Joe Lunardi Reveals New Bracketology Projections for March Madness Top Seeds, Bubble Teams

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi revealed his latest outlook for the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament on Tuesday, headlined by Duke as the projected No. 1 overall seed.

Joining the top-ranked Blue Devils as 1-seeds are No. 3 Michigan as the second-overall seed, No. 2 Arizona as the third-overall seed and No. 4 UConn as the fourth-overall seed.

Duke, Michigan and Arizona are all two-loss teams, while UConn is 27-3, placing significant separation between the four projected No. 1 seeds and the rest of the field.

As for the bubble watch, Lunardi lists Santa Clara, Ohio State, New Mexico and Indiana has his last four teams in the field, and Auburn, San Diego State, VCU and Virginia Tech as his first four teams out of the field.

The 18-11 Buckeyes and 17-12 Hoosiers are two longtime basketball powers firmly on the bubble, but Lunardi would have them in the tournament if the season ended today.

That can't be said for Auburn, as Lunardi has the Tigers on the outside looking in with the SEC tournament on the horizon.

Auburn is just 15-14 overall and 6-10 in conference play, but it owns several impressive victories over the likes of St. John's, Arkansas and Florida.

The Tigers own five Quad 1 victories, and while they have also lost 11 Quad 1 games, it speaks to the difficulty of their schedule.

Former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl made headlines this week for questioning whether MAC leader Miami (OH) should be considered a lock for the NCAA tournament field over a team like Auburn.

Lunardi clapped back against that notion as part of his bracket watch on Wednesday, though, quipping that Pearl "would be better off leaving bracketology to the professionals."

Auburn has LSU and No. 16 Alabama remaining on its regular-season schedule, and the Tigers may have to win both of those games in addition to having a solid run in the SEC tournament to have a chance at being part of March Madness.