Bracketology is both the art and the science of looking at the resumes of 70+ teams and deciding which teams should be “in” and “out” of the NCAA Tournament field, not based on what I think, but based on the historical trends of the NCAA Selection Committee. Predicting what the Committee will do is often a difficult venture but that’s the fun and the challenge. I’ll be updating my bracket projection at least twice a week from here until Selection Sunday.
Here is my latest bracket projection of the 2025-2026 College Basketball Season. Once again, I will be taking part in The Bracket Matrix‘s annual bracket competition where I am ranked ahead of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
Projected Seed List
Bracket Date: 2/23
Current conference leaders or highest remaining seeds in conference tournaments are projected as auto-bids and are listed in bold. The last 4 in teams that play in the “First Four” play-in games are listed in italics.
1 seeds: Duke, Michigan, Arizona, UConn
2 seeds: Iowa St, Houston, Illinois, Purdue
3 seeds: Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Gonzaga
4 seeds: Texas Tech, Michigan St, Vanderbilt, Virginia
5 seeds: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina
6 seeds: BYU, Louisville, St. John’s, Wisconsin
7 seeds: Kentucky, St. Louis, Utah St, SMU
8 seeds: UCF, NC State, Georgia, Miami (FL)
9 seeds: Clemson, Villanova, Iowa, Texas A&M
10 seeds: Texas, Missouri, Miami (OH), Auburn
11 seeds: Indiana, UCLA, TCU, USC, New Mexico, St. Mary’s
12 seeds: USF, Belmont, Stephen F. Austin, Liberty
13 seeds: Yale, UNC-Wilmington, High Point, Utah Valley
14 seeds: Hawaii, North Dakota St, Austin Peay, Portland State
15 seeds: ETSU, Navy, Merrimack, Wright St
16 seeds: Appalachian St, Long Island, UMBC, Tennessee St, Howard, Bethune-Cookman
The Bubble
Last 4 Byes: Missouri, (Miami-OH), Auburn, Indiana, UCLA
Last 4 IN: TCU, USC, New Mexico, St. Mary’s
First 4 OUT: Santa Clara, Ohio St, VCU, Virginia Tech
Next 4 OUT: San Diego St, Cincinnati, (USF), Seton Hall, California
Others Considered: West Virginia, Stanford, Boise St, McNeese, Tulsa, Grand Canyon, Nevada, Syracuse, Colorado, Florida St, Arizona St, Wake Forest, LSU, Akron
Top 75 NET at or below .500: Baylor, Oklahoma, Washington, Minnesota
