2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was an event involving 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the NCAA Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2025–26 season. The 87th edition of the tournament began on March 17 and concluded with the championship game on April 6, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Michigan Wolverines won their second title, and the first under Dusty May.

Atlantic Sun champion Queens and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) champion California Baptist made their tournament debuts. Queens qualified in its first year of eligibility, becoming only the fifth school since 1972 to achieve the feat.

Ohio Valley champion Tennessee State made its third-ever appearance, its first since 1994, while Big Sky champion Idaho made its first appearance since 1990. Coastal Athletic champion Hofstra made its first appearance since 2001. Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion Akron and Southland champion McNeese each made their third consecutive tournament appearance.

For the first time since 2022 there was a Philadelphia Big 5 school in the tournament, with both Villanova and Penn qualifying. Teams from 33 U.S. states and the District of Columbia participated.

For the second consecutive season, all top four seeds advanced to the second round. This was the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that this had happened. The biggest upset in the first round was No. 5 seed Wisconsin losing to No. 12 seed High Point. Nebraska, High Point, Howard, and Prairie View A&M each earned their first ever tournament wins, although Howard and Prairie View A&M accomplished this in the First Four. Nebraska had previously been the only power conference team to have never won an NCAA tournament game. The average margin of victory in the first round was 17.4 points, the highest since the tournament expanded in 1985. This coupled with higher seeds' tendency to win during the 2025 tournament has lead to a belief that mid-major programs are unable to compete with major conference programs in the NIL and transfer portal era. However, No. 1 overall seed Duke did get a challenge from No. 16 seed Siena, trailing by 13 points before recovering to win the game by six points. Additionally, for the 18th straight year, a double digit seed made the Sweet 16, although for the third consecutive year no 12-seed or lower team made the Sweet 16, and for the fourth consecutive year only one double digit seed made the Sweet 16. For the second straight season, no mid-major teams made the Sweet 16.

The Final Four comprises No. 1 seed Michigan, No. 1 seed Arizona, No. 2 seed Connecticut and No. 3 seed Illinois. While Illinois is the lowest numbered seed to make the Final Four in two years, the Final Four was noted for not having a real Cinderella story.

A total of 68 teams entered the 2026 tournament. Thirty-one automatic bids were awarded to each program that won its conference's tournament. The remaining 37 teams received at-large bids, with selections extended by the NCAA selection committee on "Selection Sunday", March 15. The selection committee also seeded the entire field from 1 to 68.

Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at large-teams) played in the First Four. The winners of these games advanced to the main tournament bracket.

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2026 tournament:

First Four

• March 17 and 18
  • University of Dayton Arena, in Dayton, Ohio (host: University of Dayton)

First and Second rounds (Subregionals)

• March 19 and 21
  • KeyBank Center, in Buffalo, New York (hosts: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Canisius University, & Niagara University)
  • Bon Secours Wellness Arena, in Greenville, South Carolina (hosts: Furman University & Southern Conference)
  • Paycom Center, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (host: Big 12 Conference)
  • Moda Center, in Portland, Oregon (host: Oregon State University)
• March 20 and 22
  • Benchmark International Arena, in Tampa, Florida (host: University of South Florida)
  • Xfinity Mobile Arena, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (host: Saint Joseph's University)
  • Viejas Arena, in San Diego, California (host: San Diego State University)
  • Enterprise Center, in St. Louis, Missouri (host: Missouri Valley Conference)

Regional Semifinals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 26 and 28
  • South Regional
    • Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas (host: Rice University)
  • West Regional
    • SAP Center, in San Jose, California (host: San Jose State University)
• March 27 and 29
  • Midwest Regional
    • United Center, in Chicago, Illinois (host: Big Ten Conference)
  • East Regional
    • Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C. (host: Georgetown University)

National semifinals and Championship game (Final Four)

• April 4 and 6
  • Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, Indiana (hosts: Horizon League and Indiana University Indianapolis)

Indianapolis will host the Final Four for the ninth time, having previously hosted in 2021.

Teams who won their conference championships (31) automatically qualify.

The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released in March.

*See First Four

Source:

All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4). Games on CBS are also on Paramount+, while games on TBS, TNT, and truTV are also on HBO Max.

The First Four games involve eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams.

• Tarris Reed (MOP) - UConn

• Cameron Boozer, Duke

• Cayden Boozer, Duke

• Zuby Ejiofor, St. John's

• Isaiah Evans, Duke

• Keaton Wagler (MOP) - Illinois

• David Mirković, Illinois

• Andrej Stojaković, Illinois

• Bennett Stirtz, Iowa

• Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska

• Koa Peat (MOP) - Arizona

• Jaden Bradley, Arizona

• Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue

• Tramon Mark, Texas

• Braden Smith, Purdue

• Yaxel Lendeborg (MOP) - Michigan

• Elliot Cadeau, Michigan

• Roddy Gayle Jr., Michigan

• Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee

• Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama

During the Final Four round, regardless of the seeds of the participating teams, the champion of the overall top seed's region (No. 2 UConn, East Region) plays against the champion of the fourth overall top seed's region (No. 3 Illinois Fighting Illini, South Region), and the champion of the second overall top seed's region (No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, West Region) plays against the champion of the third-ranked top seed's region (No. 1 Michigan Wolverines, Midwest Region).

• Final Four (National semifinals)

• National championship (Final)

• Elliot Cadeau – (MOP) Michigan

• Morez Johnson Jr. – Michigan

• Alex Karaban – UConn

• Aday Mara – Michigan

• Tarris Reed – UConn

• The FF, R64, R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the First Four, round of 64, round of 32, Sweet 16 and Elite Eight (regional semifinals and finals), Final Four and championship game (national semifinal and final), and national champion, respectively. The sum of the number of teams a conference placed in each round therefore does not equal the number of bids a conference received.

Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least five seed lines better than the winning team". The 2026 tournament had a total of six upsets.

First Four - Dayton, OH

• UMBC vs. Howard – Michael Kitts, Josue Nieves, Evon Burroughs
• Texas vs. NC State – Nate Harris, Michael Greenstein, Marques Pettigrew
• Prairie View A&M vs. Lehigh – Scott Brown, Greg Evans, Courtney Green
• Miami (OH) vs. SMU – James Ford, Edwin Young, Ronald Groover

First and second rounds (Subregionals)

Regional semifinals and final (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight)

National semifinals and finals (Final Four and National Championship)

• Indianapolis
  • UConn vs Illinois, Semifinal Game 1 – Ron Groover, Paul Szelc, Marques Pettigrew
  • Arizona vs Michigan, Semifinal Game 2 – Doug Sirmons, Keith Kimble, Doug Shows
  • UConn vs Michigan, National Championship Game – James Breeding, Jeffrey Anderson, Kipp Kissinger

CBS Sports and TNT Sports have US television rights to the tournament. As part of a cycle that began in 2016, TBS will televise the 2026 Final Four and the National Championship Game.

In November 2025, TNT Sports and ESPN announced an agreement to allow ESPN's Dick Vitale to call a First Four game on truTV alongside TNT Sports' Charles Barkley. In exchange, Vitale and Barkley called a December 13, 2025 regular season game on ESPN between Indiana and Kentucky.

CBS Mornings co-host and The NFL Today analyst Nate Burleson will replace Ernie Johnson for the first two weeks of the tournament, as Johnson announced his semi-retirement from hosting March Madness to focus on his increasing Inside the NBA duties for ESPN and ABC under a sub-licensing agreement from TNT Sports. Johnson will continue to host the Final Four and National Championship Game.

• Selection Show – CBS

• First Four – truTV

• First and Second Rounds – CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV

• Regional Semifinals and Finals – CBS and TBS/truTV

• National Semifinals and Finals (Final Four and National Championship) – TBS/truTV and TNT (alternative presentation for Final Four only).

• HBO Max (only TBS, TNT, and truTV games), ad free tiers only.

• Paramount+ (only CBS games), ad free tiers only

• March Madness app and website (with TV Everywhere authentication)

• Nate Burleson (New York City) – First and Second rounds and regionals

• Adam Zucker (New York City) – First and Second rounds

• Adam Lefkoe (Atlanta and Indianapolis) – First Four, First and Second rounds, regional semifinals and Final Four

• Ernie Johnson (Indianapolis) – Final Four and national championship game

• Jamie Erdahl (New York City) – First and Second rounds (game breaks)

• Charles Barkley (New York City and Indianapolis) – First and Second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship game

• Seth Davis (Atlanta and New York City) – First and Second rounds

• Clark Kellogg (New York City and Indianapolis) – First and Second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship game

• Jamal Mashburn (Atlanta and Indianapolis) – First Four, First and Second rounds, regional semifinals and Final Four

• Renee Montgomery (New York City) – First and Second rounds

• Candace Parker (Indianapolis) – Final Four

• Bruce Pearl (Atlanta, New York City and Indianapolis) – First Four, First and Second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship game

• Jalen Rose (Atlanta and Indianapolis) – First Four, First and Second rounds, regional semifinals and Final Four

• Kenny Smith (New York City and Indianapolis) – First round, regionals, Final Four and national championship game

• Gene Steratore (New York City and Indianapolis) (Rules Analyst) – First Four, First and Second rounds, regionals, Final Four and national championship game

• Chris Webber (Indianapolis) – Final Four

• Ian Eagle/Bill Raftery/Grant Hill/Tracy Wolfson – First and Second rounds in Greenville, South Carolina; East Regional at Washington, D.C.; Final Four and National Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana

• Brian Anderson or Jason Benetti/Jim Jackson/Allie LaForce – First and Second rounds in Buffalo, New York; West Regional at San Jose, California

  • Benetti called the First Round, while Anderson called the Second Round and the West Regional.

• Kevin Harlan/Robbie Hummel/Stan Van Gundy/Lauren Shehadi – First and Second rounds in San Diego, California; South Regional at Houston, Texas

• Andrew Catalon/Steve Lappas/Evan Washburn – First and Second rounds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Midwest Regional at Chicago, Illinois

• Brad Nessler/Wally Szczerbiak/Jared Greenberg – First and Second rounds in Portland, Oregon

• Spero Dedes/Jim Spanarkel/Jon Rothstein – First and Second rounds in St. Louis, Missouri

• Brandon Gaudin/Chris Webber/Andy Katz – First and Second Rounds in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• Tom McCarthy/Candace Parker/Dan Bonner/AJ Ross – First and Second rounds in Tampa, Florida

• Jordan Kent/Jim Spanarkel/Jenny Dell – First Four first game during Tuesday session and both games during Wednesday session in Dayton, Ohio

• Brian Anderson/Charles Barkley/Dick Vitale/Jenny Dell – First Four second game during Tuesday session in Dayton, Ohio

Westwood One will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.

(#) Tournament seedings and region in parentheses.

• 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 2026 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 2026 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 2026 NAIA men's basketball tournament
• 2026 National Invitation Tournament
• 2026 College Basketball Crown