March Madness 2026 Men’s Predictions: Who Will Cut Down The Nets In Indianapolis?

What are you astir looking guardant to, connected aliases disconnected nan court?

The yearly bevy of trivia that accompanies an NCAA Tournament. Have you heard location are 2 Miamis? Did you cognize Nebraska person ne'er won a men’s tourney game? Are you alert that nan Queens Royals person a “spirit animal” called Buddy nan Street Dog? Even much importantly, I’m looking guardant to watching capable hoops complete nan adjacent 3 weeks to ace 68/68 connected nan Sporcle quiz of this year’s mascots. EB

That first Thursday and Friday stay 2 of nan awesome days connected nan American sports calendar: noon-to-midnight hoops, 4 games connected surface astatine a time, buzzer-beaters detonating retired of obscurity and a field aliases mini assemblage municipality you’ve ne'er heard of abruptly becoming nan halfway of nan hoops universe. (And, to nary one’s surprise, billions successful mislaid productivity.) The NCAA Tournament still trades successful nan romance that anything, and anyone, tin return complete March. BAG

Which freshman prima will boost their banal nan most? This year’s first-year people is loaded pinch talent and galore NBA mock drafts task nan apical 7 picks to beryllium existent freshmen. We cognize a heavy tally tin elevate a player’s draught position, while an early exit tin wounded it. I’ll beryllium watching intimately to spot which of nan pursuing freshmen will thief themselves nan most: AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Kingston Flemings (Houston), Darius Acuff Jr (Arkansas) and Keaton Wagler (Illinois). NL

Frankly, pinch nan sports almanac truthful crowded each nan time, it feels awesome to beryllium capable to bask successful assemblage hoops erstwhile again. March Madness being bully is 1 of nan fewer things we tin each work together on, truthful let’s bask its clip astatine halfway stage. The thrills, nan disappointments, nan caller stars and nan effect it will person connected nan NBA draft. All of it. Of course, for illustration most, what I can’t hold for most is to autumn successful emotion pinch a schoolhouse I’d ne'er heard of before. JU

Dark equine squad to watch

Vanderbilt person 4 wins complete NCAA Tournament teams, and 3 came successful nan 9 days earlier Selection Sunday. That’s nary mini feat successful nan 10-bid Southeastern Conference. Their tally to nan SEC Tournament last included wins complete Tennessee, now a No 6 seed, and a 17-point takedown of top-seeded Florida. EB

VCU nether first-year coach Phil Martelli Jr could make immoderate sound successful nan South Region. The 11th-seeded Rams participate nan tourney successful a rich | vein of form, having won 16 of their past 17 games. Their high-volume three-point shooting is an equalizer that tin flip games quickly and could move nan tables connected a sixth-seeded UNC squad who person mislaid move freshman Caleb Wilson for nan season. And lest we forget, nan Rams person nan Cinderella cistron successful their DNA. Has it really been 15 years since they went from nan First Four to nan Final Four? BAG

Rick Pitino has St John’s backmost successful nan operation for a Final Four run. Photograph: Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

St John’s. The Red Storm are led by 1 of basketball’s all-time awesome coaches successful Rick Pitino. The 73-year-old Long Island autochthonal has his squad playing to his characteristic erstwhile again. They’re riding a six-game triumph streak and coming disconnected a Big East Tournament title pinch Saturday’s decisive triumph complete rivals UConn. The committee didn’t do them immoderate favors pinch a No 5 seed playing 3,000 miles from home, but expect Pitino and nan Johnnies to enactment hot. NL

How astir No 7 seed Saint Mary’s? It seems for illustration each twelvemonth nan Catholic schoolhouse coached by nan awesome Randy Bennett is upsetting 1 powerhouse aliases another. This twelvemonth nan Gaels hit then-No 9 Gonzaga by double digits successful February. Will they outpouring a fewer much upsets successful nan tournament? I deliberation so! First complete Texas A&M and past ... possibly Houston? If it’s a deeper trim you’re looking for, effort Penn from nan spunky Ivy League, led by erstwhile Duke five-star enlistee TJ Power. JU

The astir susceptible of nan apical seeds is ...

On paper, Michigan are astir apt nan weakest of nan 4 No 1 seeds, but I don’t deliberation anyone should envy Duke for nan tie they sewage successful nan East Region. Dan Hurley’s UConn, Tom Izzo’s Michigan State, Rick Pitino’s St John’s and Bill Self’s Kansas - each coaches who person won nationalist titles - could await nan Blue Devils travel nan 2nd weekend. EB

Michigan are elite connected some ends and brutally businesslike inside, but whitethorn beryllium nan weakest of nan No 1s aft cardinal rotation portion LJ Cason went down to a season-ending torn ACL conscionable weeks earlier nan tournament. Turnovers stay nan 1 lingering flaw, which is capable to induce problem against nan incorrect matchup astatine nan incorrect clip successful a knockout format. BAG

Duke. The Blue Devils are coming disconnected an ACC title and a ascendant 32–2 season, truthful why nan concern? Injuries. They’ve kept winning, but March is astir elite constituent defender play – and Duke will beryllium without starter Caleb Foster. Can they get done a imaginable Sweet 16 matchup against a Mount Rushmore coach for illustration Bill Self aliases Rick Pitino? Time will tell, but it won’t beryllium easy. NL

Michigan, if you’re looking for a No 1 to spell down. Truthfully, it’s difficult to find a peculiarly susceptible apical seed, but I’ll spell pinch nan Wolverines for nan nosy of it here. If you want to spot a No 2 seed fall, cheque retired Purdue aliases Iowa State. They person nan upset stink each complete them, perchance moreover successful nan first round. JU

Yaxel Lendeborg has led Michigan to a No 1 seed successful nan NCAA Tournament. Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

One bold prediction

Kansas prima Darryn Peterson will play much than 35 minutes successful astatine slightest 2 games. The imaginable No 1 prime successful nan NBA draught has been 1 of this season’s astir … intriguing? … storylines. His issues pinch cramping and inconsistency meant he played 30 aliases much minutes successful conscionable 10 of Kansas’ 33 games. When he’s connected nan court, he’s 1 of nan astir entertaining violative players successful caller memory. If he tin enactment connected it, he could transportation nan Jayhawks connected a heavy tourney run. EB

A No 15 aliases No 16 seed will triumph a game. It took much than 3 decades for a 16 to yet hit a 1, but it’s happened doubly semi-recently pinch UMBC successful 2018 and Fairleigh Dickinson successful 2023. Meanwhile No 15 seeds person surged, winning 12 NCAA Tournament games since 2012 aft conscionable 4 successful each for much than a quarter-century of nan 64-team era. As nan transportation portal redistributes knowledgeable players and modern offenses prioritize spacing and shooting, nan structural advantages that erstwhile protected apical seeds successful one-off games connected neutral courts are steadily eroding. (Of this year’s crop, Furman complete UConn has nan champion shot.) BAG

For nan first clip successful 17 years, location will not beryllium an 11-over-6 upset. I for illustration nan large boys – Louisville, UNC, Tennessee and BYU – to each return attraction of business and beforehand to nan 2nd round. No 1 loves an upset much than I do, but nan talent spread successful these matchups is conscionable excessively overmuch to overcome. Go chalk! NL

A play-in squad will make nan Sweet 16. Maybe it will beryllium Miami (Ohio), who participate their First Four play-in crippled connected Wednesday nighttime pinch a whopping 31-1 grounds aft winning their first 31 games successful a row. Despite that mark, nan schoolhouse has a elephantine spot connected its shoulder. Usually teams that astir tally nan array don’t person to beryllium themselves to make nan existent information of 64. Wouldn’t it beryllium bully if an HBCU for illustration Howard advanced, too? Or possibly a mini outfit for illustration Lehigh? JU

Has NIL made March Madness amended aliases worse?

You tin reason that it’s made assemblage hoops successful wide better – players merit to get paid – but it’s adjacent to wonderment if we’ll get little of nan Cinderella magic that makes March truthful typical erstwhile nan disagreement betwixt nan apical and mediate tiers is starker than ever. Last twelvemonth brought conscionable 4 “major upsets” – games wherever nan victor was astatine slightest 5 seeds little than nan loser – aft an mean of 11.25 crossed nan 4 erstwhile tournaments. The round-of-64 games weren’t peculiarly close: conscionable 4 of nan 32 were decided by 5 aliases less points. Here’s hoping this twelvemonth is different. EB

NIL hasn’t surgery March Madness, but it’s thoroughly professionalized it. Rosters are assembled for illustration free agency and money shapes nan section much than ever. The result: less extended Cinderella runs and a tourney dominated by resource-rich programs. Upsets still happen, but they’re harder to prolong heavy into March. BAG

Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, left, and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa are 2 of nan nation’s astir acclaimed freshmen and NBA draught prospects. Photograph: Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Most would work together NIL isn’t being utilized arsenic primitively intended. It was expected to fto players profit disconnected their name, image, and likeness, capitalizing connected their success. Instead, it’s turned into guaranteed money and, much than anything, a recruiting tool. The strategy feels surgery and apt isn’t sustainable. NL

I don’t really cognize and, pinch each owed respect to nan question, I don’t really care. I cognize we’re successful nan chaotic westbound regarding NIL and I besides cognize players should beryllium paid (over nan table). If anything, NIL mightiness get much players to enactment successful schoolhouse longer, which is bully for them and bully for hoops fans. College basketball was astatine its tallness successful nan 1980s and 1990s because group could travel a subordinate for illustration Michael Jordan aliases Patrick Ewing complete 3 aliases 4 years. That doesn’t hap overmuch now but possibly it will much from now on. JU

Men’s Final Four

Duke, Illinois, Arizona, Iowa State. EB

Michigan State, Houston, Arizona, Michigan. BAG

St John’s, Houston, Arizona, Michigan. NL

Duke, Houston, Virginia, Arkansas. JU

The champion will beryllium …

Arizona. Success successful March is each astir uncovering nan correct balance: violative ratio and protect prowess, talented younker pinch seasoned experience, large stages pinch calm collectedness. The Wildcats person that. In a twelvemonth of prima freshmen, from Kansas’ Peterson and Duke’s Boozer to BYU’s Dybantsa and Arkansas’ Acuff Jr, Brayden Burries has flown nether nan radar. Arizona are ascendant capable successful nan overgarment – 4th successful rebounds per crippled and 2nd successful two-pointers per crippled – to dress up for their deficiency of three-point shooting. (Their 16.3 attempts/game ranks 354th retired of each 361 Division I teams.) The West looks to beryllium nan weakest of nan 4 regions, and this feels for illustration it could beryllium nan Wildcats’ year. EB

Arizona look for illustration nan astir complete squad successful nan field. The Wildcats blend elite freshman talent pinch knowledgeable activity successful nan backcourt, giving them nan equilibrium that usually matters heavy successful March. They tin people efficiently, take sides aggregate positions and set their tempo depending connected nan opponent. Just arsenic importantly, they’ve already navigated a demanding Big 12 convention schedule and won tight games late. In a tourney wherever galore contenders person alternatively pronounced and identifiable flaws, nan Wildcats’ extent and versatility guidelines out. If they tin enactment disciplined defensively and debar foul trouble, Arizona person nan pieces to past six games and snip down nan nets successful Indy. BAG

Arizona. The Wildcats haven’t been to a Final Four since 2001, erstwhile they mislaid to Duke successful a classical title game. They’re due. Head coach Tommy Lloyd has overachieved successful nan regular play successful each of his 5 years successful Tucson and this feels for illustration nan breakthrough postseason run. The Wildcats person awesome positional size, 5 guys averaging double figures, and put up 86 points per game. They return what nan defense gives them and tin hit you wrong aliases connected nan perimeter. Fresh disconnected a Big 12 Tournament championship, look for them to enactment basking and trim down nan nets successful Indianapolis. NL

Duke. They came up conscionable short past year pinch prima NBA prospects for illustration Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. This year, nan Blue Devils will return location nan trophy pinch different group of early pros successful twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer, nan sons of an NBA All-Star and Olympic champion. If you don’t cognize by now Cameron is Him, arsenic nan kids say. He tin do it all: handle, rebound and shoot. But if thing goes southbound for him, his relative is correct location to prime him up, conscionable for illustration a bully copy should. Bet connected Duke. I’m positive-ish! JU