March Madness 2026 live bracket updates: Follow men’s NCAA tournament action on Thursday

TCU was a 2.5-point underdog in this one and the over/under was set at 145 at BetMGM. Here are our best bets for every first-round game.

The Buckeyes have started just 1-of-6 from the field while TCU’s Brock Harding has five points at the first TV timeout.

We are at the first media timeout and it’s been a pretty even start for both teams. TCU’s Brock Harding has 5 points in the early going and the Horned Frogs are out in front.

We have tipped in the first Round of 64 game between No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 TCU!

Charles Barkley just called this year’s freshman class the ‘best class ever’ and it’s hard to disagree when you look at all the future NBA talent that’ll be taking the court this weekend.

Read all about them here from Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor.

We are T-minus 10 minutes from tip-off!

You’ve called out sick from work. You’ve filled out 17 different brackets. You’ve ordered enough pizzas and chicken wings to feed an NFL offensive line. That can only mean one thing: The best two days of the sporting calendar have finally arrived.

Over the course of 48 action-packed hours on Thursday and Friday, CBS and Turner Sports will televise 32 first-round NCAA men’s tournament games.

Which ones are must-see and which you can afford to click away from? We’ve got you covered right here.

Click the photo above the read the story.

After months of waiting, March Madness is finally here.

What can we expect over the next three weeks? Our experts weigh in with their predictions for which No. 1 seeds are the most vulnerable, which teams are the best Cinderella picks, Final Four teams, national championship winners and more.

Click on the photo above or right here to read all of our predictions.

Even though we are coming off last year’s tournament where the entire Final Four was made up of No. 1 seeds, there’s no reason to think that has to happen again this spring. In fact, there are plenty of legitimate dark-horse candidates capable of making a deep run.

Here’s one from each region, courtesy of Ryan Young.

Need help filling out your 2026 men’s NCAA tournament bracket? We have you covered — with some help from Claude.

We ran the bracket through an AI prompt and asked it to simulate the outcome of each game. Compare the AI picks to your own or those of your favorite college basketball analyst.

We hope you like chalk. Claude went light on upsets.

If you’re still cramming for the test, we broke down each region in depth to provide Cinderellas, players to watch and predictions for each region.

Check it out right here.

Click the photo above to read the story. (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports)

We are now just one hour away from the tip of the first game between No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 TCU.

If you’re looking for a crash course to fill out your bracket before it locks, we’ve got you covered. Just click on the photo above or right here for predictions, Cinderellas, region-by-region breakdowns and more.

If you’re somebody who likes knowing what everybody else is doing (so you can follow suit, or zag), here are some interesting notes from the Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem game:

Top 10 Most Common Final Four Teams:

Top 5 Most Common Double-Digit Seeds in Final Four:

Read more from Ryan Young right here.

It’s possible the NIL era has turned the tournament into a favorite-friendly event, where the difference between the higher-payroll schools and the lower-payroll schools is significant. Consider that last March, all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four, and there was only one double-digit team (Arkansas, a 10 seed) that survived the first weekend.

One set of results is not definitive proof of anything, of course. So here are some Cinderellas (of varying longshot depth) who have a chance to outkick their expectations and last longer than the odds initially suggest.

Read more from Scott Pianowski here.

Who will be cutting down the nets in Indianapolis in early April? (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports)

Michigan, Duke and Arizona lead our annual 1-68 ranking of national championship contenders — grouped into eight tiers and ordered from most to least likely to snip the nets in Indianapolis on the first Monday in April.

Here’s the full list, including their tournament seed and first-round opponent, and let’s all hope we get at least a little of the usual NCAA tournament mayhem.

Although changes to the college basketball landscape have made things easier for the chalk in recent years, it doesn’t mean the higher seeds are auto-picks to win games over the next three weeks.

We always have to be mindful of high-profile schools that might be ripe for picking off, and today we’ll discuss four signature programs (hitting on a 1, 2, 3 and 4 seed) that could fit that profile.

Here are four seeds who could melt down early and bust brackets.

Since we’re running out of time, Scott Pianowski put together some last-minute tips to help you fill out your bracket.

— Your late-round picks are usually most important
— If a major favorite wins it all, early-round picks are more important
— Let the points spread be your guide
—Your contest might have discernible biases
—Remember, college basketball is a coach’s game

Click here for Scott’s final thoughts on filling out a bracket.

If you’re new here, the Yahoo bracket game ‘locks’ at the tip of the first game, which is at 12:15 p.m. ET.

So you only have a couple hours left to fill out your bracket and make sure you like your picks. Click the link below to do that.

Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Make your picks for $50K in total prizes

Good morning and welcome to our live tracker for Day 1 of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament!

We made it.