Latest ESPN bracketology for 2026 NCAA tournament keeps IU basketball as one of “first four out”

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Longtime ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi released his latest 2026 NCAA tournament projections on Tuesday morning.

Lunardi last updated his bracket on May 20 and at that time, had the Hoosiers as one of the “first four out” in his projections.

In Tuesday’s update, Indiana remains one of the “first four out” along with Marquette, Washington and Clemson.

The Hoosiers have added 10 transfer portal commitments for the 2025-26 season, including Tayton Conerway, Tucker DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson and Reed Bailey. IU has also added a pair of freshmen in Trent Sisley and Aleksa Ristic.

The program has missed the NCAA tournament in the last two seasons under former coach Mike Woodson. Dating back to the 2016-17 season, the Hoosiers have only made two of the previous eight March Madness fields.

Lunardi’s current No. 1 seeds are Houston, Duke, Florida and Purdue.

The 11 Big Ten teams included in the projected field include Purdue (No. 1 seed), Michigan (No. 2), Michigan State (No. 4), UCLA (No. 4), Illinois (No. 4), Ohio State (No. 6), Wisconsin (No. 6), USC (No. 7), Oregon (No. 7), Iowa (No. 10) and Maryland (No. 10).

Lunardi projects 14 SEC teams to make the 2026 NCAA tournament.

Four Big Ten programs had coaching changes this offseason. Darian DeVries took over for Woodson, Ben McCollum replaced Fran McCaffery, who was fired at Iowa, Buzz Williams is the new Maryland coach after Kevin Willard left for Villanova and Niko Medved is in at Minnesota after Ben Johnson’s dismissal.

Buffalo, Greenville, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, St. Louis and Tampa are the first and second round sites for the 2026 NCAA tournament.

The regionals will be held in Chicago, Houston, San Jose and Washington D.C. and the Final Four site is Indianapolis.

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