by Max Goren
College basketball fans were treated to a loaded slate of games on Saturday, including battles between the top four overall seeds in Maxetology: Arizona won at Houston, and Duke took down Michigan in Washington DC. As a result of that “Duel in the District,” the Blue Devils take over as the new number one overall seed this week.
Teams in italics denote predicted automatic qualifiers.
Up/Down ↑/↓ arrows denote teams moving seed lines.
Asterisks denote teams new to the bracket.
Rising: Alabama, Saint Louis, NC State, Saint Mary’s, Georgia, Auburn, Texas A&M, UCLA
Falling: Vanderbilt, Villanova, Kentucky, Iowa, Clemson, Texas, Missouri, Indiana
New: New Mexico
Dropped: USC
Through games on February 22, 2026:
1 Seeds
1. Duke (#1 overall seed)
2. Michigan
3. Arizona
4. Houston
2 Seeds
5. UConn
6. Iowa State
7. Illinois
8. Purdue
3 Seeds
9. Florida
10. Gonzaga
11. Nebraska
12. Kansas
4 Seeds
13. Michigan State
14. UVA
15. Alabama ↑
16. Texas Tech
5 Seeds
17. Tennessee
18. Vanderbilt ↓
19.Arkansas
20. St. John’s
6 Seeds
21. BYU
22. Louisville
23. North Carolina
24. Saint Louis ↑
7 Seeds
25. Wisconsin
26. Utah St
27. Villanova ↓
28. NC State ↑
8 Seeds
29. Kentucky ↓
30. Saint Mary’s ↑
31. Miami-FL
32. Miami-OH
9 Seeds
33. SMU
34. Iowa ↓
35. UCF
36. Georgia ↑
10 Seeds
37. Clemson ↓↓
38. Auburn ↑
39. Texas A&M ↑
40. UCLA ↑
11 Seeds
41. Texas ↓
42. Missouri ↓
43. Santa Clara
44. Indiana ↓
45. New Mexico*
46. Ohio State (Last Team In)
12 Seeds
47. USF
48. Belmont
49. McNeese
50. Yale
13 Seeds
51. Liberty
52. High Point
53. Hawaii
54. UNC-Wilmington
14 Seeds
55. Cal-Baptist
56. St. Thomas
57. ETSU
58. Troy
15 Seeds
59. Austin Peay
60. Portland State
61. Wright State
62. Navy
16 Seeds
63. UT-Martin
64. Merrimack
65. LIU
66. Vermont
67. Bethune-Cookman
68. Howard
Bubble Watch
VCU (First Team Out)
USC
San Diego State
TCU
Virginia Tech
Seton Hall