2026 NCAA March Madness Notes: Final Four, Florida, Duke, Houston, Iowa State, Purdue

Some quick notes on the 2026 NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament.

• Arizona (1 seed), Michigan (1 seed), UConn (2 seed), and Illinois (3 seed) are heading to the Final Four. A lot of bracket pickers had Arizona and Michigan in their Final Four, but other popular picks like Florida (1 seed), Duke (1 seed), Houston (2 seed), Iowa State (2 seed), and Purdue (2 seed) fell short.
• Florida was 8.9 seconds away from beating Iowa in the second-round until Alvaro Folgueiras hit a huge three off a pass by Bennett Stirtz (full court pressed up two), Duke freshman point guard Cayden Boozer turned the ball over late in the Elite Eight which led to a game-winning three-pointer from UConn’s Braylon Mullins (were up 44-29 at halftime), Houston shot 34.4% from the field/28.1% behind the three-point line with two total free throws vs. Illinois at Toyota Center in the Sweet 16 (10-point loss), Iowa State’s star senior Joshua Jefferson sprained his left ankle 2 1/2 minutes into the first-round (lost 76-62 in Sweet 16 to Tennessee without Jefferson), and Purdue got outscored 48-26 in the 2nd half vs. Arizona during the Elite Eight (led by 7 at halftime).
• Definitely all unfortunate outcomes for those five teams, but Arizona, Michigan, UConn, and Illinois are respected programs that have made Final Fours in the past and proved they deserved to advance each game.