The Madness is back.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and nothing says “springtime” like water-cooler bragging rights. Our sports desk, which collectively suffers from the plague known as “Ball Knowledge,” will guide your ships toward the truth.
Or maybe not. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Champion: Iowa State
The continued ubiquity of the transfer portal has tamped down hopes of traditional Cinderella runs. The old formula — scrappy seniors with four years of chemistry — simply isn’t feasible anymore. The best routes, as Robert Frost mused, are those less taken.
Coach-player package deals will have a nice weekend: Ben McCollum and Bennett Stirtz will take No. 9 Iowa to the second weekend, while Saint Louis’ Josh Schertz and Robbie Avila give No. 1 Michigan a run for its money. The relative lack of traditional upsets will spark fan furor.
In a defense-wins-championships world, three Big 12 teams (No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Houston, No. 2 Iowa State) join No. 1 overall seed Duke in the Final Four. Along with Michigan, these are the four best teams in the country. All three matchups are tossups. But give me the Cyclones, who run the table on crazy shooting variance for Milan Momcilovic and a late hustle play by Joshua Jefferson.
Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Champion: Arizona
This men’s basketball season has been ruled by the No. 1 seeds. Duke, Michigan, Florida and Arizona have proven to be legit. While those teams could make a serious case for the national championship, Arizona looks poised to make a run in its fifth season under Tommy Lloyd. The Big 12 champs are no strangers to top-25 competition, finishing 11-2 against ranked opponents, including six top-four seeds. The Wildcats are led by the Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley, All-Big 12 First Team Brayden Burries and Motiejus Krivas as well as All-Big 12 freshman Koa Peat.
Arizona also leads arguably the easiest region in the tournament with No. 2 seed Purdue, who finished seventh in the Big Ten and No. 3 seed Gonzaga, who has not faced a top-five seed since losing to No. 1 Michigan by 40 in November. This feels like Arizona’s best chance at a chip since winning it all in 1997.
Marissa Essenburg | Sports Writer
Champion: Arizona
If you had asked me a few weeks ago who I thought would carry the men’s tournament this season, my answer would look a lot different than it does now. That’s the harsh reality of college hoops in March: injuries can flip a bracket faster than anything else. Since November, I thought Duke looked like a team that could win it all, and Michigan had the toughness to push the Blue Devils deep into Indianapolis. But with Caleb Foster out for Duke and L.J. Cason done for the year at Michigan, the shape of the field has shifted. What once looked like a path for the usual powers now feels wide open, and the team I think is best positioned to seize that opening is Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion Arizona.
Even 2025 national champion Florida, when healthy, has not looked as consistent all season as Arizona does right now. With Koa Peat back in the lineup and floor general Jaden Bradley playing his best ball, the Wildcats have all the tools to wear the crown, especially after the way they closed the regular season and then flat-out hooped through the conference tournament. To me, Arizona is the steadiest of the No. 1 seeds because it has the right mix of tough guard play, size and the kind of physicality that travels this time of year. The Wildcats don’t live and die by the 3-pointer, which makes them even tougher to rattle when shots are not falling. With the way they are playing right now, how healthy they look and how few holes they have, Arizona feels like the safest pick to cut down the nets in 2026.
Dylan Fink | Sports Writer
Champion: Kansas
This year’s NCAA Tournament will be one of the more straightforward brackets in recent memory. The glass slippers are laid out on the floor awaiting this year’s handful of Cinderella teams. Alas, there will only be one memorable first round upset this year. No. 10-seeded Santa Clara will steal the nation’s heart in its first tournament appearance since 1996, as they will conquer a poorly-managed Kentucky team 82-65.
Overall, the tournament will be led by Big 12 dominance, with the possibility of the first all-Big 12 Final Four meeting in Indianapolis, with matchups No. 4 seed Kansas facing No. 2 seed Houston in the east and No. 1 Arizona battling No. 2 Iowa State in the west. The outcome of this Final Four will be Kansas head coach Bill Self bringing home his third national title.
The Kansas Jayhawks will silence the most dominant team in the nation as they barely slide past Arizona. Freshman guard Darryn Peterson will prove why he should be the first overall pick in the NBA Draft as an emphatic two-point buzzer beater will give the public its most notable championship win since Villanova shushing North Carolina in 2016.
