NCAA Bracketology: 2026 March Madness men's field predictions

ESPN's Bracketology efforts aim to mirror the NCAA tournament field as it's selected by the committee. This year, the 68-team bracket will eliminate geographical considerations and reduce automatic qualifiers by one due to the Ivy League's decision to skip the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, the 48-team bracket will streamline the selection process, with teams being paired geographically and a focus on conference participation rules—limiting each conference to four teams in the tournament. The 16-team bracket will ensure national balance by capping conference representation at one team per conference.