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The Arizona Wildcats enter the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket as a No. 1 seed and one of the top contenders to cut down the nets in Indianapolis. They opened the season with 23 consecutive wins and notched victories over Florida, UConn, Alabama, Houston and Kansas. Arizona has not won a national title since 1997 or made the Final Four since 2001. How far should you advance the Wildcats with your 2026 NCAA Tournament picks?

Duke is the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance, while Michigan and Florida are the other top seeds in the 2026 March Madness bracket. The Gators are the defending national champions and closed the regular season on an 11-game winning streak, making them one of the popular 2026 March Madness picks as well. Before making any 2026 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Their proven projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 91 percent of all CBS Sports brackets in four of the past seven tournaments. It was all over UConn's championship run two years ago and nailed 12 teams in the Sweet 16 last year. It also correctly predicted all four Final Four teams in 2025.

It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 25 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016.

Now, with the 2026 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.

Three 2026 March Madness bracket games to watch

One of the most intriguing 2026 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 TCU in the East region. The Buckeyes were riding a four-game winning streak before losing a close game against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. Their win total has increased in three straight seasons under head coach Jake Diebler, and they averaged 79.8 points per game. TCU is back in the Big Dance for the fourth time in five seasons after winning 22 games this season, and head coach Jamie Dixon is in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in his career.

Another 2026 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 UCF in the East Region. Mick Cronin has been a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament since his days at Murray State and he'll make his 16th appearance in March Madness as a head coach after leading UCLA to a 23-11 campaign. Meanwhile, Johnny Dawkins guided UCF to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019 with a 20-11 season that included high-profile wins over Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech and BYU. They'll tip off at 7:25 p.m. ET on Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

Another 2026 March Madness game to watch out for: No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 11 South Florida in the East Region. Every NCAA Tournament since 2005 has seen an 11-seed defeat a 6-seed, including four such instances over the last two years. USF has experience, with six of its top seven scorers being upperclassmen, and no team in the nation made or attempted more free throws than the Bulls. As for the Cardinals, the length of their tourney stay may be dependent on the status of star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. He missed the ACC tourney, and Louisville is 16-5 with him compared to 7-5 without him. You can only see the model's 2026 NCAA bracket picks here.

How to make 2026 NCAA bracket predictions

Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model's track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you'll want to see which stunners it's calling this year before locking in any 2026 NCAA bracket picks.

So what's the optimal NCAA Tournament 2026 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that called all four Final Four teams in 2025.