Men’s March Madness 2026: Final four team standings

The remaining four teams were viewed as fringe contenders for the men’s national title before the season – but only if everything comes together. There were no guarantees. Only UConn was ranked in the top four in the AP preseason poll. Michigan ranked seventh, Arizona 13th and Illinois 17th.

However, they are all on their way to Indianapolis because they have proven themselves to be the best in a given category during their NCAA Tournament runs.

If this had been an awards ceremony, Arizona would have won the honor of most balanced team. The Wildcats are top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency. In Saturday’s Elite Eight win over Purdue, eight Wildcats scored.

Michigan will win the award for best defense. Led by a frontcourt that features three 6-foot-9 players and a 7-3 center, the Wolverines are first in adjusted defensive efficiency. In Sunday’s Elite Eight win over Tennessee, they outscored the Vols by 23 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Illinois will receive the award for best offensive engine. The Illini have been No. 1 in adjusted offensive efficiency for the better part of the season. They have made 59% of their shots inside the arc since March 1.

Connecticut will receive the Coach of the Year award. At one point in the first half of Illinois’ Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday, Dan Hurley’s Huskies missed 13 of 15 shots. However, they rallied on the second goal, giving Hurley a chance to make history as the first coach since John Wooden to win three national titles in four years.

Every team that made it to the final weekend of the season had to fight to get there. There is no debate about that. They all deserve this shot in history.

All times Eastern

1. Michigan Wolverines
Original seed: No. 1 (Midwest)
Tournament results: Def. and No. 16 Howard 101-80 (first round); Def. No. 9 St. Louis 95-72 (round of 32); Def. No. 4 Alabama 90-77 (Sweet 16); Def. No. 6 Tennessee 95-62 (Elite Eight)

The Wolverines believe they can be the best team in program history, but they’ll have to win Saturday over Arizona to make an argument, because they have some serious competition:

• At the top of the list is the 1988-89 team that won the school’s only national championship. This group was led by future NBA star Glen Rice.

• Then there is the 1964-65 team that lost in the national title game. This team included Cazzie Russell, widely regarded as the greatest player in school history.

• The 1975-76 team included All-American Ricky Green and three other future NBA players when they lost in the national title game.

• And of course, there are the Fab Five teams that reached the national championship games in 1992 and 1993. And those two groups had three future NBA standouts — Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, and Jalen Rose — leading the way.

• Trey Burke was National Player of the Year when he led Michigan to the national title game in 2013.

But this 2026 group includes Yaxel Lendeborg, who finished with 27 points and seven rebounds in Sunday’s Elite Eight win over Tennessee and is one of three NBA prospects on the roster. These Wolverines have the talent to win it all.

Dusty May is also putting together perhaps the greatest coaching effort in school history. Other popular Michigan teams have had plenty of time to build those rosters. Maye didn’t even know, last March, who he would play with that season — four of his starters were at other schools at the time. But in less than a year, his team reached the Final Four. So, yes, this team is one of Michigan’s greatest, and May, who also reached the Final Four for the second time in four years after leading Florida Atlantic there in 2023, could one day be considered one of Michigan’s greatest coaches.

the next: vs. Arizona (Saturday, after Illinois-UConn, TBS/truTV/HBO Max)

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Brayden Burries’ loud play punctuates Arizona’s Elite Eight win

Brayden Burries dives down the floor and passes the ball to Ivan Kharchenkov for a layup to help send the Wildcats to the Final Four.

2. Arizona Wildcats
Original seed: No. 1 (West)
Tournament results: Def. No. 16 Long Island 92-58 (1st round); Def. #9 Utah State 78-66 (round of 32); Def. No. 4 Arkansas 109-88 (Sweet 16); Def. No. 2 Purdue 79-64 (Elite Eight)

Arizona’s dominance under coach Tommy Lloyd, whose performance this season won’t quiet North Carolina’s coaching rumors, may be best discussed by looking at what he left behind at Gonzaga.

Lloyd was Mark Few’s top assistant when the Zags went to the Final Four in 2021. Not only did they turn Gonzaga into a respectable powerhouse, they made the Bulldogs the preeminent program of the West Coast. Lloyd has now snatched that title from his former mentor, with these Wildcats.

Over the past five years, a few have won 143 games. In that same period, Arizona has won 148 — and counting — under Lloyd.

How did he do that? Not so with 3-point shooting: Just 26.4% of the team’s field goal attempts this season have been from deep — 363rd out of 365 teams. Lloyd is old school. He has assembled a team loaded with talent, including projected first-round picks Motijus Krevas, Brayden Burris and Koa Pete. The Big 12 Player of the Year was awarded to Jaden Bradley. He also has a support staff that no other team remaining in this tournament can match.

Lloyd’s philosophy is simple. The Wildcats play great defense. They entered Sunday ranked No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency, daring their opponents to beat them. Lloyd believes his top eight players are better than any opponent’s top eight players, regardless of their style of play. This is how he believes his team can win. And so far he was right.

the next: vs. Michigan (Saturday, after Illinois-UConn, TBS/truTV/HBO Max)

3. UConn Huskies
Original seed: No. 2 (East)
Tournament results: Def. No. 15 Furman 82-71 (first round); Def. No. 7 UCLA 73-57 (round of 32); Def. No. 3 Michigan State 67-63 (Sweet 16); Def. No. 1 Duke 73-72 (Elite 8)

Huskies coach Dan Hurley may build a statue of Alex Karapan — who hit a 3-pointer that cut UConn’s lead to one, then provided an assist on Braylon Mullins’ game-winning 3 in Sunday’s Elite Eight win over Duke — if the school doesn’t. Karaban guarded Cameron Boozer throughout Sunday’s game, and Tarris Reed Jr. dominated the paint as the Huskies, who were down by as many as 19 points, came back in the final seconds.

It’s no secret that Hurley doesn’t have a roster that can match the talent of other teams on the field. Michigan has three projected first-round picks, all of whom are Giants. Arizona has more depth than anyone else and also has three projected first-round picks. Illinois’ youngest starter is 6-2 Kellan Boswell, while 6-5 guard Keaton Wagler may be the best player left on the field.

Although Hurley has turned to the transfer portal over the past couple of years to build his rosters, he has rare consistency at this point. Three of the Huskies’ starters have played at least two years in Hurley’s system. Illinois is the only other team in the Final Four that can make the same claim. The difference is that no other team in Indianapolis has a player with Karapan’s experience winning at the highest level (he’s a holdover from UConn teams that won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024). Against Duke on Sunday, the Huskies may not have been the most talented group, but their experience gave them an advantage against a team full of freshmen who seemed to fall apart when they blew a big lead.

Karapan, who averaged 22 points in his first three NCAA Tournament games, wasn’t great in the Elite Eight. But it didn’t have to be that way. His contribution was the calmness that comes from playing in a set of games like this. In Indianapolis, he’ll be in a league of his own.

the next: vs. Illinois (Saturday, 6:09 p.m., TBS/truTV/HBO Max)

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Andrej Stojakovic’s late and-1 helps send Illinois to the Final Four

Andrej Stojakovic drives into the paint and scores a bucket and-1 as Illinois beats Iowa to reach the Final Four for the first time in 21 years.

4. Illinois Fighting Illini
Original seed: No. 3 (South)
Tournament results: Def. No. 14 Penn 105-70 (first round); Def. No. 11 VCU 76-55 (round of 32); Def. No. 2 Houston 65-55 (Sweet 16); Def. No. 9 Iowa 71-59 (Elite Eight)

Illinois coach Brad Underwood’s roster includes players from five different countries: Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece and the United States. The international flavor has been all the hype this season, along with Underwood’s discovery of freshman Keaton Wagler, who did not receive a scholarship offer from his alma mater Kansas State but is now seeking the 10th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft after a surprise season. Tomislav Ivecic is a 7-foot-1 force in the paint. Andrej Stojakovic is a two-way threat who helped corral Iowa star Bennett Sturtz in Saturday’s Elite Eight win. David Mirkovic is a 6-9 forward who shoots 40% from 3 in the league.

You would think that Underwood’s success with international players would encourage the idea that any coach can go to Europe and recruit elite talent. right?

mistake. Coaches can’t go into a gym in Europe full of elite players and recruit them. Scouring the international scene for talent is daunting. And that’s only half the battle because Underwood’s real strength doesn’t lie in his talent for identifying global stars. Rather, it is his ability to know where these players fit in his system. He has built a group that has had the best offense in America for most of this season and has also played a top-25 defense over the past month. Illinois’ wins over Houston and Iowa in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament were a byproduct of the size the Illini used to protect the rim, as well as the pressure they put on opposing backcourts.

Illinois is an unselfish team full of role players who are put in the right positions by Underwood. He knows himself, and he knows his system. Above all, he knows the players he needs to succeed.

the next: vs. UConn (Saturday, 6:09 p.m., TBS/truTV/HBO Max)