***Official 2026 NCAA Tournament Thread***

[madguy30]

??? Florida was plenty good this year, was #4 in the NET, earned their 1 seed.
That was a stunning upset by Iowa any way you look at it.

Last year's Fla team would have roughshedded this Iowa team. They were in a mode in the tournament and this year's group got smoked in the SEC tournament, had a bit of glass house vibe.

Watching the game and how bad Florida was on both ends (I still contend that #10 Fla took the wrong pill, half kidding) the outcome was hardly stunning.

 

[madguy30]

Hoiberg was unplayable in the second half but Fred kept putting him out there. Nebby's best stretches in the second half were when he was sitting and then Sam would come in and either turn it over or get lost on defense. Just so many missteps by the Nebby coaching staff.

Getting burned deep for that late TD was some 'how the **** did you make a Sweet 16?' level achievement.

 

[demoncore1031]

I'm remembering back in the mid 90s my high school would have TVs set up in the library and lunch room that would play tournament games. Some of the teachers would even bring in a TV and let us watch instead of teaching. Anyone else have that at their school?

 

[12191987]

Turning into Gonzaga isn't possible without tens of millions of dollars annually for over a decade. That's not happening anywhere else.

I was going to say the MVC is a different beast than the WCC as well, but I forgot about the drop-off of losing Creighton and Witchita State.

Still, it is a tougher environment to build a powerhouse than Gonzaga had during the beginning of the Monson/Few era.

 

[12191987]

No way. Making a run in the tournament is the best. Especially as an underdog.

No doubt, runs are great.

And trust me, an Elite 8 to a school like ISU is almost what a Sweet 16 is to a school like Iowa. You want to savor them.

But McCollum might be a guy who could elevate Iowa to a perennial tournament team. Those runs are more likely if you’re not missing the tournament more than half of the time.

You’re probably right though. Take the Elite 8. That might not come around again in our lifetimes.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

I was going to say the MVC is a different beast than the WCC as well, but I forgot about the drop-off of losing Creighton and Witchita State.

Still, it is a tougher environment to build a powerhouse than Gonzaga had during the beginning of the Monson/Few era.

The WCC is done as a multi bid league. Losing Gonzaga and Randy Bennett is going to drop it from 7 or 8 to 11 or 12.

The Valley is going to hang in that 8-10 range where it's lived since the 00s Golden Era and there are worse places to be.

 

[12191987]

The WCC is done as a multi bid league. Losing Gonzaga and Randy Bennett is going to drop it from 7 or 8 to 11 or 12.

The Valley is going to hang in that 8-10 range where it's lived since the 00s Golden Era and there are worse places to be.

It’ll make for a great opportunity for Coach Blount the next couple years.

 

[MartyFine]

 

[not-the-manager]

Definitely an upset, no doubt about it. But the way they got smoked against vandy in the sec tournament had me suspect a bit. Iowa lucked out with Clemson and Nebraska. It took one off night by Florida and that’s how upsets happen. Illinois scored 41 in the 2nd half vs a Houston D that got lit up at halftime. That’s impressive. We can only hope that Illinois offense shows up tomorrow.

There are hoks acting like they still have a chance because their path has become a bit of a revenge tour. They have a chance, but it's laughable to act like Illinois doesn't want to beat the crap out of them given that they're in the same conference. Almost all these things go both ways. Fans of most every team often act like there could be motivation and focus advantages in certain games in a single-elimination tournament, and I just reject that

 

[cmhawks99]

3-7 is actually more indicative of the season than ncaa tournament

The tournament is a crapshoot. One game, winner moves on events are exciting for fans, but can lead to highly misleading results

Which is why next season will be very interesting for Iowa: do they revert back to the middle of the conference like they did all season, or can they demonstrate they are in the top tier of the conference?

Time will tell. The last 3 games have given Iowa fans optimism, but it’s only been 3 games out of 36. So if I were an Iowa fan, I would be enjoying this run, but being cautiously optimistic about next season

I’m not taking this as being argumentative or anything other than a conversation so I hope you feel the same way… But this is literally the definition of the kinds of things that I like to get to the bottom of…

Nobody truly knows what any team is going to be next year… I mean, I was surprised to find out BILL Self in Kansas hasn’t been past the first weekend in a long time… thanks @HoopsTournament Now I promise you there are fans on the Kansas board and fans all around the country that are saying “bills done, it’s time for his him to retire”, but that’s just “those“ kind of fans…

I assure you, Bill can still coach basketball. Has he lost his passion. Hell I don’t know, but that kind of rhetoric always drives me nuts….

So how does that pertain to Iowa you ask…

Well, here’s the thing..,I would imagine you, like me don’t necessarily find that Iowa team overly talented, but this coach… Who has a long, long, long history of putting highly coached basketball teams on the court is probably more likely to keep succeeding than the other way around so in reality, I believe what people really mean is….man I hope to hell Iowa doesn’t start being good…

Just like rival fans want Bill self to not be able to coach anymore, and the ****** fans on his own board are gonna respond like that no matter who the coach is and I’ve witnessed that firsthand on about 50 different message boards, including Michigan State and Tom Izzy at points in time

 

[FriendlySpartan]

There are hoks acting like they still have a chance because their path has become a bit of a revenge tour. They have a chance, but it's laughable to act like Illinois doesn't want to beat the crap out of them given that they're in the same conference. Almost all these things go both ways. Fans of most every team often act like there could be motivation and focus advantages in certain games in a single-elimination tournament, and I just reject that

Iowa also just isn’t very good, Illinois is winning this easy. They had a great run, pulled off a fantastic upset and put some maddness back in March but are still a very limited team when playing against good competition

 

[12191987]

At first glance New Hampshire and Nebraska are the most impressive.

I get why NH is so over represented. Is there a basketball academy in Nebraska too?

Edit: Get your **** together, California. You should have more than 156 players to avoid being embarrassed by Nebraska! And don’t whine that 9-10 players on all 16 rosters is too hard.

 

[cmhawks99]

There are hoks acting like they still have a chance because their path has become a bit of a revenge tour. They have a chance, but it's laughable to act like Illinois doesn't want to beat the crap out of them given that they're in the same conference. Almost all these things go both ways. Fans of most every team often act like there could be motivation and focus advantages in certain games in a single-elimination tournament, and I just reject that

Are you kidding me… there are fans of a sporting team that actually think they have a chance. What a bunch of idiots. If I run into any of them, I’ll let them know they are people in the Iowa State fan base that think they’re morons for having hope

 

[Cyballzz]

The WCC is done as a multi bid league. Losing Gonzaga and Randy Bennett is going to drop it from 7 or 8 to 11 or 12.

The Valley is going to hang in that 8-10 range where it's lived since the 00s Golden Era and there are worse places to be.

Obviously Creighton has seen success in the Big East but I wonder if Wichita State would like a do-over.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I'm remembering back in the mid 90s my high school would have TVs set up in the library and lunch room that would play tournament games. Some of the teachers would even bring in a TV and let us watch instead of teaching. Anyone else have that at their school?

Plus you would get bounce around coverage because CBS only carried one game! Those are some damn good memories.

 

[CyCrazy]

Iowa also just isn’t very good, Illinois is winning this easy. They had a great run, pulled off a fantastic upset and put some maddness back in March but are still a very limited team when playing against good competition

You would think by listening to local radio that Iowa is on par with the 97' Bulls.

 

[Cyhig]

Looking at tonight's games besides the Iowa State game

Duke - St John's
Lack of PG play catches up to St John's. But Pitino is a HOF coach for a reason. I expect a tight game for the first 32 minutes but Duke pulls away in the final 8 minutes

Alabama - Michigan
This has the feel of Arkansas - Arizona. Alabama has been playing better defense lately, but they won't do enough on that end of the court. Michigan has a double digit lead at half and cruises the second half

Michigan State - UConn
If you can't find anything nice to say, don't say anything
. . . . . . . .

 

[ISUTex]

I'm remembering back in the mid 90s my high school would have TVs set up in the library and lunch room that would play tournament games. Some of the teachers would even bring in a TV and let us watch instead of teaching. Anyone else have that at their school?

yes. now they just stream the games on their big screen smartboards

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Looking at tonight's games besides the Iowa State game

Duke - St John's
Lack of PG play catches up to St John's. But Pitino is a HOF coach for a reason. I expect a tight game for the first 32 minutes but Duke pulls away in the final 8 minutes

Alabama - Michigan
This has the feel of Arkansas - Arizona. Alabama has been playing better defense lately, but they won't do enough on that end of the court. Michigan has a double digit lead at half and cruises the second half

Michigan State - UConn
If you can't find anything nice to say, don't say anything
. . . . . . . .

Exactly my takes for tonight’s games

 

[Cyhig]

Exactly my takes for tonight’s games

No offense to Michigan State @FriendlySpartan. The 2000 game is still quite fresh for me this time of year