Selection Sunday 2026: Live updates on March Madness, bracketology for men’s NCAA tournament, news and more

The Red Storm could have easily been a No. 4 after beating UConn on Saturday night. UConn, meanwhile, is also in that region. And even though Duke will be the prohibitive favorite to win the region and make the Final Four, don’t totally rule out another UConn-St. John’s game in the Elite Eight.

No surprise here, but the Blue Devils are the top seed in the NCAA tournament.

We are moments away from the selection show now!

Who will secure the final No. 1 seed? 

The big question after Florida’s SEC semifinal flop against Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon was whether the Gators had cost themselves the final No. 1 seed.

Did they open the door for UConn or Houston to leapfrog them and join Duke, Michigan and Arizona on the NCAA tournament’s top seed line?

Only a few hours later, Florida could breathe a little easier. Neither UConn nor Houston was able to seize its opportunity, and St. John’s avenged a recent blowout loss to the Huskies in the Big East title game at the same time as foul-plagued Arizona outlasted the Cougars to halt their impressive Big 12 tournament run.

What that means is Florida should be mailing thank-you cards to the Johnnies and Wildcats. The Gators appear to have maintained a narrow edge over both UConn and Houston despite exiting the SEC tournament with just a single win.

South Florida could have found itself on the wrong side of the bubble had it lost the American title game, but the Bulls are in and will probably be a No. 10 or No. 11 seed as the American champion.

Wichita State’s only real hope to make the tournament was to beat the Bulls on Sunday.

VCU’s win over Dayton in the A-10 title game also made teams on the bubble breathe easier. The Flyers would have been a certified bid stealer with a win, and VCU would have been firmly in the mix for one of the final at-large spots.

Every March, there are a few NCAA tournament teams that are glaringly more dangerous than their seed suggests.

It might be a juggernaut No. 1 seed that is the overwhelming favorite to win it all. Or a mid-tier team that struggled early but is peaking entering March. Or a tournament-proven-but-criminally-underseeded mid-major with a history of making life miserable for highly touted teams from a power conference.

The purpose of this now-annual column is to identify those potential opponents that NCAA tournament teams should want to avoid at all costs. Two years ago, we took some big swings that didn’t really pan out. Last year, we correctly called out BYU as a scorching-hot No. 6 seed and Gonzaga and UConn as terrifying No. 8 seeds. The Cougars upset Wisconsin to advance to the Sweet 16, while the Zags and Huskies gave Houston and Florida maybe their biggest scares before the Final Four.

We’ll hope for more hits than misses this year.

The Bulls are dancing after winning the American conference title game over Wichita State on Sunday.

That wraps up all the automatic bids for the tournament.

Well, we knew the Boilermakers were making the dance, but they got the Big Ten’s automatic bid anyways to cap off a furious run through the conference tournament.

On Sunday, they delivered Michigan its third loss of the season in an 80-72 upset.

Duke will enter the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and ACC champion, led by arguably the most impactful player in the country.

But the March microscope isn’t going to be on Cameron Boozer. In a sport of inconsistency and unpredictability, he’s too strong, too reliable — just too good — to be a question mark for Duke in any matchup.

Cameron Boozer is a sure thing. His twin brother, however?

That’s another conversation — and one that might determine whether Duke can win its first national championship since 2015.

Read the full story here.

Since the sites for the first and second rounds have long been decided and we have a decent idea of who many of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament are going to be, we can reasonably assume destinations for some teams.

Teams like Florida and Duke won’t have to go very far, while it reasons that Portland will be the early site with the longest travel distances for its top seeds.

Here’s how it’s likely to shake out when the bracket is revealed for the best teams:

• Duke: Greenville, SC (Thu/Sat)

• Arizona: San Diego (Fri/Sun)

• Michigan: Buffalo (Thu/Sat)

• Houston: Oklahoma City (Thu/Sat)

• Iowa State: St. Louis (Fri/Sun)

• Purdue: St. Louis (Fri/Sun)

• Virginia: Philadelphia (Fri/Sun)

When the NCAA men’s basketball bracket is unveiled on Sunday evening, a few coaches may have to fight the urge to fist pump under the table.

Maybe they landed in a region with a vulnerable top-four seed who peaked two months early and is skidding into March. Or maybe they drew an opening-round opponent weakened by a late-season injury to a key player.

The purpose of this now-annual column is to identify those opponents NCAA tournament teams should want to draw before the bracket comes out. These are teams that, for whatever reason, don’t appear to be as strong as ones projected to receive similar seeds.

Three years ago, this column identified Purdue more than a week before it became the second No. 1 seed ever to collapse in the first round. Last year, this column correctly pegged Kansas and Marquette as ripe for an early exit but swung and missed on labeling Tennessee as the most wobbly top-two seed. We’ll hope for more hits than misses this time around.

Read the full story here.

The Bulls are up 13 with just over 7 minutes left in the American title game against Wichita State.

The Shockers would be a bid thief if they’re able to come back in this one.

It is finally time for March Madness! You have until Thursday morning to fill out your men’s bracket, and we’ve got you covered. Our experts will have picks for every matchup and will break out Cinderellas and more in the coming days.

Just click here for a printable men’s NCAA tournament bracket, and be sure to also make your picks in the Yahoo Sports Bracket Mayhem game.

The Boilermakers have surged ahead of Michigan in the second half of the Big Ten title game. Michigan should be a lock for a No. 1 seed, regardless of whether they get the conference’s automatic bid.

The 2026 NCAA tournament bracket will arrive in just a few hours. For now, all attention turns to the bubble, where teams either still find themselves playing for an automatic bid or waiting to see if their body of work is deserving of an at-large selection to March Madness.

With conference tournaments wrapping up and Selection Sunday upon us, Yahoo Sports is breaking down this year’s remaining bubble teams, from Miami (OH) to Saint Louis to Missouri and more.

Arizona solidified its status as one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament with a 79-74 win over Houston in the Big 12 championship game.

The Wildcats built a 15-point lead with 14:04 to go in the second half before Houston made the game very interesting. If only for a moment. The Cougars went on a 14-0 run over the next seven minutes before Brayden Burries’ second-chance basket with 6:40 to go put Arizona back up three.

Houston never got within two after that, and Arizona started banking in shots. When Ivan Kharchenkov’s 3-pointer went in off the backboard as the shot clock was expiring, it was hard to see how Houston was going to win.

March Madness is about Cinderellas. It’s about upsets. And it’s about the nation’s best teams fighting for a national championship.

For a select few players, it’s also about looking ahead to the NBA. March is the final proving ground for NBA prospects seeking to improve their draft stock. In those terms, this March is like few others before it.

This upcoming draft class is special, thanks to one of the best freshman classes in college basketball history with the potential to produce numerous NBA All-Stars. Several of those players will have more on the line in the upcoming weeks than cutting down the nets.

Here’s a look at five players with the most to gain from the 2026 NCAA tournament.