Men’s Bracketology 3/5/2026

It was a poor night for bubble teams with SMU, New Mexico and USC all losing. New Mexico was pretty non-competitive against Colorado State and now falls out of the bracket with both their resume average and predictive average on the wrong side of 50.

SMU is becoming interesting in a hurry. The Mustangs have been pretty safely in the field all year. If I was seeding the field straight by WAB, they’d be my last team in right now. A road trip to Florida State completes their regular season- a loss there and they’ll likely be on the wrong side of the bubble headed into the ACC tournament.

1: Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Connecticut

2: Florida, Houston, Illinois, Michigan State

3: Purdue, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Nebraska

4: Kansas, Alabama, Gonzaga, Virginia

5: Vanderbilt, Arkansas, North Carolina, St. John’s

6: Tennessee, Wisconsin, Louisville, St. Mary’s

7: Kentucky, Miami (FL), BYU, Clemson

8: Saint Louis, Villanova, Georgia, Iowa

9: NC State, UCLA, Utah State, UCF

10: TCU, Texas, Miami (OH), Missouri

11: Texas A&M, Ohio State, (Santa Clara/SMU), (Auburn/VCU)

12: South Florida, Belmont, Yale, McNeese

13: Liberty, UNC Wilmington, High Point, Cal Baptist

14: Hawai’i, North Dakota State, Navy, Austin Peay

15: Troy, East Tennessee State, Merrimack, Wright State

16: Portland State, UMBC, (LIU/Bethune Cookman), (Tennessee State/Howard)

First Four Out: Indiana, Virginia Tech, New Mexico, Cincinnati

Also Considered: California, Seton Hall, San Diego State, Oklahoma State, USC

Moving In: VCU

Moving Out: New Mexico

Bids by Conference:

SEC: 11

Big 10: 9

ACC: 8

Big 12: 8

Big East: 3

West Coast: 3

Atlantic 10: 2