The Duke Blue Devils are likely to be the top overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Division I men’s college basketball tournament after a 74-70 win over Virginia in Saturday’s ACC Tournament title game.
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Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images
March Madness is upon us. It’s Selection Sunday, the day the brackets for the men’s and women’s NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments will be released.
The 32-2 Duke Blue Devils, fresh off a 74-70 win in the ACC Tournament championship game on Saturday over Virginia, are expected to be the top overall seed in the men’s tournament. On the women’s side, the UConn Huskies will enter the NCAA tournament undefeated for the first time since 2018.
The selection show for the men’s tournament begins at 6 p.m. ET on CBS. The women’s bracket will be unveiled afterward at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
The men’s bracket
Duke is 32-2, fresh off an ACC title, and injuries to two key players (guard Caleb Foster and center Patrick Ngongba) haven’t slowed the Blue Devils down. They’ll likely be the top overall seed with ambitions of making the school’s 19th all-time Final Four appearance.
There are two other schools with a safe claim for a No. 1 seed: Arizona, who are also 32-2, and Michigan, who were 31-2 going into Sunday’s Big Ten title game against Purdue.
That leaves the question of which team will earn the final top spot. Contenders include Houston, UConn and Florida, the defending national champions.
Another big question facing the selection committee is what to do with Miami (OH): The RedHawks are 31-1, their single loss coming just a few days ago in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament. A one-loss team has never missed the tournament. But the RedHawks have played one of the easiest schedules in Division I; they’ve played no ranked teams or major conference teams — their best win is over… Akron? The statistician and analyst Ken Pomeroy has them ranked No. 93, which would be historically low for an at-large bid.
One of the biggest thrills of this season has been the unusually talented freshman class. That’ll continue in the tournament as these players arrive at the biggest stage of their young careers so far.
Forwards AJ Dybantsa of BYU and Duke’s Cameron Boozer (one of two fraternal twin sons of NBA star Carlos Boozer, both of whom are playing in Durham), along with guard Darryn Peterson of Kansas (despite persistent issues with cramps), are expected to be the top three picks in this summer’s NBA draft.
Kansas and BYU are more likely to be longer shots in the 4- to 6-seed range.
UConn forward Sarah Strong (#21) and guard Azzi Fudd (#35) are two of the best players in women’s college basketball this season. The Huskies are undefeated going into the NCAA tournament.
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Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
The women’s bracket
Before last season, the UConn Huskies had seemingly lost their grip on women’s college basketball. After winning four titles in a row from 2013 to 2016, the Huskies took a backseat as other programs had their time in the sun. Last year, under the leadership of point guard Paige Bueckers, UConn reclaimed the trophy.
Now, with forward Sarah Strong and guard Azzi Fudd in the driver’s seat(s), they’re an early favorite to repeat. The Huskies are 34-0 and the leading contenders for the top overall seed thanks to the 11th undefeated regular season in school history.
But the 31-1 UCLA Bruins have a claim on the top spot, too, despite their single loss to Texas (who are now ranked No. 3) back in November. Though their biggest star, senior center Lauren Betts, hasn’t quite lived up to the sky-high standard she set in her junior year, that hasn’t stopped the Bruins. All but two of their victories this season were won by double digits. A week ago, they beat Iowa, currently ranked No. 7, by 51 points — not a typo — in the Big Ten title game.
Rounding out the top seeds are likely to be UConn’s opponents in last year’s title game, South Carolina, who two years ago were the last team to pull off an undefeated season, and the Texas Longhorns, who’ve consistently been a top player in the women’s game but haven’t gotten over the hump to win a title since 1986.
The women’s tournament has historically had fewer upsets than the men’s tournament. The lowest seed ever to win a title is No. 3, most recently in 2023 when Louisiana State and their star Angel Reese toppled Caitlin Clark’s Iowa.
