March Madness 2026 Bracketology: Houston, Florida Climb in NCAA Tournament Race

According to USA TODAY, defending national champion Florida and runner-up Houston are rising. The most recent bracketology update for men’s basketball from Sports.

The Gators are now a No. 3 seed and just a half-game from the top spot in the SEC after a slow start that featured nonconference losses to Arizona, TCU, Duke, and Connecticut.

Florida now has a total of 10 Quad 1 and 2 wins and has only lost twice in almost two months. The Gators defeated Alabama 100-77 on Sunday, shooting 51.3% from the field and had a plus-16 turnover advantage.

Houston, meanwhile, moves up to the No. 2 line after defeating TCU and Cincinnati to bounce back from a road loss to Texas Tech.

The Cougars will play a difficult Big 12 road schedule in the near future, including trips to Kansas, Iowa State, and Brigham Young, after only playing four real away games thus far.

Notable fallers in the bracket include No. 6 seed Arkansas, which slips a line after losing at home to Kentucky, and No. 3 seed Nebraska, which has lately lost high-profile conference games against Michigan and Illinois.

March Madness bracketology update for NCAA tournament

March Madness Last four in

UCLA, New Mexico, Ohio State, Santa Clara.

March Madness First four out

Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech, Seton Hall, Missouri.

NCAA tournament bids conference breakdown

Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (11), SEC (10), ACC (7) Big 12 (7), Big East (3), Mountain West (3), West Coast (3).