Our Selection Committee has completed its initial phase of selecting the NCAA Tournament for 2026; each of our Committee members have submitted 2 lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list is our first ballot of up to 24 teams; teams that were selected on all but two lists were added to our At-Large tournament board. These teams (along with the first 15 autobid winners) are now in our initial NCAA Tournament field.
The second list is for teams Under Consideration; teams that got a minimum of 3 votes from our Committee were added to this group and will be among the group of teams that can also qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
This is what our initial board looks like:
22 teams made the initial at-large list; 35 teams were added to the Under Consideration board. All of the regular season champions were automatically added to Under Consideration, although it is likely they will be moved off of that list during our meeting tonight.
However, our first order of business will be to name our 2026 Centenary and Stallings Award winners; they will remain Under Consideration for the duration of our Committee’s meetings. We will then begin the process of debate and votes for the remainder of the at-large field; it is expected that we will add anywhere from 8 to 12 teams into the group highlighted in green. Stay tuned for later tonight when we recap the proceedings of tonight’s meeting!
The 2026 Hoops HD Selection Committee – Initial Board
Our Selection Committee has completed its initial phase of selecting the NCAA Tournament for 2026; each of our Committee members have submitted 2 lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list is our first ballot of up to 24 teams; teams that were selected on all but two lists were added to our At-Large tournament board. These teams (along with the first 15 autobid winners) are now in our initial NCAA Tournament field.
The second list is for teams Under Consideration; teams that got a minimum of 3 votes from our Committee were added to this group and will be among the group of teams that can also qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
This is what our initial board looks like:
22 teams made the initial at-large list; 35 teams were added to the Under Consideration board. All of the regular season champions were automatically added to Under Consideration, although it is likely they will be moved off of that list during our meeting tonight.
However, our first order of business will be to name our 2026 Centenary and Stallings Award winners; they will remain Under Consideration for the duration of our Committee’s meetings. We will then begin the process of debate and votes for the remainder of the at-large field; it is expected that we will add anywhere from 8 to 12 teams into the group highlighted in green. Stay tuned for later tonight when we recap the proceedings of tonight’s meeting!