In advance of last season, six different people who type words about college basketball for CBS Sports were asked to predict the winner of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Regardless of whether things were actually that wide-open or not, the fact that six different schools could reasonably be picked suggests it felt that way at the time. But this time around the replies were much more focused.
Nobody else got a so-called first-place vote. If we're right, that means either Florida's Todd Golden is about to win his second national championship and basically solidify a spot in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame or Duke's Jon Scheyer is about to get his first after winning a record 124 games in his first four years as a head coach. Full Final Four predictions from our experts are below.
George Mason, FAU, Loyola Chicago and Butler are among the true mid-majors that have advanced to a Final Four this century. Add it up, and five mid-majors made the Final Four from 2006 to 2013. That's five in an eight-year span.
Based on where things are headed, I believe those days are over. So my bold prediction is that not only will zero mid-majors make the 2027 Final Four, I'm ready to suggest we won't see one again for the next decade. The gap between the haves and have-nots is just too big now to think a team built on a mid-major budget, a budget that is probably overwhelmed by nearly power-conference team in the bracket, if not every power-conference team in the bracket, can really win four games over a two-week span against that kind of competition. — Gary Parrish It will be 6-foot-5 Arizona wing Caleb Holt, who I expect to average better than 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals for the Wildcats this season.
But it will be his defensive prowess will be what gets Holt past the likes of Stokes (Kansas), Jordan Smith Jr. (Arkansas), Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje (Duke), Jason Crowe Jr. (Missouri) and Bruce Branch III (BYU). My prediction also factors in Arizona beating out Kansas for the Big 12 title, which could tilt some of the accolades in his honor. Boumtje Boumtje's ceiling is crazy-high, but he's got the most talent around him; he'll be the preseason NPOY favorite 12 months from now.
Holt is going to be incredible and narrowly win out in what I think will be a fabulous marathon for the nation's top frosh. — Matt Norlander Auburn nearly crashed the party last season after arriving at Selection Sunday with a 17-16 record. This time around, someone with a similar record will make the field from the SEC. The NCAA Tournament's expansion from 68 to 76 teams almost guarantees it.
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