2026 NCAA Tournament

[Greek Tragedy]

Outside of Montclair St being upset in the 1st round and Yeshiva advancing to the Sweet 16, it was chalk. Great job by the committee.

1 Trinity CT v 17 Hood (hosted over #16 Redlands)

8 Wesleyan v 9 Tufts

4 Mary Wash v 13 La Crosse

5 Chicago v 12 Gustavus Adolphus

2 Emory v Yeshiva

7 Endicott v 10 IWU

3 St. Thomas v 14 Wash U

6 RMC v 11 CNU

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm curious what format would've worked better.

They did 2 rounds this weekend and 1 round next weekend. If I'm correct, that's 56 teams traveling over the two weekends. 3 teams traveling to 16 pods and then 8 teams traveling for the Sweet 16. How many flights were there this weekend and how many are there next weekend?

If they flip the schedule and play one round the 1st weekend, there's 32 teams traveling. Then the 2nd weekend 3 teams are traveling to 8 pods, it's still 56 teams traveling. Would there be more flights the 2nd weekend?

To prevent an extra week between the semis and final, it probably would've been best to have single rounds the first 3 weekends and then the Elite 8 and semis the fourth weekend and final in Indianapolis. I'm assuming Fort Wayne didn't want to move the weekend, so we're stuck with a 2-week gap and playing the Final on Easter Sunday.

[Greek Tragedy]

Does anyone else find it odd that all 8 Sweet 16 games aren't played on the same day?

https://x.com/i/status/2030524723747016747

It's not like the games are spread out so you can watch all of them.

And why is IWU hosting Endicott?

[deiscanton]

Does anyone else find it odd that all 8 Sweet 16 games aren't played on the same day?

https://x.com/i/status/2030524723747016747

It's not like the games are spread out so you can watch all of them.

And why is IWU hosting Endicott?

Endicott may be hosting NCAA D3 Ice Hockey tournament games next Saturday, and the Endicott staff wanted to keep that weekend clear for Ray Bourque Arena on the Endicott campus to host them. (Endicott is a well known D3 Ice Hockey power school.) The Gulls just won the CNE AQs for both the Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Tournaments yesterday.  As a result, I would not be surprised if Endicott did not bid to host men's basketball third round action. 

Puck drop for all NCAA DIII Women's Ice Hockey first round Tournament games is scheduled for 3 PM EDT next Saturday, and puck drop for all NCAA DIII Men's Ice Hockey first round tournament games is scheduled for 7 PM EDT next Saturday.  If Endicott is hosting an NCAA DIII Women's Ice Hockey tournament game on Saturday, that would affect their ability to host basketball tournament games.  If Endicott had to prioritize ice hockey vs basketball for a hosting site, I am not surprised if Endicott chose next weekend to host ice hockey tournament games-- especially since Endicott is going on spring break as of next weekend as well.

Endicott is currently #12 in NPI in women's ice hockey as of this morning, and #2 in the NPI in men's ice hockey.   If it holds going into tonight's selection shows, the Endicott men's ice hockey team may get a first round bye and go straight to the second weekend's national quarterfinal round, but the Endicott women's hockey team may be hosting next Saturday at 3 PM ET. 

((8:39 PM EDT update-- Sunday, March 8, 2026-- 13 team bracket just announced -- Endicott (#12 NPI in women's ice hockey) women's ice hockey team are playing away at Hamline (at-large pick, #7 in NPI in women's ice hockey) in next Saturday's first round action, with the winner going to a national quarterfinal game the following Saturday at Norwich. (#2 in NPI-- got one of the 3 first round byes)).  . UW-River Falls, the defending D3 women's ice hockey champion, is the overall #1 seed, with Nazareth (#3 in NPI, getting the other first round bye.)

BTW, I don't mind spreading out the Sweet 16 DIII Men's Basketball third round over 2 days this year. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Good explanation about the hockey games.

What is the reason of spreading the Sweet 16 games over two days? It's not like the games are at 3, 5 , 7, and 9.

[D3BBALL]

Does anyone else find it odd that all 8 Sweet 16 games aren't played on the same day?

https://x.com/i/status/2030524723747016747

It's not like the games are spread out so you can watch all of them.

And why is IWU hosting Endicott?

Exactly on the spread out of games, would be much easier to watch if they were spread out a few hours

[Ralph Turner]

UMHB led by 8 over GA at halftime and trailed by 1, 63-64, with 9:24 left and trailed by 5, 70-75, with 4:51 left. The Gusties pulled away from there to win 90-72.

Was home court advantage over a team from 3,000 miles away the difference in #17 Hood over #16 Redlands?

[rdanie03]

Outside of Montclair St being upset in the 1st round and Yeshiva advancing to the Sweet 16, it was chalk. Great job by the committee.

1 Trinity CT v 17 Hood (hosted over #16 Redlands)

8 Wesleyan v 9 Tufts

4 Mary Wash v 13 La Crosse

5 Chicago v 12 Gustavus Adolphus

2 Emory v Yeshiva

7 Endicott v 10 IWU

3 St. Thomas v 14 Wash U

6 RMC v 11 CNU

This should be used as the counter to everyone complaining about the NPI not being an accurate measure of team's ability. If your system can produce 14 of the Top 16 making the Top 16, with another of the last 16 #17, I think it has shown its about as good as one can hope for predictive validity.

[D3BBALL]

Outside of Montclair St being upset in the 1st round and Yeshiva advancing to the Sweet 16, it was chalk. Great job by the committee.

1 Trinity CT v 17 Hood (hosted over #16 Redlands)

8 Wesleyan v 9 Tufts

4 Mary Wash v 13 La Crosse

5 Chicago v 12 Gustavus Adolphus

2 Emory v Yeshiva

7 Endicott v 10 IWU

3 St. Thomas v 14 Wash U

6 RMC v 11 CNU

This should be used as the counter to everyone complaining about the NPI not being an accurate measure of team's ability. If your system can produce 14 of the Top 16 making the Top 16, with another of the last 16 #17, I think it has shown its about as good as one can hope for predictive validity.

My complaint was not about it being an accurate measure of a team's ability. It was more of you don't put three top 10 teams from the same conference in the same bracket. I've gone back and couldn't find one time, it was done in D1. And if you strictly want to use NPI rankings then do that for every game and shuttle teams all over the country. I know that's not realistic and it's not even done in D1 as they move teams out of certain brackets to keep them home or move them away or move them up and down a seed, even lower seeded teams. I know Babson was not happy being basically a 5th seed team having to play the number one ranked team in the second round away. Done strictly on the NPI, Babson would've been playing a fourth seed or a 3rd seed in the second round. The way Babson had been playing and the way they played against Trinity, they could've easily upset a three seed maybe even a two seat. Also, you have to remember that the way D3 works, it is a home court advantage for most of the top 16 teams. That is a huge advantage.
Maybe Matt or Zach can go back and look at last year and see how many upsets there were of the top 16 NPI.
And if this year, say six teams of the top 16 had lost in the first round, it still wouldn't make the NPI rankings wrong. Most of those teams would've been in the top 16 of the D3 Massey rankings, D3 data cast efficiency rankings, and the top 25 coaches rankings.

[HoopsDad34]

Apropro of nothing, the only multi Sweet 16 team conferences are the NESCAC (3), UAA (3) and C2C (2). 

[Greek Tragedy]

It helps to host. Hosts went 30-1 the 1st weekend.

[D3BBALL]

It helps to host. Hosts went 30-1 the 1st weekend.

That is just a huge advantage, wonder what it has been like the first weekend the past 5 years.
 
A team like Trinity has played 10 straight home games the last 3 years in the NCAA's to get to the sweet 16/final 4. They are 10-0 and an average margin of victory of 17 points, only 2 games under 10 points, and 1 of those they had a 16-point lead with 7 minutes left. It sure has been an advantage for them so far.