2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament Seed Projections: Purdue Advances After Texas Tech Loss

Fans were treated to a loaded slate of men’s college basketball games on Tuesday, leading to several notable changes in FOX Sports forecaster Mike DeCourcy’s latest NCAA Tournament projections. Most notably, Purdue climbed to third place, while Texas Tech fell to the fourth line after a loss to TCU. Georgia and Iowa also moved up to the 8 line after Utah State fell to UNLV and UCF lost to Oklahoma State. Here’s a complete look at DeCourcy’s NCAA Tournament seed list: No. 1 seeds 1. Duke2. Michigan3. Arizona4. UConn No. 2 seeds 5. Florida6. Houston7. Illinois8. Michigan State #3 seed 9. Iowa State10. Alabama11. Nebraska12. Purdue [COLLEGE HOOPS: New Men’s NCAA Rankings Have Florida in Top 5] No. 4 seeds 13. Virginie14. Gonzaga15. Texas Tech16. No. 5 seed Kansas 17. North Carolina18. Arkansas19. Vanderbilt20. No. 6 seed St. John’s 21. Tennessee22. Louisville23. BYU24. Kentucky No. 7 seed 25. Villanova26. Sainte-Marie27. St. Louis28. No. 8 seed Wisconsin 29. Miami Hurricanes30. Miami RedHawks31. Georgia32. Iowa No. 9 seed 33. Clemson34. State of Utah35. UCF36. Missouri No. 10 seed 37. UCLA38. Texas39. Condition NC40. TCU #11 seed 41. Texas A&M42. SMU43. New Mexico vs. 44. Ohio State45. Santa Clara vs. 46. VCU #12 seed 47. Belmont48. South Florida49. Yale50. Liberty #13 seeds 51. Stephen F. Austin52. UNC Wilmington53. Climax54. Utah Valley No. 14 seeds 55. Hawaii56. Marine57. State of North Dakota58. Austin Peay #15 seed 59. Portland State60. Wright State61. Troy62. East Tennessee State No. 16 seed 63. Merrimack64. LIU65. Howard66. UMBC67. Bethune-Cookman68. Morehead State And it’s never too early to check the bubble. According to DeCourcy’s seed list, Indiana, Auburn, Cal and Virginia Tech are the first four teams eliminated from the tournament, while Cincinnati, USC, Seton Hall and San Diego State are the next four. Selection Sunday is less than a month away, and this list will inevitably evolve. For now, DeCourcy’s latest starting list offers a clear look at who’s rising, who’s falling and which programs are already building the resumes they’ll need when March Madness rolls around.