March Madness 2026: Winners and losers from bracket reveal include Auburn, Duke, Miami (Ohio) men, UCLA, South Carolina women

The NCAA men’s and women’s tournament brackets have been revealed. As always, there are clear winners and losers from Sunday’s selection shows.

Among the men’s losers are an SEC program that missed the field despite posting some of the best wins of any program in the country. A pair of No. 1 seeds also get an unlucky loser label despite playing on the bracket’s top line, thanks to their difficult paths to the Final Four.

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Miami (Ohio), Missouri and the host city of St. Louis are among the winners.

Click here for women’s winners and losers from Selection Sunday

Winner: Miami (Ohio)

The Redhawks are in. And they’re not the last at-large team to make the field.

Miami went 31-0 in the regular season, then put its NCAA tournament standing at risk with a first-round loss to UMass in the MAC tournament.

The undefeated regular season was easily the best mark in college basketball this season. But a schedule that featured zero Quad 1 matchups and 26 combined against Quad 3 and Quad 4 teams put Miami’s at-large hopes in doubt. This team was not an analytics darling. It wasn’t certain until Sunday that the MAC would be a two-bid league.

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But Miami ultimately made the field, and it turns out that it wasn’t as big of a sweat as it could have been. Miami was among the last four teams to make the cut, but NCAA men’s basketball committee chairman Keith Gill told CBS that Miami made the field ahead of SMU, Texas and NC State, power conference programs that were also among the last four teams in.

Miami will have to play a First Four game against SMU as an 11 seed to make the full tournament field. But it will do so a couple of hours from home in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday.

-Jason Owens

Loser: Auburn

Bruce Pearl was live on set for CBS to witness it. And Sunday didn’t offer good news for the former Auburn coach, whose son, Steven Pearl, is now the head coach of the Tigers. Auburn missed the field as one of the first four teams out, a year after advancing to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed.

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Auburn started the season with hopes of competing again in the SEC with its eyes on a high NCAA seed as the preseason No. 20 team in the nation. It posted some high-profile early losses to then-No. 1 Houston, No. 7 Michigan and No. 6 Purdue in non-conference play.

But the Tigers also posted some big wins to bolster their NCAA tournament case. They beat St. John’s, a 5 seed in November. They beat Arkansas, a No. 4 seed, by 22 points in conference play. And in their strongest argument to make the field, they defeated reigning champion and No. 1 seed Florida on the road in January.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome a 17-16 record and 7-11 mark in SEC play. The advanced metrics that had Auburn ranked No. 38 in NET ratings and 44th in WAB (Wins above bubble) weren’t enough to push them into the field.

-Owens

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Winner: Missouri

The Tigers ended the season on a three-game losing streak with defeats at Oklahoma, vs. Arkansas and in the SEC tournament to Kentucky. Granted, both the Razorbacks and Wildcats are tournament teams, but the streak put Missouri firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble entering Selection Sunday.

Or so we thought. Not only did the Tigers avoid having to play in a First Four game in Dayton, they also got an extremely advantageous first-round location. Mizzou made the tournament as a No. 10 seed and will play No. 7 Miami on Friday in St. Louis. If the Tigers can beat the Hurricanes, they’ll likely have a significant home-court edge in a potential second-round matchup vs. No. 2 Purdue.

-Nick Bromberg

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Loser: Duke

Duke is the No. 1 overall seed despite entering the NCAA tournament with health concerns around starting center Patrick Ngongba and starting point guard Caleb Foster, both of whom sat the ACC tournament with foot injuries. So how exactly can the Blue Devils be considered losers from Selection Sunday?

Despite having the No. 1 overall seed, Duke faces the toughest path of the four No. 1 seeds. Its East region is one that also includes No. 2 seed UConn, which was in the running for a No. 1 seed until it lost the Big East championship to St. John’s. This is a Huskies program and head coach in Dan Hurley that won two of the previous three NCAA championships.

In the Sweet 16, Duke projects to face that St. John’s team (No. 5 seed) or a No. 4 seed Kansas team featuring Darryn Peterson, who could very well be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft. And if UConn doesn’t make the regional final, a tough No. 3 seed Michigan State team could sit in Duke’s path. If the Blue Devils make the Final Four, they’ll have done so through a truly treacherous path for a No. 1 seed.

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-Owens

Winner: St. Louis

It’s hard to think of another first- and second-round host city that got a better draw. Ticket prices in St. Louis could be the highest of any first weekend site.

Not only is St. Louis hosting Missouri for at least one game and is just a four-hour drive away from Indianapolis and all its Purdue fans, but both Iowa State and Kentucky are playing in the city. Iowa State fans routinely flood Kansas City for the Big 12 tournament and will assuredly be in St. Louis in large numbers. Kentucky fans also always travel well, and Lexington is just five hours away and Louisville is less than four.

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-Bromberg

Loser: Illinois

The Illini might have one-upped Purdue when it comes to geographically unfavorable potential second-round matchups. No. 3 Illinois was assigned to Greenville, South Carolina, for the first and second rounds. It’s likely opponent in the second round is No. 6 North Carolina. Greenville is less than four hours from the Raleigh-Durham metro and 90 minutes from Charlotte

Illinois’ only hope for a large cheering section may come from Duke, who is also playing in Greenville. Maybe enough Duke fans will purchase tickets to the first and second round games and show up to root against North Carolina in the second round. They surely won’t be cheering for the Tar Heels.

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-Bromberg

Winner: The West Coast Conference

The league got three teams in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2022 and just the fourth time ever. No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 7 Saint Mary’s and No. 10 Santa Clara will represent the WCC, as the Broncos were able to avoid having to play in the First Four in Dayton. Do not be surprised if all three teams win their first-round games and either the Gaels or Broncos are playing in the Sweet 16 alongside the Zags.

But it’s also a bittersweet achievement for the WCC. It’s probably the last time — at least for the foreseeable future — that the league will have three teams in the tournament. Gonzaga is leaving to become a basketball-only member of the rebuilt Pac-12 next season. The Zags have made the NCAA tournament every season since 1999 and have been in the field in all four of the occasions the conference has gotten a trio of teams into March Madness.

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-Bromberg

Loser: Florida

Thanks in part to UConn and Houston losing in their conference tournament finals, Florida got its coveted No. 1 seed after it was put in peril with a loss in the SEC semis. But the last No. 1 seed in the field comes with a catch.

Florida will play in the South region against No. 2 seed Houston. And if they both advance, they’ll meet in the South regional final — which will be played in Houston.

Rice was named the official host of the South regional, which will be played in the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, a loophole that allows Houston to play in the region. The NCAA doesn’t permit teams to play in regions that they host.

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But make no mistake. If Florida faces Houston in the Elite Eight, it will do so in a home game for Houston despite playing as the region’s No. 1 seed.

-Owens

Women’s bracket winners and losers

In the women’s field, some No. 1 seeds got considerably easier paths than others. And a UCLA team that was in contention with UConn to claim the No. 1 overall seed found itself in the tournament’s toughest fight to advance to the Final Four.

Winner: South Carolina

South Carolina took the last No. 1 overall seed, but it may have the easiest path to the Final Four this March.

The Gamecocks, who struggled against Texas in the SEC title game, are in the Sacramento 4 region with No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Oklahoma. None of them seem capable of truly matching up with South Carolina.

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Yes, Oklahoma did beat the Gamecocks a few months ago, but that only came in overtime in a true stunner, and the Sooners have lost to three top-10 teams since then. TCU and Olivia Miles, while talented, have some bad losses this season and are just 4-3 in Quad 1 matchups. Iowa, which is a very solid team, couldn’t even come close to competing with UCLA in the Big Ten championship game last week. South Carolina and the Bruins are on just about equal footing here.

The hardest part for South Carolina might actually just be having to fly across the country to Sacramento for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Assuming they can handle the trek, the Gamecocks seem to be the big winner here among the four No. 1 seeds.

-Ryan Young

Loser: UCLA

UCLA had an analytical case to earn the No. 1 overall seed over undefeated UConn. But the selection committee couldn’t overlook UConn’s dominant run to a 34-0 record that it capped with a 90-51 win over Villanova in the Big East championship game. UConn got top billing in Sunday’s bracket reveal.

UCLA doesn’t enter the NCAA tournament unbeaten. But it’s close. The Bruins haven’t lost since a November defeat to fellow No. 1 seed Texas and enter the NCAA tournament at 31-1 via a dramatically tougher schedule than that of UConn.

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UCLA has a 19-1 record against Quad 1 opponents compared to 9-0 for UConn, which didn’t face a ranked team in conference play. The Bruins, meanwhile, went 12-1 in games against ranked opponents and closed their season with a 96-45 blowout of then-No. 9 Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.

Ultimately, the eye test won out for the undefeated Huskies. Amanda Braun, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee chairwoman, told ESPN that “the debate was pretty close” between the two programs but that UConn ultimately prevailed because of its “observable component.”

-Owens

Winner: Texas

No. 1 seed Texas won’t have to travel far in its path toward the Final Four. The Longhorns, as all top four seeds do, are scheduled to host games in the first and second round of NCAA tournament play.

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If they advance, their next stop will be in Fort Worth, a roughly three-hour drive up I-35 from Austin. Fort Worth is a short trip from home that projects as a hospitable location for the Texas, which would be the de facto home team in the Fort Worth regional in a state that loves its Longhorns.

Phoenix, which hosts the Final Four, isn’t exactly next door. But in the event Texas gets there, it’s a lot shorter trip from Austin than Storrs, Connecticut, or Columbia, South Carolina.

-Owens

Loser: NC State

NC State earned a No. 7 seed, and its reward is arguably the toughest first-round matchup in the tournament against a lower seed. The Wolfpack will take on No. 10 seed Tennessee, which started the season ranked No. 8 in the nation and which it beat, 80-77, in a tightly contested season opener.

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Tennessee closed the season as poorly as anyone in the country, with a 2-10 stretch that dropped it from 14-3 to 16-13 and out of the rankings. But it maintains an analytic profile that ranks higher in NET rankings (No. 23) than NC State (No. 26).

If Tennessee finds anything close to its previous form, it adds up to a brutal first-round matchup for the Wolfpack.

-Owens

Winner: Minnesota

The Gophers will get to host in the opening round of the tournament, starting with Green Bay on Friday. That’s a huge advantage for the top 16 teams in the women’s tournament, and undoubtedly gives them a boost to make it out of the first weekend.

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But Minnesota was the final team that earned the right to host, and it just barely edged out Maryland — which had a pretty good case for hosting itself. The Terps beat Minnesota head-to-head in a two-overtime stunner back in December, and neither team was great against Quad 1 opponents. Maryland went 6-8 there, and had bad losses at Michigan, UCLA and against Iowa. Minnesota went just 5-7 on that front. But the Gophers closed out the season much better, and that seems to have made the difference. They won 10 of their last 12 before being bounced in the Big Ten quarterfinals, just barely by Ohio State. Over that same span, Maryland went just 6-6.

These are very similar teams on paper. But the Gophers came out on top in the battle that mattered. Whether that’s enough to lead them out of the first weekend of the tournament — something they’ve not done since 2005 — remains to be seen.

— Young