Madness of March

Number of Tournament Games Remaining: 63

We are underway

Tournament Status: Begins Today, Day 1

Key Dates (all times Eastern)
Hat Pool picks available	NOW
Bracket Pool brackets available	NOW
ENTRIES DUE	Thurs, Mar 19, 2026, 12:15pm ET
First Round Begins	Thurs, Mar 19, 2026, 12:15pm ET

We are underway!

Now sit back and relax

From marchmadman

Updated 03/19/26, 1:00pm

This website and all of the standings will be updated frequently. The Hat Pools will be updated after a group of games finish. The other pools are supposed to be updated almost immediately. But those standings are updated by a third-party vendor on a wonky platform that is (mostly) free.

You get what you pay for. And you don't have to pay much to participate in these pools. In fact, our new Squares/Block pool was free. But somehow that did not "sell out".

If you have any issues or notice any bad links, please feel free to contact me immediately. I will do my best to address your issue, unless of course I am already in the Caribbean with all of your money.

In the meantime please continue to GET ME YOUR ENTRY FEES if you have not done so already. I need your money to pay for these Pina Coladas.

Any of the following payment methods work (in order by preference):

1. PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/brianbaldwin

2. Venmo: https://venmo.com/BrianBaldwin570

3. In person

4. US Postal Service (it still has value)

Good Luck!

Today is the day

Don't be nervous. We're gonna be winners!

From marchmadman

Updated 03/19/26, 6:00am

HOOSIERS: Coach Dale's Pre-Game Motivational Speech

YouTube Amazon MGM Studios

Coach Dale: There's a tradition in tournament play to not talk about the next step until you've climbed the one in front of you. I'm sure ~~going to the State finals~~ [playing in these March Madness pools] is beyond your wildest dreams, so let's just keep it right there.

Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here. ~~Focus on the fundamentals that we've gone over time and time again.~~ [Pure luck.]

And most important, don't get caught up thinking about winning or loosing this game. If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the ~~scoreboard~~ [standings] says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners!

Okay?!!

Alright!!

Let's go!!

Let me hear it!!!

If you want to be a winner, today is the day to make it happen!

But you need to get your entries in NOW.

You will NOT be state champion, but you could win something that's better than a trophy from the 1950s.

But please, please, please DO NOT WAIT until the deadline to get your entries in. If there are hiccups, I might not be able to help you out.

And I cannot guarantee Hat Picks will still be available.

Hat Picks are Still Available! But probably will sell out!

(Final Hat Pool spreads will be posted around 10am ET)

Deadline is TODAY, 12:15pm (ET) for most pools.

Check this website often for updates.

Okay?!!

Alright!!

Let's go!!

Let me hear it!!!

Entry payment methods:

5. PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/brianbaldwin

6. Venmo: https://venmo.com/BrianBaldwin570

7. Dropoff at the office

8. US Postal Service (it still has value)

Good Luck!

How do you pick your bracket

Do you get sore traveling? Imagine being 7' tall

From marchmadman

Updated 03/18/26, 9:15pm

Everybody is looking for that tidbit of information that could help select the perfect bracket.

Some research every team.

Some pick by mascots.

Some chose by colors.

Some watch nonstop Sportscenter and CBSSN.

All equally effective excuse me ineffective.

One thing you can consider is the team s travel distance to their first game.

California Baptist is making their first ever Tournament appearance. The Selection Committee honored them with a 13-seed, keeping them out of the First Four play-in games in Dayton.

They did one better.

The Committee gave them one of the shortest travel distances of all tourney teams 85 miles from their home in Riverside CA to San Diego where they will take on (4) Kansas.

You re not in Kansas anymore, Kansas.

And the team with the longest unbeaten streak this season Miami (OH) DID get sent to a First Four play-in game. But since that is in Dayton, expect to see a lot of Redhawks making that 40-mile commute.

Some first-game trips are incredibly far.

The longest travel distance

Well, that is Hawaii of course.

Even though the Rainbow Warriors are playing on the West Coast, they still have a 2600-mile trip to Portland, OR. (Is that boat or plane?)

That s what you get for being from Hawaii. Along with perfect weather all year round.

The next longest trips all have teams flying from one coast to the other:

St. John s, Long Island, Villanova, and Kennesaw (GA) all have to travel to San Diego (2440, 2430, 2360, 2150 miles respectively)

UCLA has to travel to Philadelphia (2400 miles)

NC State (Raleigh) and High Pont (also in NC) have to travel to Portland, OR (2370 & 2300 miles).

Six of the teams in the West region have to travel over 2000 miles to their first game; two in the East region are traveling over 2000 miles. None in the South or Midwest regions.

The NCAA has specific parameters on how teams get to their venues.

Any team that has to travel at least 400 miles during the opening weekend is eligible to take a flight chartered by the NCAA. That drops to 350 miles for the regional finals and the Final Four.

Schools that are closer than those parameters can receive up to $1,500 per day for ground transportation.

Get ready for those 5-6 hour bus rides Arizona, Ohio State, Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas A&M, VCU, UMBC, and Howard.

Well, I m sure most of those schools will pickup the difference to fly their teams charter instead of going Greyhound.

UMBC, I m not so sure.

To see all the travel distances, check out this article from The Athletic.

Some changes to the pools

Bad and good (hopefully)

From marchmadman

Updated 03/18/26, 1:00pm

In an effort to keep me from going broke on March Madness with all the money I lose on my entries, I try to limit my software costs.

I used to pay a small, reasonable fee for a service and I had a lot of control.

That company got bought out, and the fees got absolutely bonkers.

So, I bailed on that a few years ago.

The current service I use is (almost) free, but I do not have a lot of control.

And they changed the interface this year, so I am a little new to it too.

Regardless, I cannot see other people s picks until the pool entries are closed.

If you have questions about your brackets or miscellaneous pool entries, I can only see that you started an entry.

If you like to modify your entries, just login, change them, and then resubmit them prior to the deadline.

And do NOT make any payments through the web pool portal.

Oh and just today the software company cancelled tech support for the Rankem Pool.

The Rankem Pool is CANCELLED.

To replace it, we added a SURVIVOR Pool ($1) and a SQUARES Pool (FREE).

Check the Misc Pools website for more information.

I apologize for the wonkiness and the lateness of this change if it affected you.

Hope you enjoy regardless!

Time is running out

Don't let your chance of wining slip away

From marchmadman

Updated 03/18/26, 12:10am

Don't worry.

The Play-in games excuse me the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday do not count.

Well, they do count in the official statistics of the history of the NCAA Tournament. But they do NOT count when it comes to our March Madness Pools.

So you still have time to get into the pools.

But, if you watched the Tuesday games, they were very exciting.

The white hairs in the stands in Dayton definitely had elevated heart beats. Their first-alert bracelets might have even dialed 9-1-1.

In the first game, #16 Howard beat #16 UMBC, 86-83. And in the second game, after a crazy ending where Texas almost gave it away, #11 Texas beat #11 NC State, 68-66.

Bye-bye Will Wade.

Get your picks in before time runs out.

Do your studying

There is so much information

From marchmadman

Updated 03/16/26, 8:50pm

Watch ESPN and CBSSN.

Read all da' internets.

Check twitter or the facebook.

Ask your favorite booky what he thinks.

Find out what the mascots are.

What's a Zip?

What's a Paladin?

Does a Zip beat a Paladin?

Find out what the team colors are.

Does red beat blue? What about purple?

What color is maze?

Their color is brown - - really!?

Do as much studying as you want.

But it can be overwhelming.

How ever you decide to pick your teams

Just don't miss the deadline!

Let's do this

Pools are open

From marchmadman

Updated 03/15/26, 8:00pm

Brackets are released.

Pools are open.

Don't be afraid to jump in.

You will survive.

I promise.

See links at top of each page to enter.

Enjoy.

GOOD STUFF

Bracket Pool

Hat Pool

Misc Pools

Tournament News

Team Spotlight

Bracket Pool Rules, Entry Forms, Deadlines & Standings

Noteworthy Brackets, Mover & Losers, and other humbling bracket statistics.

Hat Pool Rules, Your Picks, Deadlines & Standings

We added some pools a few years ago. We'll try them again this year.

Conference Championships

Selection Committee Rankings

Lehigh Mountain Hawks

We give PROPS to those that deserve it. And humiliate those that don't.

Everybody has an equal chance here. Your pick can lose and you STILL might advance to the next round. How does that work? We play the spreads. Check it out!

This is the real stuff. You might not care about most of it, but I weed out the junk and give you the good stuff, Baby!

Their official colors are Brown and White. They have over a century of mediocre basketball. But I bet you remember that one thing they did well

Bracket Pool >>

Hat Pool >>

Miscellaneous Pools >>

Tournament News >>

Lehigh >>

TOURNAMENT NEWS

Headlines

Stat(s) of the Day (cont.)

Quote(s) of the Day

Updated 03/19/26, 7:30am

ESPN.com

Miami (Ohio): SMU win 'proved doubters wrong'

Prairie View A&M's run continues in First Four win

Louisville to be without star Brown against USF

Enfield denies misleading NCAA on Edwards' injury

Sources: Belmont hiring Duke asst. Bradds as HC

Air Force hires Nittany Lions assistant Crispin

Siena's McNamara: Syracuse talk 'inevitable'

Duke to be without Ngongba for tourney opener

Stat(s) of the Day (cont.)

Updated 03/19/26, 7:30am

Miami OH had its first double-digit win in an NCAA tournament game in program history last nignt, beating SMU 89-79 in the First Four round.

Updated 03/18/26, 9:45pm

Texas has the most tournament appearances without a Final Four: 40.

Updated 03/16/26, 8:15pm

Cal Baptist is making their first appearance in Tourney as the last Western Athletic Conference champion the WAC is rebranding as the United Athletic Conference next season.

Cal Baptist began transition from DII to DI in 2018 and became eligible for postseason 3 seasons ago. They will be joining the Big West Conference next year.

Hofstra's last appearance in tournament was when current Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton was playing for then coach Jay Wright in 2001.

Rick Barnes is the fourth coach to reach 30 or more tournaments.

Idaho won the Big Sky Tournament as a 7 seed, making their first appearance since 1990.

NCAA Teams by Conference:

SEC	10
Big Ten	9
ACC	8
Big 12	8
Big East	3
WCC	3
A-10	2
MAC	2

Updated 03/16/26, 8:15pm

Sum of Top 4 Seeds by Region

E: 31

S: 32

W: 37

MW: 36

The lower the sum, the stronger the region.

Teams in East region this year have combined 31 National Championships.

Updated 03/15/26, 11:50pm

Nebraska is only major conference team without a tournament win.

Updated 03/15/26, 10:30pm

Queens University (in NC, not NYC), is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament after qualifying in its first year of eligibility.

Fran McCaffery, fired last year after 15 seasons at Iowa, is taking Penn to the Tourney in his first year there. McCaffrey has taken 5 teams the tournament: Penn, Iowa, Siena, UNC Greensboro, and Lehigh.

Miami (OH) becomes the first MAC school to receive an at-large bid since they did it 27 years ago. After having only 1 loss this season, they were relegated to a play-in game in Dayton only 45 miles away.

Santa Clara is in the Tournament for the first time since 1996. This is the fourth team that Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek will take to the Tournament after previously leading Miami (OH), NC State and Arizona State there.

TJ Power scored 44 of Penn s 88 points to lead the Quakers to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2018. His 44 points are the 2nd most in any men s conference tournament final over the last 30 seasons.

Duke is the first school in ACC history to win a football, women's basketball and men's basketball title in the same year.

Updated 03/15/26, 8:00pm

Duke, UConn, Kansas, UCLA and Michigan State are ALL in the East Region in the men's bracket. Those 5 schools have combined for 496 tournament wins and 28 national championships (excluding vacated wins/titles).

Updated 03/1926, 7:30am

NC State's HC Will Wade after losing in the Play-in game:

"Disappointing end to a pretty disappointing season for us, the way I look at it. We haven t been very good in close games. We hadn t earned the right to win close games, and our season ended very similarly to the reason we re sitting in Dayton. You are who you are in pressure moments, and we tried to mask some stuff, and we couldn t do it. So, that s why we re here, and that s why we re heading home."

You paid these players a lot of money to play for you.

But that's something you have been doing long before NIL was a thing.

Updated 03/18/26, 9:30pm

Penn head coach Fran McCaffery on the status of his top two leading scorers:

"TJ Power is sick. We'll see... We really won't know until tomorrow."

"Ethan Roberts has a concussion. He's not playing... His health and welfare is our priority."

Updated 03/18/26, 12:10am

Texas coach Sean Miller after holding on to win their First Four game against NC State:

"One thing about the tournament, it can bring some anxiety."

Updated 03/17/26, 11:10pm

Howard coach Kenny Blakeney after their First Four win over UMBC:

"Howard was, like, for the last 20 years, the 354th-ranked team in the country," Blakeney said. "For me, that was great, because there was nothing else to do but go forward and make this a better program."

Updated 03/16/26, 8:40pm

Yaxel Lendeborg tells AP Kentucky offered him $7 to 9 million before he chose Michigan.

They started the number with $7 to 9 (million), Lendeborg said in an interview with The AP. They were pretty much going off on the route like we ll pay him anything to get here.

I was raised without it and I went my my whole life without it, Lendeborg said. Anything was going to make me super, super happy at the time.

"I was thinking long term. What if I mess up my career because I chased the money instead of a future? Another big reason why I went with Dusty was he didn't talk about money at all. It was all about making me better and helping me achieve my goals.

What a fool. It's all about the money.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

SELECTION COMMITTEE SEED LIST

Updated 03/19/26, 7:30am

2026 Conference Tournament Champions
CONFERENCE	CHAMPIONSHIP (TV) / CHAMPION
America East	UMBC Retrievers (24-8)
American	South Florida Bulls (25-8)
Atlantic 10	VCU Rams (27-7)
ACC	Duke Blue Devils (32-2)
ASUN	Queens Royals (21-13)
Big 12	Arizona Wildcats (32-2)
Big East	St. John's Red Storm (28-6)
Big Sky	Idaho Vandals (21-14)
Big South	High Point Panthers (30-4)
Big Ten	Purdue Boilermakers (27-8)
Big West	Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (24-8)
CAA	Hofstra Pride (24-10)
Conference USA	Kennesaw State Owls (21-13)
Horizon League	Wright State Raiders (23-11)
Ivy League	Pennsylvania Quakers (18-11)
MAAC	Siena Saints (23-11)
MAC	Akron Zips (29-5)
MEAC	Howard Bison (23-10)
Missouri Valley	Northern Iowa Panthers (23-12)
Mountain West	Utah State Aggies (28-6)
Northeast	Long Island Sharks (24-10)
Ohio Valley	Tennessee State Tigers (23-9)
Patriot League	Lehigh Mountain Hawks (18-16)
SEC	Arkansas Razorbacks (26-8)
SoCon	Furman Paladins (22-12)
Southland	McNeese Cowboys (28-5)
SWAC	Prairie View A&M Panthers (18-17)
Summit League	North Dakota State Bison (27-7)
Sun Belt	Troy Trojans (22-11)
West Coast	Gonzaga Bulldogs (30-3)
WAC	California Baptist Lancers (25-8)

Record of Conference Champions in this year's Tournament

First Four: 2-2 (almost always the case)

Updated 03/15/26, 8:50pm

2026 Selection Committee Seed List

Rk	Team	Record	Rk	Team	Record
1	Duke	32-2	33	Utah St.	28-6
2	Arizona	32-2	34	TCU	22-11
3	Michigan	31-3	35	Saint Louis	28-5
4	Florida	26-7	36	Iowa	21-12
5	Houston	28-6	37	Santa Clara	26-8
6	UConn	29-5	38	UCF	21-11
7	Iowa St.	27-7	39	Missouri	20-12
8	Purdue	27-8	40	Texas A&M	21-11
9	Michigan St	25-7	41	NC State	20-13
10	Illinois	24-8	42	Texas	18-14
11	Gonzaga	30-3	43	SMU	20-13
12	Virginia	29-5	44	Miami (OH)	31-1
13	Nebraska	26-6	45	VCU	27-7
14	Alabama	23-9	46	South Florida	25-8
15	Kansas	23-10	47	McNeese	28-5
16	Arkansas	26-8	48	Akron	29-5
17	Vanderbilt	26-8	49	UNI	23-12
18	St. John s	28-6	50	High Point	30-4
19	Texas Tech	22-10	51	California Baptist	25-8
20	Wisconsin	24-10	52	Hofstra	24-10
21	Tennessee	22-11	53	Troy	22-11
22	North Carolina	24-8	54	Hawaii	24-8
23	Louisville	23-10	55	North Dakota St	27-7
24	BYU	23-11	56	Penn	18-11
25	Kentucky	21-13	57	Wright St.	23-11
26	Saint Mary's	27-5	58	Kennesaw St	21-13
27	Miami (FL)	25-8	59	Tennessee St	23-9
28	UCLA	23-11	60	Idaho	21-14
29	Clemson	24-10	61	Furman	22-12
30	Villanova	24-8	62	Queens (NC)	21-13
31	Ohio St.	21-12	63	Siena	23-11
32	Georgia	22-10	64	LIU	24-10
			65	Howard	23-10
			66	UMBC	24-8
			67	Lehigh	18-16
			68	Prairie View	18-17

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

WOMEN'S SCHEDULE

Updated 03/19/26, 7:30am

GAMES	Time (ET)	TV
First Round: Thursday, March 19
(9) TCU vs. (8) Ohio State	12:15 PM	CBS
(13) Troy vs. (4) Nebraska	12:40 PM	truTV
(11) South Florida vs. (6) Louisville	1:30 PM	TNT
(12) High Point vs. (5) Wisconsin	1:50 PM	TBS
(16) Siena vs. (1) Duke	2:50 PM	CBS
(12) McNeese vs. (5) Vanderbilt	3:15 PM	truTV
(14) North Dakota St vs. (3) Michigan	4:05 PM	TNT
(9) Hawaii vs. (8) Arkansas	4:25 PM	TBS
(11) VCU vs. (6) North Carolina	6:50 PM	TNT
(16) ~~UMBC~~/Howard vs. (1) Michigan	7:10 PM	CBS
(11) Texas ~~/ NC State~~ vs. (6) BYU	7:25 PM	TBS
(10) Texas A&M vs. (7) St. Mary's	7:35 PM	truTV
(14) Penn vs. (3) Illinois	9:25 PM	TNT
(9) Saint Louis vs. (8) Georgia	9:45 PM	CBS
(14) Kennesaw State vs. (3) Gonzaga	10:00 PM	TBS
(15) Idaho vs. (2) Houston	10:10 PM	truTV
First Round: Friday, March 20
(10) Santa Clara vs. (7) Kentucky	12:15 PM	CBS
(12) Akron vs. (5) Texas Tech	12:40 PM	truTV
(16) LIU vs. (1) Arizona	1:30 PM	TNT
(14) Wright State vs. (3) Virginia	1:50 PM	TBS
(15) Tennessee State vs. (2) Iowa State	2:50 PM	CBS
(13) Hofstra vs. (4) Alabama	3:15 PM	truTV
(9) Utah State vs. (8) Villanova	4:10 PM	TNT
(11) Miami (OH) / ~~SMU~~ vs. (6) Tennessee	4:25 PM	TBS
(9) Iowa vs. (8) Clemson	6:50 PM	TNT
(12) Northern Iowa vs. (5) St. John's	7:10 PM	CBS
(10) UCF vs. (7) UCLA	7:25 PM	TBS
(15) Queens (NC) vs. (2) Purdue	7:35 PM	truTV
(16) Prairie View / ~~Lehigh~~ vs. (1) Florida	9:25 PM	TNT
(13) Cal Baptist vs. (4) Kansas	9:45 PM	CBS
(15) Furman vs. (2) UConn	10:00 PM	TBS
(10) Missouri vs. (7) Miami (FL)	10:10 PM	truTV

Updated 03/19/26, 7:30am

GAMES	Time (ET)	TV
First Four: Thursday, March 19
(16) Southern U vs. (16) Samford	7:00 PM	ESPN2
(10) Virginia vs. (10) Arizona St	9:00 PM	ESPN2
First Round: Friday, March 20
(3) Duke vs. (14) Col. of Charleston	11:30 AM	ESPN2
(3) TCU vs. (14) UC San Diego	12:00 PM	ESPN
(8) Oregon vs. (9) Virginia Tech	1:30 PM	ESPN2
(6) Baylor vs. (11) Nebraska	2:00 PM	ESPN
(6) Washington vs. (11) South Dakota St	2:30 PM	ESPNews
(5) Maryland vs. (12) Murray State	3:00 PM	ESPNU
(5) Ole Miss vs. (12) Gonzaga	3:30 PM	ESPN2
(1) Texas vs. (16) Missouri St	4:00 PM	ESPN
(2) Michigan vs. (15) Holy Cross	5:30 PM	ESPN2
(4) UNC vs. (13) Western Illinois	5:30 PM	ESPNews
(2) LSU vs. (15) Jacksonville	6:00 PM	ESPN
(4) Minnesota vs. (13) Green Bay	6:00 PM	ESPNU
(5) Michigan State vs. (12) Colorado St	7:30 PM	ESPNews
(7) NC State vs. (10) Tennessee	8:00 PM	ESPN
(7) Texas Tech vs. (10) Villanova	8:30 PM	ESPNU
(4) Oklahoma vs. (13) Idaho	10:00 PM	ESPN
First Round: Saturday, March 21
(3) Ohio State vs. (14) Howard	11:30 AM	ESPN2
(3) Louisville vs. (14) Vermont	12:00 PM	ESPN
(1) South Carolina vs. TBD	1:00 PM	ABC
(7) Georgia vs. TBD	1:30 PM	ESPN2
(6) Notre Dame vs. (11) Fairfield	2:00 PM	ESPN
(6) Alabama vs. (11) Rhode Island	2:30 PM	ESPNews
(5) Kentucky vs. (12) James Madison	2:30 PM	ESPNU
(1) UConn vs. (16) UTSA	3:00 PM	ABC
(8) Clemson vs. (9) Southern California	3:30 PM	ESPN2
(2) Iowa vs. (15) FDU	4:00 PM	ESPN
(4) West Virginia vs. (13) Miami (Ohio)	5:00 PM	ESPNU
(8) Iowa State vs. (9) Syracuse	5:30 PM	ESPN2
(2) Vanderbilt vs. (15) High Point	7:00 PM	ESPNews
(8) Oklahoma State vs. (9) Princeton	7:30 PM	ESPN2
(7) Illinois vs. (10) Colorado	9:30 PM	ESPN2
(1) UCLA vs. (16) California Baptist	10:00 PM	ESPN

2026 TEAM PROFILES

Lehigh Mountain Hawks

Their official colors are Brown and White.

They have over a century of playing mediocre basketball.

But I bet you remember that one thing they did well

Howard Bison

This team was in the Tournament in 2023 and 2024 and two other times prior to that. No wins though.

I completely forgot about those teams.

Most will forget about this team too.

2026 MM ARTICLES

Any and all rules for any Madness of March pool may change at any time up to the tip-off of the first game of that pool.

Any changes will be posted on this and/or its respective website.

#GoTerps #UNCW #WeAre