By Harrison Plank and Vinny Porco

Following the Sunday evening release of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket, your Louisville Cardinal editors have been hard at work compiling both competitive and fun brackets for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy the more conventional picks of Sports Editor Harrison Plank and Opinion Editor Vinny Porco, as well as a few creative takes on the age-old tradition of bracketology.

Sports Editor Harrison Plank

Sports Editor Harrison Plank’s opinion-based NCAA Tournament bracket completed March 16, 2026. (Graphic Courtesy / CBS Sports)

The Arizona Wildcats are my pick to win it all this year. Their perfect match of size and speed can propel them past anyone they match up against. They rank second in the nation with 47 paint points per game while only attempting 13 and a half threes a night. This shot making ability near the rim launched the Wildcats towards some dominant wins throughout the regular season, finishing with a positive scoring margin of 17.4.

And if you think Arizona only beats up on worse opponents, think again. The Wildcats finished this season 3-0 against Top 3 opponents, besting first-ranked Florida, second-ranked UConn and second-ranked St. John’s. This, along with their stellar defensive efficiency that landed them at third in the nation according to KenPom, proves to me that they are the clear-cut favorites to win it all.

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco’s opinion-based NCAA Tournament bracket completed March 16, 2026. (Graphic Courtesy / CBS Sports)

I don’t have a lot to say about any particular team, but I’ll go over some of my more interesting choices.

Acknowledging the most glaring of my choices, I think Houston will take it. That being said, Duke was my overwhelming favorite going in. But luck has not been their friend. The East Region upon which they sit is an absolute gauntlet that they will have to face without defensive anchor Caleb Foster for at least the first few rounds. I’d like them to hang on in competitive Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games against Kansas and Michigan State, but they’ll need to pray hard to have Foster back before facing a formidable Cougar offense.

Moving to the right side of the bracket, I truly believe Gonzaga is one of the most slept-on teams in the country. They’ll likely have to contain top NBA prospect AJ Dybantsa in the second round against BYU, put a stop to Purdue’s red-hot playmaking in the Sweet Sixteen and face arguably the best team in the country, Arizona, in the Elite Eight, but Mark Few’s defense looks up to the challenge. However, I don’t think they’ll best a Michigan team that will more than likely coast through arguably the easiest region on the bracket.

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco’s Mascot Bracket

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco’s NCAA Tournament bracket based on whose mascot he thinks would win in a fight completed March 16, 2026. (Graphic Courtesy / CBS Sports)

Mascot brackets are always fun. Who would win in a fight? My guess is absolute nature. Sure, Blue Devils have pitchforks, Bruins have big claws and Gators have razor sharp teeth. But Cyclones harness the power of wind to destroy everything in their path. On that side of the bracket, the Long Island University Sharks outlast the Miami Hurricanes in their element to face Iowa State in the mascot bracket version of Sharknado. Iowa State takes that one, and swallows up the UCLA Bruin to win it all.

Vinny Porco & Harrison Plank’s Proximity to U of L Bracket

Sports Editor Harrison Plank’s NCAA Tournament bracket based on schools’ proximity to the University of Louisville completed March 16, 2026. (Graphic Courtesy / CBS Sports)

The question here is simple. Which college or university is closest in proximity to U of L? The inherent beauty of this bracket is that Louisville automatically wins with a distance of 0.0 miles, and does so over the rival Kentucky Wildcats just over 60 miles east of campus.

In a bracket with very few surprises, just a few things of note stand out. Kansas beat Northern Iowa in the second round by just 12 miles and the Wisconsin Badgers edged out some schools that seemed closer at first glance such as Arkansas and Villanova to make it all the way to the Elite Eight.

Vinny Porco & Harrison Plank’s NBA & ABA Players Bracket

Sports Editor Harrison Plank’s NCAA Tournament bracket based on the amount of NBA and ABA players produced in their history completed March 16, 2026. (Graphic Courtesy / CBS Sports)

This final bracket resulted in a blowout by the Kentucky Wildcats. Based on the amount of both NBA and ABA players produced in the history of a school’s basketball program, Kentucky easily took home gold with 140. The next closest school was Duke, producing a much lower, yet still impressive 107 players. Honorable mentions go to the other two schools notching over 100 players produced, with those being North Carolina at 105 and UCLA at 106.

Feature Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal