Men’s Bracketology 2/4/2026

USC was the biggest bubble winner of the night, as the Trojans are now reasonably comfortably in the field after their win over Indiana. Meanwhile, teams like SMU and Georgia that I thought were comfortably in the field have picked up a few losses in a row and have slid into Last Four Byes territory.

1: Arizona, Michigan, Duke, Connecticut

2: Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State, Houston

3: Purdue, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt

4: Kansas, BYU, Florida, Virginia

5: Texas Tech, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas

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

7: Saint Louis, Louisville, UCF, Texas A&M

8: Auburn, Villanova, Kentucky, NC State

9: Utah State, St. Mary’s, Wisconsin, USC

10: New Mexico, SMU, Indiana, Georgia

11: UCLA, (Miami (FL)/Santa Clara), (Ohio State/Texas), Miami (OH)

12: Belmont, Tulsa, Liberty, Yale

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

14: UNC Wilmington, Oakland, East Tennessee State, North Dakota State

15: Troy, Portland State, Austin Peay, Siena

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

First Four Out: San Diego State, Seton Hall, George Mason, California

Next Four Out: Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Missouri, VCU

Also Considered: Washington, LSU, Baylor, Nevada, TCU, Akron, Grand Canyon, West Virginia, Stanford, Butler

Moving In: None

Moving Out: None

Bids by Conference:

Big 10: 11

SEC: 10

ACC: 8

Big 12: 7

Big East: 3

West Coast: 3

Mountain West: 2