Men’s Bracketology 1/29/2026

Teams that are currently in my field had a good few days as most of them won (UCLA, New Mexico, Wisconsin). Teams that were outside the field mostly lost (Texas, TCU, Baylor). That means that the gap between those in the field and those outside the field grew significantly.

I feel quite good about my first 38 teams making the tournament (so UCLA on up). The gap between UCLA and the Seton Halls and TCUs of the world is getting quite large.

I’ll be back with another update on Saturday morning. The main thing to watch between now and then is the huge Michigan/Michigan State game that will go a long way to determining the 1 seed race.

1: Arizona, Michigan, Duke, Connecticut

2: Nebraska, Houston, Illinois, Michigan State

3: Iowa State, Gonzaga, Purdue, Vanderbilt

4: BYU, Texas Tech, Kansas, Florida

5: Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee

6: St. John’s, Auburn, Clemson, North Carolina

7: Louisville, Iowa, Saint Louis, Villanova

8: UCF, Utah State, SMU, St. Mary’s

9: Georgia, Texas A&M, NC State, Kentucky

10: Miami (FL), UCLA, New Mexico, Wisconsin

11: Ohio State, (Indiana/USC), (San Diego State/Santa Clara), Miami (OH)

12: Belmont, Tulsa, Liberty, Yale

13: McNeese, High Point. Hawai’i, Utah Valley

14: Oakland, Troy, UNC Wilmington, East Tennessee State

15: North Dakota State, Marist, Portland State, Lipscomb

16: Colgate, UT-Martin, (LIU/Bethune-Cookman), (Vermont/Howard)

First Four Out: Texas, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, George Mason

Next Four Out: TCU, VCU, California, Nevada

Moving In: None

Moving Out: None

Bids by Conference:

Big 10: 11

SEC: 9

ACC: 8

Big 12: 7

Big East: 3

Mountain West: 3

West Coast: 3