2026 College Basketball Crown
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| Season | 2025–26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 8 | ||||
| Finals site | T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada | ||||
| Champions | West Virginia (1st title) | ||||
| Runner-up | Oklahoma (1st title game) | ||||
| Semifinalists | |||||
| Winning coach | Ross Hodge (1st title) | ||||
| MVP | Honor Huff (West Virginia) | ||||
| Attendance | 10,642 (tournament) 3,109 (final) | ||||
| Top scorer | Honor Huff (West Virginia) (72 points) | ||||
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The 2026 College Basketball Crown (CBC) was a single-elimination, fully-bracketed men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams not selected to participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The tournament commenced on April 1 and concluded on April 5. [1]
All games were played on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, with the quarterfinal games at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the semifinal and final games at T-Mobile Arena. The quarterfinal games aired on FS1 with the semifinal and final games broadcast on FOX. [1]
The West Virginia University Mountaineers defeated the University of Oklahoma Sooners 89–82, in overtime, to claim the championship. The All-Tournament Team was composed of Cameron Carr (Baylor), Jasen Green (Creighton), Honor Huff (West Virginia), Brenan Lorient (West Virginia) and Nijel Pack (Oklahoma); Huff was also selected the Most Valuable Player.
Accepted bids
Automatic bids were offered to the top two available teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings from each of the Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 conferences as of the close of conference-tournament play on Selection Sunday, March 15, 2026. The remaining two teams in the bracket were at-large selections made by tournament organizers. [2]
The NET rankings of the available Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 teams through the finish of play on March 15, 2026, are summarized in the tables below. Teams in bold accepted a bid; teams in italics were extended an automatic bid but rejected it.
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The teams accepting tournament bids are shown below. Team records are prior to the start of the tournament, and NET rankings are as of March 16, 2026. [3]
| Team | Conference | Overall record |
NET rank [3] |
Bid type |
Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor | Big 12 | 16–16 (.500) | 50 | Automatic | 1st | Never |
| Colorado | Big 12 | 17–15 (.531) | 76 | At-large | 2nd | 2025 |
| Creighton | Big East | 15–17 (.469) | 83 | Automatic | 1st | Never |
| Minnesota | Big Ten | 15–17 (.469) | 81 | Automatic | 1st | Never |
| Oklahoma | Southeastern | 19–15 (.559) | 48 | At-large | 1st | Never |
| Rutgers | Big Ten | 14–19 (.424) | 134 | Automatic | 1st | Never |
| Stanford | Atlantic Coast | 20–12 (.625) | 61 | At-large | 1st | Never |
| West Virginia [4] | Big 12 | 18–14 (.563) | 59 | Automatic | 1st | Never |
NOTE: only one of the Big East's two automatic bids was accepted, necessitating the subsequent awarding of a third at-large bid.
Rejected bids
Schedule
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Box score |
Attendance | Television |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – April 1 | ||||||
| 1 | 5:00 p.m. | Oklahoma vs. Colorado | 90–86 OT | [8] | 2,276 | FS1 |
| 2 | 7:30 p.m. | Baylor vs. Minnesota | 67–48 | [9] | ||
| Quarterfinals – April 2 | ||||||
| 3 | 5:00 p.m. | Stanford vs. West Virginia | 77–82 OT | [10] | 2,310 | FS1 |
| 4 | 7:30 p.m. | Rutgers vs. Creighton | 69–82 | [11] | ||
| Semifinals – April 4 | ||||||
| 5 | 10:30 a.m. | Oklahoma vs. Baylor | 82–69 | [12] | 2,947 | FOX |
| 6 | 1:00 p.m. | West Virginia vs. Creighton | 87–70 | [13] | ||
| Final – April 5 | ||||||
| 7 | 2:30 p.m. | Oklahoma vs. West Virginia | 82–89 OT | [14] | 3,109 | FOX |
| Game times are Pacific Daylight Time. | ||||||
Bracket
Source: [15]
| Quarterfinals MGM Grand Garden Arena April 1 & 2 FS1 | Semifinals T-Mobile Arena April 4 FOX | Final T-Mobile Arena April 5 FOX | |||||||||
| Oklahoma | 90 | ||||||||||
| Colorado | 86 OT | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma | 82 | ||||||||||
| Baylor | 69 | ||||||||||
| Baylor | 67 | ||||||||||
| Minnesota | 48 | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma | 82 OT | ||||||||||
| West Virginia | 89 | ||||||||||
| Stanford | 77 OT | ||||||||||
| West Virginia | 82 | ||||||||||
| West Virginia | 87 | ||||||||||
| Creighton | 70 | ||||||||||
| Rutgers | 69 | ||||||||||
| Creighton | 82 | ||||||||||