Does first 2026 NCAA Tournament ‘bracketology’ include KU, Missouri, KSU, WSU?
For Kansas and Missouri, ESPN.com’s first NCAA Tournament “bracketology” of the 2025-26 men’s college basketball preseason closely resembles the rivals’ assigned path to the Final Four last March.
Kansas, which, as a No. 7 seed fell to 10 seed Arkansas in a first-round 2025 NCAA Tourney West Regional contest in Providence, Rhode Island, currently projects as an identical 7 seed in the 2026 West Regional, according to analyst Joe Lunardi.
Missouri, a No. 6 seed and first-round loser to No. 11 seed Drake in a 2025 NCAA West Regional game in Wichita, has once again been projected to land a familiar No. 6 seed, this time in the Midwest Regional.
To be specific, Lunardi has KU meeting No. 10 seed Miami in a first-round clash in Buffalo, New York. A victory would propel the Jayhawks into a second-round contest against No. 2 seed Michigan or No. 15 Youngstown State.
Lunardi has matched Mizzou against No. 11 seed San Diego State in a first round battle in Oklahoma City. A victory would mean a second-round match against either No. 3 Iowa State or No. 14 South Dakota State.
Kansas State, Wichita State and UMKC, as in 2025, will not receive bids in the 2026 postseason event, according to Lunardi at this early date.
Houston has emerged as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional according to Lunardi with Southeast Missouri State as the Cougars’ first-round foe in Oklahoma City. The West Regional feeds into the Sweet 16/Elite Eight rounds in San Jose, California.
Purdue is projected as top seed in the Midwest Regional (Chicago). Duke is No. 1 seed in the East Regional (Washington, D.C.) and St. John’s No. 1 seed in the South Regional (Houston).
Eight Big 12 teams are considered tourney-worthy at this early date according to Lunardi: KU, Iowa State, Houston, BYU (No. 2 South Regional), Texas Tech (No. 5, East Regional), Baylor (No. 9 East Regional), Arizona (No. 3 East Regional) and Cincinnati (No. 8, South Regional).
Purdue is Lunardi’s overall No. 1 seed.
“For all the talk about bad losses in March, Purdue has been remarkably consistent: The Boilermakers have never been worse than a 5-seed since the 2015-16 season, have reached at least the second weekend in six of the nine tournaments over that span and, despite the ignominy of falling as a 1-seed in 2023, came back with another top seed in 2024 later to emerge as the best team in the country not named UConn,” wrote Lunardi.
“The lottery picks are generally not ending up in West Lafayette. And Matt Painter’s best player in recent history, Zach Edey, wasn’t good enough to start as a freshman. But Painter has done a remarkable job in retention and player development. Purdue is excelling as an old-school college basketball team in a new wave era. Its reward could be a preseason No. 1 ranking for 2025-26. Having been built largely from the ground up, the Boilermakers seem likely to hold the top spot of our forecasted bracket for the foreseeable future.”
Lunardi’s next updated bracketology will be released May 20.
KU checks in at No. 18 in ESPN’s current preseason top 25. Missouri, K-State, Wichita State and UMKC are not ranked.
Big 12 teams ranked ahead of KU at this time: Houston (No. 2), Texas Tech (4), BYU (7), Arizona (12) and Iowa State (13).
Of KU, ESPN.com analyst Jeff Borzello wrote: “Bill Self received a huge boost for next season during Final Four weekend, when Flory Bidunga withdrew from the transfer portal and announced he was returning to the Jayhawks. He should form one of the best inside-outside duos in the country with Darryn Peterson, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
“But Kansas still needs much more. The Jayhawks have landed a trio of potential wing starters in Tre White (Illinois), Melvin Council Jr. (St. Bonaventure) and Jayden Dawson (Loyola Chicago), and are targeting transfers like Darrion Williams (Texas Tech).
KU currently has four scholarships left to award in recruiting.
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Does first 2026 NCAA Tournament ‘bracketology’ include KU, Missouri, KSU, WSU?."
