The first round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is getting underway on Thursday afternoon.
We'll get 16 first round NCAA Tournament games on Thursday and 16 more on Friday, followed by eight second round games on Saturday and eight more on Sunday. It's the best sports weekend of the year, right?
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, everyone is filling out their March Madness brackets. But who should you pick to win?
ESPN polled 25 coaches and scouts across the country.
"In 2025, the tier break between the favorites and everyone else resulted in all four 1-seeds reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2008. Will that happen again?" ESPN's Jeff Borzello wrote.
"A repeat of that is statistically unlikely, but those four teams -- the top four at KenPom, Bart Torvik and in the NET with the most Quadrant 1 wins in the country -- were the only ones to receive multiple votes to win the national championship in our annual poll of 25 coaches and scouts."
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One team received 12 out of 25 votes from coaches and scouts to win the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
But it's not No. 1 overall seed Duke, a popular NCAA Tournament title pick. Instead, it's West Region No. 1 seed Arizona.
The breakdown:
- Arizona: 12
- Duke: 5
- Michigan: 3
- Florida: 2
- Houston: 1
- Purdue: 1
- UConn: 1
Arizona is considered the favorite by the coaches
The Wildcats are the team to beat in the minds of the coaching community.
"When you play Arizona, you have to be ready for a heavyweight fight," one coach said. "They're so big, so physical, so strong at every position. ... There's no softness to them. There's no quit in them. They just keep their heads down and keep playing. It's like an old-school bully. When it's over, they've just physically ripped you."
"I just think they have all the components," another coach added. "They have experience and leadership. Bradley has been to a Final Four. Brayden Burries is a top-20 pick. And they've got pros out there. They have a way to win that's a little bit different, a little unconventional, but they've really bought into that. On a one-day prep, with the physicality they play with, I think that's going to help them a lot."
No. 1 seed Arizona will begin play on Friday against No. 16 LIU at 1:35 p.m. E.T.
