2026 NCAA Tournament

[blue_jays]

What the D1 committee does is irrelevant. The D3 bracket is constructed differently by design. It is abundantly clear you do not like this, but your dislike does not change the systemically different realities, even if you continue to ignore them.

This year it is the NESCAC. As ziggy alluded to above, Hope/Calvin have been placed in the same pod on multiple occasions. WIAC teams are regularly bracketed to meet each other sooner than they would like. And you will certainly get no sympathy from our friends in Texas. The UAA avoids this not out of preference towards them but because of geography. 

Don't disagree, it's not fair and it's not good for d3 basketball. But easy changes could have been made, and not kill the bank. A huge bank!!!

It's not good for the NESCAC, perhaps. It doesn't matter for D-III basketball.

No number of posts from you on it is going to change the facts of seedings, or anyone's minds.

You have no idea whether it's changed anybody's mind!!!!!

Dude, chill out. You made your point many times. We don't all agree, and a lot of us know the realities of D3 and the limitations inherent to it. The bracketing in other D3 sports IMO are far worse than the issues basketball faces. Don't even get me started on NESCAC soccer and the huge NPI advantages they get.
End of the day, beat the teams in your bracket. Doesn't matter who it is.

[Ralph Turner]

What the D1 committee does is irrelevant. The D3 bracket is constructed differently by design. It is abundantly clear you do not like this, but your dislike does not change the systemically different realities, even if you continue to ignore them.

This year it is the NESCAC. As ziggy alluded to above, Hope/Calvin have been placed in the same pod on multiple occasions. WIAC teams are regularly bracketed to meet each other sooner than they would like. And you will certainly get no sympathy from our friends in Texas. The UAA avoids this not out of preference towards them but because of geography. 

Don't disagree, it's not fair and it's not good for d3 basketball. But easy changes could have been made, and not kill the bank. A huge bank!!!

It's not good for the NESCAC, perhaps. It doesn't matter for D-III basketball.

No number of posts from you on it is going to change the facts of seedings, or anyone's minds.

You have no idea whether it's changed anybody's mind!!!!!

Dude, chill out. You made your point many times. We don't all agree, and a lot of us know the realities of D3 and the limitations inherent to it. The bracketing in other D3 sports IMO are far worse than the issues basketball faces. Don't even get me started on NESCAC soccer and the huge NPI advantages they get.
End of the day, beat the teams in your bracket. Doesn't matter who it is.

+1, blue_jays!  Well stated. You show a 30,000-foot perspective of the playoffs in our beloved D3, shortcomings and all. But still the best of amateur athletics in the USA!

[WPI89]

Anyone been able to enter the bracket challenge - I have discovered about 14 different ways for it not to let me in so far.

[Ryan Coleman]

Anyone been able to enter the bracket challenge - I have discovered about 14 different ways for it not to let me in so far.

Can you try again and DM or email me (support@d3photography.com) with what you're seeing?

I did reboot a related server a few moments ago but I'm also at my computer working on a feature in development so I can look into anything quickly.

[WPI89]

I am in Ryan - thanks for the reset!  Good luck with your Feature!

[Ryan Coleman]

Glad it's working now and much appreciated. Trying to make the process a little more user friendly for mobile devices. Hoping to get it done this afternoon yet.

[Greek Tragedy]

I believe more than half (33) of this year's participants were not in the field last year. That seems crazy.

[Jake Feldman]

I believe more than half (33) of this year's participants were not in the field last year. That seems crazy.

Don't forget the three debutants this year (Keuka, Belhaven, and MUW)

[SpringSt7]

This thread just doesn't get used anymore for actual games? What a bummer

[BaboNation]

You know, I don't want AI running all aspects of my life anymore than the average Joe, but with advancements in technology there's just no way a human can do a better job than AI in constructing a tournament bracket.  AI should be used to construct the bracket going forward and a human can validate its accuracy.

Feed it the NPI, mileage restrictions, flight limitations, etc. etc.

There were no egregious errors in this year's bracket, but there were plenty of misplaced 2 & 3 seeds, lower ranked (NPI) teams getting better placements, etc.

Why are we settling for 'pretty good' for no good reason?

By next year the technology will be exponentially better.  Put ego aside and let the computer do the work.  In fact, if anyone hasn't already done so I'd be interested to see what AI would come up with for this year's bracket.

[Ralph Turner]

I believe more than half (33) of this year's participants were not in the field last year. That seems crazy.

That is exciting!

[Ryan Coleman]

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that I did a buuuuuuuunch of updates to d3challenge the last few days that you're just now going to be able to see.

Biggest one is you can download an up-to-date PDF version of your brackets. You need to first review your bracket before you can download the PDF. The PDF also has all the winners and losers clearly marked and shows you where your eliminated teams fall short later in the bracket. At the bottom you will also find a key and the breakdown of your points by round.

Also on the standings pages you will see not just your points but the total possible points you could get the rest of the tournament. You can also view the other brackets in the challenge.

There's a dark mode that you can activate if you want to see the site in a dark space.

Carrying from past years it's possible to get the numbers on who picked what winners in each round... like finding out that 8 brackets had Maine-Farmington winning in the first round.

If you have other ideas on functions for the site please feel free to pop over to the provide support page and drop us an email. Also there's zero advertising on the platform and I hope to keep it that way but development doesn't come free. If you have the ability to help out check out the options on that page as well.

Cheers! And thanks for your support of not just us over at d3photography but also D3hoops.com and the rest of the D3sports.com Network.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that I did a buuuuuuuunch of updates to d3challenge the last few days that you're just now going to be able to see.

Biggest one is you can download an up-to-date PDF version of your brackets. You need to first review your bracket before you can download the PDF. The PDF also has all the winners and losers clearly marked and shows you where your eliminated teams fall short later in the bracket. At the bottom you will also find a key and the breakdown of your points by round.

Also on the standings pages you will see not just your points but the total possible points you could get the rest of the tournament. You can also view the other brackets in the challenge.

There's a dark mode that you can activate if you want to see the site in a dark space.

Carrying from past years it's possible to get the numbers on who picked what winners in each round... like finding out that 8 brackets had Maine-Farmington winning in the first round.

If you have other ideas on functions for the site please feel free to pop over to the provide support page and drop us an email. Also there's zero advertising on the platform and I hope to keep it that way but development doesn't come free. If you have the ability to help out check out the options on that page as well.

Cheers! And thanks for your support of not just us over at d3photography but also D3hoops.com and the rest of the D3sports.com Network.

So, I can't click the "opt out" on the email preference page, even after clicking edit on the top.  I can't seem to click anything on that page or through to the challenges.

[Ryan Coleman]

So, I can't click the "opt out" on the email preference page, even after clicking edit on the top.  I can't seem to click anything on that page or through to the challenges.

::blank stare::

I'll get that fixed before we send out the first email... I swear I tested all the things before moving to live. Also that explains the surprising 100% retention. I'm more surprised that you're the first one to say anything.

[Ryan Coleman]

So, I can't click the "opt out" on the email preference page, even after clicking edit on the top.  I can't seem to click anything on that page or through to the challenges.

This has been fixed in the dev environment and will be included in the nightly update to production. There will be a note in the emails that go out tonight. Hoping to have a couple other new features in there tonight, too, before I have to stop working on this for the next two weeks to focus on indoor track.