Sweet 16's Most, Least Expensive MCBB Rosters Revealed Ahead of 3rd-Round Bracket Play

The 16 teams remaining in the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament are all four wins away from lifting the national championship trophy, but they reportedly did not all spend the same amount of money to get to this stage.

Pete Nakos of On 3 reported on the spending and roster construction of the 16 teams remaining, and here is how things broke down:

$10 million or More

• Arkansas
• Duke
• Houston
• Michigan
• St. John's
• Texas

$8 to $10 million

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Tennessee
• Purdue
• UConn

According to Nakos, Iowa State spent approximately $6.5 million, while Nebraska came in around $4.5 million. Michigan's State spending could not be verified.

While there is surely a correlation between spending more money on better players and winning in March, it wasn't a direct one-to-one formula.

After all, Nakos noted Kentucky reportedly spent $22 million with BYU, Kansas and Washington also among the top-spending programs in the nation. However, all of those teams are sitting at home with the Wildcats, Cougars and Jayhawks losing in the early rounds and the Huskies failing to even make the field.

That Iowa State and Nebraska are still playing despite spending significantly less money than some of their Sweet 16 counterparts is a credit to Cyclones coach T. J. Otzelberger and Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg.

Iowa State in particular looks like a potential national championship team with a suffocating defense that was fifth in defensive efficiency, per KenPom.

Kentucky Wildcats-Iowa State Cyclones Highlights

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Its second-round win just so happened to be a 19-point victory over high-spending Kentucky, and now it will face another SEC team in the Sweet 16 with a matchup against Tennessee. Otzelberger has done such an impressive job, he had to address speculation he could leave for the North Carolina vacancy.

He would surely have more financial resources with a program steeped in basketball tradition like North Carolina's, but he stressed he is happy at Iowa State.

The school is probably thrilled as well, as it is getting more than its money's worth from this year's run in the Big Dance.