2026 College Basketball Crown
| Season | 2025–26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 8 | ||||
| Finals site | T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada | ||||
| |||||
The 2026 College Basketball Crown (CBC) will be a single-elimination, fully-bracketed men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams not selected to participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The tournament is scheduled to commence on April 1 and conclude on April 5.[1]
All games will be played on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, with quarterfinal games at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the semifinal and final games at T-Mobile Arena. The quarterfinal games will air on FS1 with the semifinal and final games on Fox.[1]
Participating teams
Automatic bids are offered to the top two available teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings from each of the Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 conferences as of the close of conference-tournament play on Selection Sunday, March 15, 2026. The remaining two teams in the bracket are at-large selections made by tournament organizers.[2]
The NET rankings of the available Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 teams through the close of play on March 15, 2026, are summarized in the tables below. Teams in bold accepted a bid; teams in italics were extended an automatic bid but rejected it.
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Accepted bids
Only one of the Big East's two automatic bids was accepted, resulting in a third at-large bid. The teams accepting tournament bids are shown below. Team records are as of the beginning of the tournament, and NET rankings are as of March 15, 2026.[3]
| Team | Conference | Overall record |
NET[3] | Bid type |
Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor | Big 12 | 16–16 (.500) | 50 | Automatic | 1st | |
| Colorado | Big 12 | 17–15 (.531) | 76 | At-large | 2nd | 2025 |
| Creighton | Big East | 15–17 (.469) | 83 | Automatic | 1st | |
| Minnesota | Big Ten | 15–17 (.469) | 81 | Automatic | 1st | |
| Oklahoma | SEC | 19–15 (.559) | 48 | At-large | 1st | |
| Rutgers | Big Ten | 14–19 (.424) | 134 | Automatic | 1st | |
| Stanford | ACC | 20–12 (.625) | 61 | At-large | 1st | |
| West Virginia[4] | Big 12 | 18–14 (.563) | 59 | Automatic | 1st |
Declined bids
Schedule
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Box score |
Attendance | Television |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Wednesday, April 1 | ||||||
| 1 | 5:00 pm | Oklahoma vs. Colorado | – | FS1 | ||
| 2 | 7:30 pm | Baylor vs. Minnesota | – | |||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, April 2 | ||||||
| 3 | 5:00 pm | Stanford vs. West Virginia | – | FS1 | ||
| 4 | 7:30 pm | Rutgers vs. Creighton | – | |||
| Semifinals – Saturday, April 4 | ||||||
| 5 | 10:30 am | Game 1 Winner vs Game 2 Winner | – | Fox | ||
| 6 | 1:00 pm | Game 3 Winner vs Game 4 Winner | – | |||
| Final – Sunday, April 5 | ||||||
| 7 | 2:30 pm | Game 5 Winner vs Game 6 Winner | – | Fox | ||
| Game times are Pacific Daylight Time. | ||||||
Bracket
Source: [8]
| Quarterfinals MGM Grand Garden Arena April 1 & 2 FS1 | Semifinals T-Mobile Arena April 4 Fox | Final T-Mobile Arena April 5 Fox | |||||||||
| Oklahoma | |||||||||||
| Colorado | |||||||||||
| Baylor | |||||||||||
| Minnesota | |||||||||||
| Stanford | |||||||||||
| West Virginia | |||||||||||
| Rutgers | |||||||||||
| Creighton | |||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ a b "FOX Sports and AEG Announce Official Dates for the 2026 College Basketball Crown With Elite Eight-Team Field". AEG Worldwide. July 21, 2025.
- ^ Casazza, Mike (March 14, 2026). "Sources: Men's Basketball Expected to Play in College Basketball Crown". 247Sports. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e "2025-26 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 03/15/2026". NCAA Statistics. March 15, 2026. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "WVU Basketball to Accept Bid to College Basketball Crown". WVU Sports Now. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ "Where does Cincinnati Bearcats basketball stand for selection Sunday?". Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ "Indiana basketball's season is over, source says, just missing March Madness, skipping others". Retrieved March 15, 2026.
- ^ "Seton Hall Athletics Statement on 2025-26 Men's Basketball Postseason". shupirates.com. Seton Hall Pirates. March 15, 2026.
- ^ "The Field is Set". College Basketball Crown. Retrieved March 16, 2026.