ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updates bracketology projection for 2026 NCAA Tournament
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ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi revealed new projections on Tuesday morning for the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with a deep SEC flavor surrounding a March Madness that will be here before you know it.
It might be College Football Playoff time right now, but college basketball is in full swing, and Lunardi gave fans some new projections to pour over in early December. For LSU fans, it might be a treacherous path to the NCAA Tournament, according to Lunardi, who on Tuesday had the Tigers as 1 of his First Four Out.
That wasn’t the only SEC team that might be sweating things out, according to Lunardi, who also had another Tigers from the SEC, the Mizzou version, as 1 of his First Four Out. Oklahoma is yet another SEC team that might be walking the tightrope to a possible NCAA bid, with Lunardi having the Sooners as 1 of his Next Four Out.
While those SEC squads are on the bubble, at least right now with plenty of basketball still to be played, Lunardi has a bevy of SEC teams safely in the NCAA Tournament. Like, for instance, Georgia, which is in the middle of football frenzy right now in Athens but could have something to really cheer about in March, according to Lunardi. He has the basketball Bulldogs seeded 8th in the East Region and playing Wisconsin in their first-round game.
What about Alabama? Well, Lunardi has Nate Oats’s team seeded 3rd right now in the Midwest Region and playing Northern Colorado in the first round.
Among the other SEC teams Lunardi has in the tournament is, of course, defending national champion Florida, who he sees right now as the No. 5 seed in the West Region.
This is all for fun right now, in early December, for these SEC hopefuls, but it’ll start to get very serious very soon, as teams jockey for position to try to squeeze their way into the NCAA Tournament.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
