The South and West side of the bracket was set for the 2026 March Madness Tournament and there were very high expectations for these regions. The top contenders for the championship in these regions were Florida, Michigan, Houston, and Iowa St. The University of Florida won the tournament in 2025 and are looking to continue the streak. This will not be easy as only eight teams have done it in the history of the tournament with the most recent being UConn from 2023-2024. Another team that had high hopes looking to upset a few teams was Miami (Ohio). Overall, the only upsets in this round for these regions were VCU upsetting North Carolina, and Texas upsetting BYU. Fans make brackets every year to see if they will have a perfect bracket the whole way through. Overall, there were no crazy surprises in round one and after this round there were just 10,754 perfect brackates remaining.
Stay tuned for updates and a recap of the Round of 32!
South Side
#1 Florida Def. #16 Prairie View A&M. 114-55
#2 Houston. Def. #15 Idaho 78-47
#3 Illinois Def. #14 PENN. 105-70
#4 Nebraska Def. #13 Troy 76-47
#5 Vanderbilt Def. #12 McNeese 78-68
#11 VCU Def. #6 North Carolina 82-78
#10 Texas A&M Def. #7 Saint Mary’s 63-50
#9 Iowa Def. #8 Clemson 67-61
West Side
#1 Arizona Def. #16 Long Island 92-58
#2 Purdue Def.#15 Queens (N.C) 104-71
#3 Gonzaga Def. #14 Kennesaw St. 73-64
#4 Arkansas Def. #13 Hawaii 97-78
#12 Wisconsin Def. #5 High point 83-82
#11 Texas Def. #6 BYU 79-71
#7 Miami (FL) Def #10 Missouri 80-66
