Final Four per the MDS Model (2026)

And then there were two favorites remaining - 65% of the time, the champion will come from the right side of the bracket (Arizona + Michigan). Also 28% chance we are guaranteed a Big 10 champion for the first time since 2000 (Illinois + Michigan).

I've only recently correctly predicted the champion at this stage when it has been Connecticut. I did not get this right in either 2025 or 2024.

Michigan gets the nod here, barely, if they can survive a coin flip against Arizona:

Seed	Team	Championship	Champion
	Final Four
2	Connecticut	45.98%	15.06%
3	Illinois	54.02%	19.70%
1	Arizona	48.66%	31.44%
1	Michigan	51.34%	33.80%

No matter how you slice it, Arizona or Michigan would be a ~2/3rd favorite over whoever advances from Connecticut and Illinois:

Seed	Matchups	Title Game
2	Connecticut	33.37%
1	Arizona	66.63%
2	Connecticut	32.16%
1	Michigan	67.84%
3	Illinois	37.11%
1	Arizona	62.89%
3	Illinois	35.86%
1	Michigan	64.14%

Sweet 16 per the MDS Model (2026)

Going into the tournament, there were 3 standout teams: Duke, Michigan, and Arizona, who combined to win the title ~50% of the time. 

And that remains the case - bumping up their odds to 56% combined. Dook is slightly more likely than before play began, up to 22% as the favorite now. After the top 3, Houston has the best chance out of the South region, at 8%.

But now the real reason you're here, conference-based odds:

• Chances of the Big 10 winning its first title since 2000: 36% (Michigan St + Iowa + Nebraska + Illinois + Purdue + Michigan)
  
• Chances of an all Big 10 Final Four to guarantee this: 1.6%
• Chances of the ACC winning its 9th title since 2000: 22% (Duke)

Seed	Team	Elite 8	Final Four	Championship	Champion
	Sweet 16
1	Duke	74.44%	52.75%	36.45%	21.98%
5	St. John's	25.56%	11.68%	5.16%	1.82%
3	Michigan St.	48.91%	17.15%	8.20%	3.18%
2	Connecticut	51.09%	18.42%	9.00%	3.58%
9	Iowa	42.33%	13.38%	3.83%	1.08%
4	Nebraska	57.67%	22.36%	7.88%	2.75%
3	Illinois	46.01%	28.64%	12.54%	5.46%
2	Houston	53.99%	35.61%	16.94%	8.04%
1	Arizona	72.14%	50.27%	28.77%	16.79%
4	Arkansas	27.86%	13.33%	4.66%	1.68%
11	Texas	28.59%	6.48%	1.52%	0.37%
2	Purdue	71.41%	29.92%	12.84%	5.67%
1	Michigan	73.82%	48.27%	29.28%	17.45%
4	Alabama	26.18%	10.68%	3.91%	1.39%
6	Tennessee	36.74%	12.19%	4.56%	1.65%
2	Iowa St.	63.26%	28.87%	14.48%	7.10%

NCAA Tournament 2026 Bracket Math for the MDS Model

Update for the composite this year - swapped in Bart Torvik for Seven Overtimes, since Seven Overtimes now appears to route to KenPom. This year's composite contains 4 models:

• KenPom (the one and only)
• Powerrank (created and maintained by Ed Feng)
• T-Rank (created and maintained by Bart Torvik)
• Nate Silver's COOPER Ratings (behind a paywall, but rating systems for both men's and women's)

As always, I use a weighted average of these 4 ratings, which smooths out the final Aggregate ratings that I use to project the tournament.

Now the bracket math. Note: For simplicity, I've taken the highest rated team in each play-in game and included them, except for Miami (OH) - even though they're super low in all projection systems, going undefeated in the regular season absolutely merits inclusion in the bracket.

Seed	Team	1st Round	2nd Round	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final Four	Championship	Champion
	East
1	Duke	100.00%	98.32%	80.97%	62.90%	46.62%	31.37%	19.56%
16	Siena	100.00%	1.68%	0.20%	0.02%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
8	Ohio St.	100.00%	55.72%	11.40%	5.31%	2.22%	0.76%	0.23%
9	TCU	100.00%	44.28%	7.43%	3.06%	1.11%	0.33%	0.08%
5	St. John's	100.00%	75.47%	44.29%	14.29%	7.15%	3.02%	1.14%
12	Northern Iowa	100.00%	24.53%	8.18%	1.12%	0.28%	0.05%	0.01%
4	Kansas	100.00%	81.86%	43.62%	12.97%	6.09%	2.39%	0.83%
13	Cal Baptist	100.00%	18.14%	3.91%	0.34%	0.06%	0.01%	0.00%
6	Louisville	100.00%	66.81%	32.70%	16.13%	5.53%	2.22%	0.79%
11	South Florida	100.00%	33.19%	11.04%	3.65%	0.77%	0.19%	0.04%
3	Michigan St.	100.00%	87.64%	53.80%	29.70%	11.76%	5.40%	2.21%
14	North Dakota St.	100.00%	12.36%	2.46%	0.40%	0.04%	0.00%	0.00%
7	UCLA	100.00%	62.04%	24.64%	10.67%	3.10%	1.06%	0.32%
10	UCF	100.00%	37.96%	11.06%	3.54%	0.72%	0.17%	0.04%
2	Connecticut	100.00%	94.35%	63.55%	35.84%	14.55%	6.83%	2.87%
15	Furman	100.00%	5.65%	0.74%	0.06%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
	South
1	Florida	100.00%	98.94%	72.93%	48.45%	28.63%	15.22%	7.94%
16*	Lehigh	100.00%	1.06%	0.05%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
8	Clemson	100.00%	46.07%	11.66%	4.69%	1.55%	0.44%	0.12%
9	Iowa	100.00%	53.93%	15.36%	6.75%	2.47%	0.78%	0.24%
5	Vanderbilt	100.00%	76.98%	43.41%	18.81%	8.63%	3.49%	1.37%
12	McNeese	100.00%	23.02%	6.87%	1.31%	0.27%	0.05%	0.01%
4	Nebraska	100.00%	88.69%	48.05%	19.85%	8.70%	3.34%	1.24%
13	Troy	100.00%	11.31%	1.68%	0.14%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%
6	North Carolina	100.00%	58.53%	21.07%	7.67%	2.72%	0.84%	0.25%
11	VCU	100.00%	41.47%	11.93%	3.46%	0.97%	0.23%	0.05%
3	Illinois	100.00%	93.80%	66.00%	35.16%	18.46%	8.67%	3.98%
14	Penn	100.00%	6.20%	0.99%	0.08%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%
7	St. Mary's	100.00%	60.04%	21.15%	9.09%	3.50%	1.18%	0.38%
10	Texas A&M	100.00%	39.96%	10.74%	3.62%	1.07%	0.27%	0.07%
2	Houston	100.00%	94.06%	67.15%	40.81%	23.00%	11.67%	5.80%
15	Idaho	100.00%	5.94%	0.97%	0.11%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%
	West
1	Arizona	100.00%	98.54%	79.78%	59.86%	41.72%	25.03%	14.73%
16	Long Island	100.00%	1.46%	0.14%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
8	Villanova	100.00%	50.04%	10.06%	4.32%	1.58%	0.44%	0.12%
9	Utah St.	100.00%	49.96%	10.02%	4.30%	1.57%	0.44%	0.12%
5	Wisconsin	100.00%	77.28%	40.50%	13.03%	5.83%	2.06%	0.70%
12	High Point	100.00%	22.72%	5.95%	0.74%	0.14%	0.02%	0.00%
4	Arkansas	100.00%	85.44%	50.37%	17.47%	8.31%	3.15%	1.16%
13	Hawaii	100.00%	14.56%	3.18%	0.27%	0.04%	0.00%	0.00%
6	BYU	100.00%	58.78%	26.22%	11.72%	4.10%	1.41%	0.47%
11*	North Carolina St.	100.00%	41.22%	15.06%	5.48%	1.52%	0.41%	0.11%
3	Gonzaga	100.00%	91.71%	57.50%	30.87%	13.41%	5.77%	2.41%
14	Kennesaw St.	100.00%	8.29%	1.21%	0.13%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%
7	Miami (FL)	100.00%	59.37%	21.16%	8.81%	2.71%	0.82%	0.24%
10	Missouri	100.00%	40.63%	11.25%	3.70%	0.87%	0.20%	0.04%
2	Purdue	100.00%	95.54%	67.04%	39.25%	18.18%	8.35%	3.73%
15	Queens	100.00%	4.46%	0.55%	0.04%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
	Midwest
1	Michigan	100.00%	98.03%	80.55%	61.01%	41.76%	26.36%	15.85%
16*	UMBC	100.00%	1.97%	0.25%	0.02%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
8	Georgia	100.00%	52.63%	10.53%	4.55%	1.59%	0.48%	0.13%
9	Saint Louis	100.00%	47.37%	8.66%	3.53%	1.15%	0.32%	0.08%
5	Texas Tech	100.00%	74.64%	42.81%	14.63%	6.67%	2.69%	1.00%
12	Akron	100.00%	25.36%	8.33%	1.28%	0.29%	0.06%	0.01%
4	Alabama	100.00%	78.43%	43.15%	14.26%	6.33%	2.48%	0.89%
13	Hofstra	100.00%	21.57%	5.72%	0.70%	0.13%	0.02%	0.00%
6	Tennessee	100.00%	79.10%	41.59%	18.25%	6.84%	2.73%	1.01%
11*	Miami (OH)	100.00%	20.90%	5.13%	0.91%	0.13%	0.02%	0.00%
3	Virginia	100.00%	89.10%	51.46%	23.46%	9.16%	3.82%	1.47%
14	Wright St.	100.00%	10.90%	1.82%	0.18%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%
7	Kentucky	100.00%	53.23%	16.53%	7.08%	2.13%	0.69%	0.20%
10	Santa Clara	100.00%	46.77%	13.28%	5.29%	1.45%	0.43%	0.11%
2	Iowa St.	100.00%	96.48%	69.80%	44.80%	22.34%	11.80%	5.85%
15	Tennessee St.	100.00%	3.52%	0.39%	0.03%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
	Totals	64.00	32.00	16.00	8.00	4.00	2.00	1.00
Seed	Team	1st Round
16*	Lehigh	54.52%
16*	Prairie View A&M	45.48%
16*	UMBC	53.66%
16*	Howard	46.34%
11*	Texas	48.72%
11*	North Carolina St.	51.28%
11*	Miami (OH)	32.67%
11*	SMU	67.33%

Some notes:

• There is a clear cut-off after the top 3 teams (Duke, Michigan, Arizona): these 3 teams combine to win the majority of the time (barely, 50.1%)
• Duke has a pretty tough path, with SIX other top ~25 teams in their region - Connecticut (#9 in my rankings), Michigan St (#11),  St. John's (#14), Louisville (#20), Kansas (#21), and Ohio St (#26) all could await them
• This is without factoring in Carolina getting a 6 seed and the same first round site (Greenville, SC) could lead to some very rowdy anti-Duke crowds
• Even still, I have them with the best title odds, at 19.6%
• Michigan, literally tied for first in some systems, is surprisingly far behind in second at 15.9%
• 29% chance the Big 10 ends its title drought since 2000 - easily the funniest outcome would be Nebraska getting it done (1.2%)
• As mentioned, the model does not like Miami (OH) to get out of Dayton. This is the backbone of projections systems (strength of schedule), to account for their weak schedule (not for lack of trying on their part, per a bunch of Open Records Requests). But going undefeated in the regular season, however unlikely, is a great achievement

Full rankings:

Rank	Seed	Team	Rating
1	1	Duke	96.10
2	1	Michigan	95.09
3	1	Arizona	94.62
4	1	Florida	92.33
5	2	Houston	91.43
6	2	Iowa St.	91.22
7	3	Illinois	90.03
8	2	Purdue	89.43
9	2	Connecticut	88.63
10	3	Gonzaga	88.35
11	3	Michigan St.	88.24
12	5	Vanderbilt	87.55
13	3	Virginia	87.12
14	5	St. John's	86.93
15	4	Nebraska	86.80
16	5	Texas Tech	86.65
17	6	Tennessee	86.50
18	4	Arkansas	86.43
19	4	Alabama	86.19
20	6	Louisville	86.12
21	4	Kansas	85.85
22	5	Wisconsin	85.40
23	6	BYU	85.08
24	7	St. Mary's	84.90
25	9	Iowa	84.10
26	8	Ohio St.	83.99
27	7	UCLA	83.90
28	6	North Carolina	83.78
29	7	Kentucky	83.47
30	7	Miami (FL)	83.34
31	8	Clemson	82.73
32	8	Georgia	82.65
33	8	Villanova	82.40
34	9	Utah St.	82.39
35	10	Santa Clara	82.34
36	9	TCU	81.99
37	11	North Carolina St.	81.99
38	9	Saint Louis	81.73
39	11	Texas	81.54
40	11	SMU	81.46
41	10	Texas A&M	81.36
42	11	VCU	80.77
43	11	South Florida	80.06
44	10	Missouri	80.03
45	10	UCF	79.62
46	12	Akron	77.39
47	12	Northern Iowa	77.32
48	12	McNeese	77.26
49	13	Hofstra	75.21
50	11	Miami (OH)	75.20
51	12	High Point	74.97
52	13	Cal Baptist	73.15
53	14	North Dakota St.	72.10
54	13	Hawaii	71.71
55	14	Wright St.	69.94
56	13	Troy	69.92
57	15	Idaho	69.67
58	14	Kennesaw St.	69.02
59	14	Penn	68.57
60	15	Furman	66.51
61	16	Siena	66.46
62	16	UMBC	66.36
63	15	Tennessee St.	65.98
64	15	Queens	65.72
65	16	Howard	65.07
66	16	Long Island	64.19
67	16	Lehigh	60.18
68	16	Prairie View A&M	58.59