2026 March Madness bracket revealed with Duke, Arizona and Michigan as top seeds

The 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket is set. Selection Sunday delivered Duke, Arizona, and Michigan as three of the four number one overall seeds, with the committee's full bracket unveiled this afternoon. The First Four games tip off Tuesday, March 17, in Dayton, Ohio, and the tournament runs through April 6, when the national championship game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The women's bracket followed at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Duke enters the tournament as the most credentialed program of the field. Head coach Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils finished the regular season ranked second in the AP Poll and won the ACC Tournament last weekend, which solidified their position at the top of the bracket in most projection models leading into today. Arizona had the Pac-12's best overall record and finished the season ranked third nationally. Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament and enters as a number one seed for the first time since 2021.

How the bracket is structured and what each region looks like

The 68-team field is divided into four regions, each anchored by one of the top seeds. Duke leads the East Region. Arizona heads the West. Michigan is the overall number one seed in the Midwest Region. The fourth number one seed, placed in the South Region, was Kansas, which secured its position with a Big 12 regular season title and a consistent top-five ranking through the second half of the season. Kansas is appearing in its 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament under head coach Bill Self.

The East Region bracket places Duke on a path through the first two rounds in Raleigh, North Carolina, which effectively makes Cameron Indoor Stadium a nearby travel destination for the Blue Devils' fanbase, even though the actual games will be at PNC Arena. Arizona will play its opening rounds in Salt Lake City. Michigan's region opens in Detroit, which gives the Wolverines a near-home crowd advantage through at least the first weekend. Kansas plays its first games in Oklahoma City.

Notable seeds and teams that could cause early upsets

The committee seeded Marquette as a two seed in the East, placing them on a potential collision course with Duke in the Elite Eight. Marquette won 29 games this season and finished as the Big East's top program. Kentucky received a two seed in the South Region and faces a potentially difficult second-round matchup against a high-major five seed in what projectors are already calling one of the most dangerous spots in the bracket for an elite program.

On the upset watch list, Virginia Tech enters as a ten seed with a player profile that matches well against multiple five seeds they could face in the second round. St. Mary's received an eleven seed despite finishing with a stronger computer efficiency rating than several eight and nine seeds, a seeding that advanced metrics site KenPom rated as one of the three most underseeded teams in the field. Seeding disputes are a feature of every Selection Sunday, and this year's arguments already started before the broadcast ended.

The bubble teams that made it and who got left out

Oklahoma was one of the last teams into the field, receiving an eleven seed after finishing the Big 12 regular season at 19-12 with a handful of quality wins over ranked opponents. The Sooners benefited from a strong strength-of-schedule metric and two wins over Top 25 opponents in the final two weeks of the season that appear to have swayed the committee. North Carolina, which went 18-13, was left out of the field entirely despite its conference status, making it one of the higher-profile at-large omissions of this tournament cycle.

Colorado State and Florida State were the other notable teams left out. Colorado State's inclusion argument centered on its Mountain West regular season title, but a 0-4 record against teams currently in the top 30 of KenPom gave the committee enough reason to send them to the NIT. Florida State, despite playing in the ACC, went 15-16 and was never a realistic at-large candidate, though some of their fans made the argument publicly in the days leading up to the selection.

The women's tournament and what the bracket reveals

The women's bracket, revealed at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, placed South Carolina as the overall number one seed for the third consecutive year. The Gamecocks finished the regular season undefeated at 31-0 and won the SEC Tournament. Iowa, Texas, and UCLA rounded out the four number one seeds. Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who returned for a fifth year of eligibility, enters the tournament as the most-watched individual player in the women's field, with Iowa games drawing television ratings that rival mid-level NFL broadcasts in some markets.

Tournament schedule and where the games are being played

The First Four plays Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17 and 18, in Dayton at the University of Dayton Arena, which has hosted the play-in games since 2011. The first and second rounds take place Thursday through Sunday, March 19 to 22, at eight sites across the country. The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight run from March 26 to 29. The Final Four is scheduled for April 4 and 5, followed by the national championship game on April 6, all at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis venue last hosted the Final Four in 2021, when the entire tournament was played in a bubble environment due to COVID-19 restrictions.