Franketology: March 15, 2026
Selection Sunday Final
Here we are. This is March. We’ve seen some Madness already, with the Patriot League favorite Navy going down on an absurd buzzer beater to eventual tournament champion Lehigh. Not to be outdone, The Ivy league final went to overtime on a buzzer beater by TJ Power of Penn, just 3 of his 44 points in the game. He added in 14 boards as well and played 43/45 minutes. The Quakers rode that momentum into overtime to knock off top-seeded Yale. Great first season for erstwhile Iowa coach Fran McCaffery at Penn. The Madness will continue rolling next weekend, the best weekend of the college basketball season.
As for my final bracket, it was pretty calm. A lot has been made over whether the committee truly accounts for conference tournament games (they don’t), but at the end of the day, few made a difference. We also dodged potential bid thieves other than the MAC: Gonzaga in the WCC, Utah St. in the MWC and VCU in the A10 helped bubble teams breath a wee bit easier today.
And what about that MAC. If you believe the efficiency metrics—as I do—the best team won the MAC tournament, Akron. I firmly remain of the belief that Miami (OH) does not belong given the complete dearth of quality wins on their resume. This will be an interesting test case to see how the committee relies on WAB. The WAB of 37 places them squarely in the tournament, and I think the committee will use that to justify their inclusion. If they don’t make it, it’ll be because of the lack of Q1 wins, a NET of 64, and efficiency metric ranks of 93 at BPI, 93 at KenPom and 86 at Torvik. Indeed, the WAB is the ONLY thing indicating potential inclusion.
And what about Auburn? Welp…don’t be shocked if Auburn sneaks in. I do not have them in. But their resume is not that much worse than Texas or SMU, and we all saw what can happen with #brands in the committee room (see: Bubba-gate).
In any event, without further ado, here’s the bracket:
Seed List
Duke
Michigan
Arizona
Florida
Houston
UConn
Purdue
Vanderbilt
Iowa St.
Virginia
Nebraska
Michigan St.
Illinois
Arkansas
Alabama
Kansas
St. John's
Gonzaga
North Carolina
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Tennessee
Louisville
Miami (FL)
Kentucky
BYU
UCLA
Clemson
Saint Mary's (CA)
Villanova
UCF
Utah St.
TCU
Ohio St.
Georgia
Texas A&M
Last Four Byes
Santa Clara
Missouri
VCU
Saint Louis
Iowa
Last Four In
NC St.
Texas
SMU
Miami (OH)
Additional Auto Bids
McNeese St.
South Fla./Wichita St.
Akron
High Point
California Baptist
UNI
Hofstra
Troy
North Dakota St.
Hawai'i
Tennessee St.
Howard
Kennesaw St.
Penn
Idaho
Furman
LIU
UMBC
Wright St.
Queens (NC)
Siena
Lehigh
Prairie View
First Four Out
Auburn
San Diego St.
Oklahoma
Virginia Tech
Next Four Out
Oklahoma St.
Indiana
California
Arizona St.