss.

The following day, Houston played a "neutral" game of its own in Birmingham against Auburn in which the entire contest was played within an 11-point window—the Cougars never leading by more than eight; the Tigers never leading by more than three.

In what was predictably a physical grind, it was the freshmen who carried Houston to a one-point win. Kingston Flemings went for 22 points and seven assists. Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 and nine rebounds before fouling out. And while he was nowhere near as statistically noteworthy, Isiah Harwell logged 21 minutes of tough defense off the bench.

Houston already looks pretty great, and that's probably only going to become more clear as those freshmen develop and the team defense once again becomes the most impenetrable in the nation.

Big East Summary

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Georgetown's KJ Lewis

4 Teams in the Projected Field: 5. Connecticut, 18. St. John's, 39. Creighton, 44. Georgetown

Also Considered: Villanova

Biggest Development: Georgetown Impresses Amid a Sea of Wreckage

In this space last week, we bemoaned the Big East's repeated whiffing on opportunities in the opening week of the season, with the exception of Georgetown scoring a nice road win over Maryland.

One week later, it's mostly more of the same.

UConn did have that nice win over BYU to remain right on Arizona's tail for the final No. 1 seed in advance of their big showdown on Wednesday. But elsewhere Creighton got destroyed by Gonzaga, Xavier lost by 19 to Santa Clara and by 19 to Iowa, Marquette lost to Maryland, Butler lost at SMU, Providence lost at Colorado and DePaul took two L's, including a dreadful one at home against Buffalo.

All told, Big East teams not named Georgetown or UConn have gone a combined 0-11 against the KenPom top 100, plus that awful loss by DePaul.

Not a great start in the quest for more than three bids.

But the Hoyas have been an early surprise, adding to the aforementioned win at Maryland with a home victory over Clemson on Saturday.

Former Arizona Wildcat KJ Lewis was sensational once again for Georgetown, putting up a career-high 26 points while matching a career high with five steals. Vince Iwuchukwu was both literally and figuratively huge off the bench, going for 31 points between the Hoyas' wins over Clemson and Binghamton this week.

They just might be back in year No. 3 under Ed Cooley. And they are back in our projected field for the first time in a long time.

Big Ten Summary

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

12 Teams in the Projected Field: 1. Purdue, 6. Illinois, 12. Michigan, 16. Michigan State, 19. Wisconsin, 21. Indiana, 27. UCLA, 29. Ohio State, 31. USC, 33. Oregon, 35. Iowa, 43. Nebraska

Also Considered: Northwestern, Maryland, Washington

Biggest Development: Short-Handed Illinois Scores a Big Win

Tomislav Ivisic averaged 13.0 points and 7.7 rebounds last year as a freshman and is Illinois' returning leader in both departments. Brandon Lee was a 4-star, top-100 recruit in this year's class. Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic was probably the Illini's biggest offseason addition, liable to end the season as their primary ball-handler.

What that trio has in common is that with the exception of Ivisic scoring 21 points in the season-opening rout of Jackson State, none of them have been playing. Ivisic has been out with a knee injury, Lee is recovering from a badly sprained ankle and Petrovic has been dealing with a hamstring issue.

As a result, Illinois wasn't exactly putting its best foot forward for the early high-profile showdown with Texas Tech. And without Ivisic's presence in the paint, they really had no answer for the Red Raiders' frontcourt tandem of JT Toppin and LeJuan Watts, who went off for 56 points.

Yet, Illinois gutted out an 81-77 win with Cal transfer Andrej Stojakovic playing an absolutely massive role off the bench with a team-high 23 points.

The Illini have already crept up to a projected No. 2 seed, and we're still waiting to see them at anything close to full strength. With any luck, they'll be there by Black Friday for a huge one—Final Four preview?—against Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.

SEC Summary

Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images

Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford

11 Teams in the Projected Field: 8. Florida, 10. Kentucky, 11. Alabama, 13. Tennessee, 23. Arkansas, 24. Auburn, 26. Vanderbilt, 32. Ole Miss, 34. Missouri, 40. Georgia, 42. Texas

Also Considered: Mississippi State, LSU

Biggest Development: Still Searching for Quality Wins

Much like in the Big East, the SEC's league-wide inability to beat a quality opponent is officially becoming troubling.

There was Alabama's marquee win at St. John's two Saturdays ago and...that's it.

The conference did at least pick up a few top 100 wins this past week, Florida sweeping its in-state matchups with Florida State and Miami while Ole Miss (vs. Memphis), Missouri (vs. Minnesota) and Georgia (vs. Georgia Tech) each nabbed a decent home win over a team that isn't all that close to the at-large picture right now.

However, set the threshold at "KenPom Top 60" and the SEC is sitting at just 1-10 for the year, adding Kentucky-Louisville, Alabama-Purdue, Auburn-Houston, and Oklahoma-Nebraska to its list of missed opportunities in the past seven days.

The silver lining is there haven't been any bad losses, unless you want to classify Texas A&M's 12-point home loss to UCF as a bad one. That's probably a Quad 2 game when all is said and done, while most of the league's losses are all but certain to be Quad 1A results.

But at this point last year, the SEC was 54-7 as a whole, with several great wins away from home over Houston, Duke and Louisville. This time around, they've blown those exact three opportunities and could really use a boost in the form of wins in the Kentucky-Michigan State and Alabama-Illinois games this week.

Mid-Majors Summary (A10, AAC, MVC, MWC, WCC)

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Santa Clara's Bukky Oboye

7 Teams in the Projected Field: 7. Gonzaga, 28. San Diego State, 36. Saint Mary's, 41. Utah State, 45. Saint Louis, 48. South Florida, 53. Northern Iowa

Also Considered: Santa Clara, Colorado State, George Washington, VCU, Dayton, Memphis

Biggest Development: Salutations, Santa Clara

It has been three decades since Santa Clara last played in an NCAA tournament, when some senior point guard by the name of Steve Nash went for 28 points and 12 assists in leading the Broncos to a first-round upset of Maryland in 1996.

Could that drought finally be coming to an end?

While Santa Clara doesn't exactly have a signature win yet, it has had three noteworthy outcomes already, beating McNeese by 12, beating Nevada by 15 and pummeling Xavier by 19 in a true road game.

It's because they repeatedly blew these types of games last November that their tournament drought is still intact. Santa Clara ended the year as a top 60 team both in NET and on KenPom, but they entered December at 3-5 after playing eight games against teams in the 70-160 range on KenPom.

After that, even winning at Gonzaga for the first time in nearly two decades wasn't enough to salvage a bid.

But they've got something brewing, especially in the frontcourt.

7'1" third-year center Bukky Oboye needs to learn how to play without fouling, averaging one whistle for every 3.5 minutes played thus far in his career. But he also managed 31 points and 10 blocks in 35 minutes played in the wins over Nevada and Xavier.

Meanwhile, freshman Allen Graves has been a force in the paint, tallying a double-double against Xavier and averaging 15.6 rebounds per 40 minutes.

That tandem is spearheading a frontcourt that ranks top five in the nation in both offensive rebounding percentage and block percentage, threatening to become a real factor as an at-large candidate.

The Broncos will play in the Acrisure Invitational later this month, opening with Saint Louis before drawing either Minnesota or Stanford in their other game. They'll also play at New Mexico and will battle Arizona State in Nevada in December. If they can at least go 2-2 in those four games, they could present quite the case for a rare tournament appearance.

Other 21 Leagues Summary

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Troy's Victor Valdes

21 Teams in the Projected Field: 46. Yale, 47. Akron, 49. Liberty, 50. High Point, 51. Hawaii, 52. McNeese, 54. Towson, 55. Utah Valley, 56. Troy, 57. Youngstown State, 58. East Tennessee State, 59. Montana, 60. Siena, 61. South Dakota State, 62. Vermont, 63. Navy, 64. Florida Gulf Coast, 65. SIU-Edwardsville, 66. Southern, 67. LIU, 68. Norfolk State

Also Considered: N/A

Biggest Development: Sun Belt Co-Favorites Each Take Two on the Chin

While James Madison was voted as the preseason favorite at Sun Belt media days, it was Troy that entered the season slightly ahead of JMU in KenPom's rankings.

Neither one exactly looked like a contender this past week, though, setting the early tone for yet another wide-open year in a league that had a four-way tie for the regular-season crown last spring.

Troy flew out west for road games against Loyola Marymount and CSUN while JMU remained on the East Coast for road games against Longwood and LIU. And they went a combined 0-4 in games that were decided by at least nine points each.

That could have been the opening that Marshall needed to surge to projected champion of the league, except the Thundering Herd took quite the beating of their own, losing 104-78 at Virginia—which was UVA's first time scoring at least 92 points in a game since a 100-64 win over Marshall in 2018, as well as its first time scoring more than 100 points since a 107-97 win over VMI to open the 2008-09 campaign.

Throw a dart and cross your fingers. The Sun Belt is shaping up to be even more of a colossal unknown than usual, and possibly a No. 15 seed, at best, if the supposed top teams keep on losing left and right.