What this is: a projected 76-team NCAA Tournament field (32 automatic bids + 44 at-large),
built from two real metrics the committee itself cites — NCAA NET rankings (the "primary
sorting tool," including Quadrant 1-4 records and road/neutral/home splits) and WAB, Wins Above
Bubble (a separate NCAA.com metric measuring wins against schedule relative to a hypothetical
bubble team) — plus each conference's current standings. Where NET and WAB disagree by a
wide margin on a bubble team, that's flagged inline, since that gap is exactly the kind of thing
real bracketologists point to when arguing a case either way. Sorting is by NET rank (its official
role); WAB, quadrant records, and location splits are shown alongside for your own read, the way an
actual committee "team sheet" presents multiple metrics rather than one blended score. Not
included: KenPom, ESPN's BPI/SOR, and KPI — those are either paywalled or not reliably
scrapable, and Bart Torvik's site has bot-detection that blocks automated fetches. This is a
genuine, real-data computation, not a placeholder — but treat it as a rough cut, not a full
bracketologist's projection: there's no explicit non-conference-SOS number, and none of the human
judgment (bid thieves, eye test, injuries) the real committee applies. "Auto bid" here means
today's conference standings leader, not a conference tournament champion, since actual
tournament results aren't tracked (by design — see the conference view for why). Per the
NCAA's own Opening Round rule, the lowest-seeded 12 at-large teams land on seed lines 11-12 and
the lowest-seeded 12 automatic qualifiers land on seed lines 15-16 (weak at-large teams are
simply much better than weak small-conference auto bids, so they sit on better lines even in the
Opening Round) — every region doubles up at lines 12 and 16, and two of the four regions
additionally double at 11 or 15.
NET data not loaded yet.
Field of 76 Bracket
Ranks are the lowest-12-per-bid-type Opening Round rule shown in the NCAA's own bracket
(at-large Opening Round teams on seed lines 11-12, automatic-qualifier Opening Round teams on
seed lines 15-16). Which 2 of the 4 regions get the extra 11-seed vs. 15-seed pairing is my own
simplification (regions 1-2 double at 11, regions 3-4 double at 15) rather than officially
confirmed region-by-region. Regions are numbered, not named (the committee assigns real region
names/host sites later), and built with standard snake seeding so overall strength stays
balanced across all four. Stops at the Regional Final since which regions meet in the Final
Four is set by the committee, not something to project from a rank list.
Glossary
- NET
- NCAA Evaluation Tool. The Selection Committee's official "primary sorting
tool" since 2018 (replaced the old RPI). Blends a results-based Team Value Index with
schedule-adjusted net efficiency into one rank per team.
- WAB
- Wins Above Bubble. Compares a team's actual win total to how many wins a
hypothetical "bubble team" (defined as roughly NET #45) would be expected to get against
that same schedule. A team well above 0 is outperforming the bubble; well below 0 is
underperforming it.
- Quad 1-4 (Quadrants)
- Every game is bucketed by opponent strength and location.
Quad 1 is the toughest (e.g. a home win over a top-30 NET team, or a road win over a
top-75 team); Quad 4 is the easiest. Quad 1/2 wins build a resume; Quad 3/4 losses hurt it
badly.
- SOS (Strength of Schedule)
- How difficult a team's opponents were, overall and in
non-conference play specifically. Not currently computed as a standalone number in this
tool (no reliable free source was found for it as a clean per-team table) — it's
partially reflected in NET/Quadrant placement, since those are themselves opponent- and
location-adjusted.
- Auto Bid (Automatic Bid)
- The guaranteed tournament spot each of the 32
conferences gets, normally awarded to that conference's tournament champion. In this tool,
"auto bid" means today's regular-season standings leader instead, since actual conference
tournament results aren't tracked here (see the Conferences tab for why).
- At-Large Bid
- One of the 44 remaining spots, awarded by the Selection Committee to
the best teams that didn't win their conference's automatic bid.
- Bubble
- The teams clustered right around the at-large cutoff line, whose inclusion
is genuinely uncertain either way.
- Last Four Byes
- The last four at-large teams good enough to skip the Opening Round
entirely and go straight into the Round of 64.
- Last Four In
- The last four teams to make the at-large field at all (they'd play
in the Opening Round).
- First Four Out / Next Four Out
- The next teams just outside the field, in order of
how close they came.
- Opening Round
- New for 2026-27 (replaces the old "First Four"): 24 teams (the
lowest-seeded 12 at-large teams + the lowest-seeded 12 automatic qualifiers) play 12 games;
the 12 winners join the other 52 teams to complete the 64-team bracket.
- Seed Line
- A team's rank (1-16) within its region. Two seed lines meeting in the
Round of 64 always sum to 17 (1v16, 2v15, 3v14, etc.) under standard bracket seeding.
- S-Curve / Snake Seeding
- The method used to assign teams to regions so overall
strength stays balanced — the best team goes to region A, next-best to B, then C,
then D, then the order reverses (D, C, B, A) for the next four, and so on.