Men's 2026 NCAA Tournament Sleeper Teams That Could Bust Brackets

In the coming days, a lot of focus will be paid to double-digit Cinderella teams that could pull off a March Madness upset and to high-powered No. 1 seeds that are national championship favorites.

That often leaves middle-of-the-pack teams overlooked.

The Elite Eight was almost chalk last year with four No. 1 seeds, three No. 2 seeds, and one No. 3 seed, but that is rarely how things play out. In 2024, No. 6 seed Clemson reached the Elite Eight, while No. 11 seed NC State made it all the way to the Final Four.

So which teams outside the nation's elite could go on a similar run this year?

Ahead, we've highlighted five squads slotted below the top four seed lines with a legitimate shot at busting your bracket and making a run to the national championship.

BYU Cougars

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AJ Dybantsa

Seed: No. 6 (West Region)
Top 4 Teams in Region: 1. Arizona, 2. Purdue, 3. Gonzaga, 4. Arkansas

The Cougars have a bona fide superstar in freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa, and he is one of the few players in the country capable of putting a team on his back during the NCAA tournament.

The 6'9", 210-pound matchup nightmare leads the nation in scoring with 25.3 points per game, and he hung 40 points on Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament opener for his second 40-point game of the season.

He anchors an offense that ranks No. 10 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency metric. They were even more dangerous before Richie Saunders suffered a season-ending torn ACL in mid-February, but they have continued adding to their resume since he went down.

The Cougars have seven Quad 1 wins, including victories over Iowa State and Texas Tech that came after the Saunders injury. Even more impressive is their lack of a bad loss, with their "worst" coming at home against a good UCF team.

Georgia Bulldogs

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Kanon Catchings

Seed: No. 8 (Midwest Region)
Top 4 Teams in Region: 1. Michigan, 2. Iowa State, 3. Virginia, 4. Alabama

The Bulldogs returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade last year, but they were quickly sent packing in a lopsided 89-68 loss to an underseeded Gonzaga squad in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup.

Asa Newell departed for the NBA, but the roster was restocked with transfers Jeremiah Wilkinson (California), Marcus Millender (UTSA), and Kanon Catchings (BYU), and they have combined to average 40.9 points per game.

Catchings is the one to watch heading into the NCAA tournament, as he is averaging 24.7 points over his last three games, including a season-high 32 in a shootout win over Alabama.

The Bulldogs rank No. 16 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, and they play as up-tempo as any team in the tournament field. That gives them intriguing upside, though the defense will need to show up, as they are 4-9 in games where they allow 85 points.

North Carolina Tar Heels

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Henri Veesaar

Seed: No. 6 (South Region)
Top 4 Teams in Region: 1. Florida, 2. Houston, 3. Illinois, 4. Nebraska

The Tar Heels are 5-3 since losing star freshman Caleb Wilson to a season-ending broken thumb during a Feb. 10 loss to Miami, so they have had a decent runway to adjust to life without him.

In his absence, Henri Veesaar (16.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG) and Seth Trimble (14.0 PPG, 2.8 APG) are now the go-to options offensively, while others around them have seen their minutes increase.

Freshman Derek Dixon stands out as a potential X-factor, as his two highest-scoring games of the season have been in the team's last two games, with 17 points against Duke in the regular-season finale and 16 points against Clemson in the ACC tournament loss.

Their resume now comes with a grain of salt, given the Wilson injury, but he didn't single-handedly beat Duke, Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio State earlier this year, and the Tar Heels picked up a sixth Quad 1 win when they knocked off Louisville without him on Feb. 23.

Saint Louis Billikens

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Robbie Avila

Seed: No. 9 (Midwest Region)
Top 4 Teams in Region: 1. Michigan, 2. Iowa State, 3. Virginia, 4. Alabama

There is always a sharp-shooting mid-major team with the potential to catch fire from the outside and make a serious run during March Madness, and this year the Billikens might be that team.

They shoot 27.2 threes per game and connect at a blistering 40.1 percent clip, with Trey Green (90 threes, 45.7%), Ishan Sharma (77 threes, 42.8%), Robbie Avila (62 threes, 41.6%), and Brady Dunlap (45 threes, 44.1%) all legitimate knockdown shooters.

Avila followed head coach Josh Schertz when he made the move from Indiana State prior to the 2024-25 season, and the 6'10" stat-stuffer has averaged 12.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists this year en route to A-10 Player of the Year honors.

The Billikens are 21-1 when they make at least 10 three-pointers, with the lone loss coming in Saturday's A-10 semifinal game against Dayton, so they will go as far as the deep ball carries them.

Wisconsin Badgers

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Nick Boyd

Seed: No. 5 (West Region)
Top 4 Teams in Region: 1. Arizona, 2. Purdue, 3. Gonzaga, 4. Arkansas

The sentiment that a team is capable of beating anyone gets thrown around a lot this time of year, but the Badgers have proven it over the last 10 days.

They started by beating Purdue at Mackey Arena in the regular-season finale, then added another Quad 1 win when they erased a 15-point deficit to beat a high-powered Illinois squad in overtime on Friday. They nearly pulled off another upset on Saturday, taking an elite Michigan team to the wire in a 68-65 loss. They did hand the Wolverines their lone Big Ten loss back in January.

The guard tandem of Nick Boyd (20.6 PPG) and John Blackwell (19.0 PPG) is capable of carrying this team on a deep March Madness run, and they combined for 69 points in the 91-88 victory over Illinois.

The question is defense, as they rank outside the top 50 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency metric and have gone 5-5 in games where the opposition scores at least 85 points. Still, this is not a team anyone wants to see in their bracket path.