Tonight, we find out the 68 teams in the 2026 NCAA Basketball Tournaments.
But before we get there, there are nine more conference championship games starting at 11am Central with the Ivy League for the men and both the Patriot League and the NEC for the women. The schedule below is as accurate as I can get it at 5pm Central time on Saturday, and I’ll update it with the correct teams in the morning.
Another thing you’ll get in the morning? A breakdown of exactly what to expect when we get to the WBIT selection show at 8pm Central time tonight. Marquette might just be okay for the 32 team field, but we’ll take a peek at what’s what after sunrise on Sunday.
UPDATE, 3/15/26, 7am CT: After Saturday’s festivities, there are 12 teams that have picked up an automatic bid to the WBIT because they are the regular season champion in their league but did not earn the autobid by winning the conference tournament. That leaves 20 spots available.
Using a combination of this relatively newly created Bracket Matrix with brackets updated on March 13th or later and the NET rankings freshly updated on Sunday morning….. I have Marquette as the #18 NET team that’s outside the NCAA tournament cutline that’s not also an autobid into the field of 68. If there are 20 at-large bids available for the WBIT, it is going to be touch and go as to whether or not Marquette gets in. On top of that, there are four more automatic bids to hand out to the women’s NCAA tournament today, and if all four of those go to the team that’s not the regular season champion….. Marquette’s not a WBIT team, it seems.
Oh, and one more thing! The 98th Academy Awards are on Sunday night as well, and Marquette grad Amy Madigan is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Weapons. That’s on topic for this blog!
Here’s the full national television and selection show schedule for the day, with all times Central, as always.
| Time (CT) | Game | Television |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 AM | Ivy League Final: Penn vs Yale | ESPN2 |
| Patriot League Final: Lehigh vs Holy Cross | CBS Sports Network | |
| NEC Final: Long Island vs Fairleigh Dickinson | ESPNU | |
| 12:00 PM | SEC Final: #22 Vanderbilt vs #17 Arkansas | ESPN |
| Atlantic 10 Final: Dayton vs VCU | CBS | |
| 1:00 PM | CAA Final: Hofstra vs Charleston | CBS Sports Network |
| Missouri Valley Final: Evansville vs Murray State | ESPN2 | |
| 2:15 PM | American Final: Wichita State vs South Florida | ESPN |
| 2:30 PM | Big Ten Final: #18 Purdue vs #3 Michigan | CBS |
| 5:00 PM | Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show | CBS |
| 6:00 PM | The Oscars | ABC |
| 7:00 PM | Women’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show | ESPN |
| 8:00 PM | WBIT Selection Show | ESPN+ |
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