Power conferences asserting their will. Big Ten domination. Long droughts ended. And the reigning national champion going down.
Those are some of the storylines as the 2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament heads to the Sweet 16 this week and the road to the Final Four marches on.
The biggest March Madness upset from the opening weekend came when top-seeded Florida lost to ninth-seeded Iowa in a second-round stunner out of the South Region.
The SEC champion Gators were the only No. 1 seed not to make it into the Sweet 16, while the Hawkeyes became the record sixth Big Ten team to reach this stage.
Iowa is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 just as St. John’s is in the East Region. Nebraska, the Hawkeyes’ opponent in the Sweet 16, not only won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game last week but then followed it up with a second victory on a last-second basket to punch its ticket into the regional semifinals for the first time.
The 2026 tournament, however, is void of any mid-major school in the Sweet 16. All of the remaining teams come from a Power 5 Conference with one double-digit seed – Texas out of the SEC and the First Four round – left in the bracket.
Here’s what to know about the March Madness Sweet 16 teams, the updated bracket, schedule, start times and more for the NCAA Tournament:
March Madness Sweet 16 teams
Three No. 1s, four No. 2s, two No. 3s, three No. 4s, one No. 5, one No. 6, one No. 9 and one No. 11 make up the Sweet 16:
When are the next March Madness games?
After four days of basketball in the men’s tournament for the first- and second-rounds, there are a few days off before the Sweet 16 games.
The Sweet 16 begins on Thursday, March 26, with four games, two in each of the West and South regions.
The remaining four Sweet 16 games in the East and Midwest regions are on Friday, March 27.
Stream CBS on Fubo (free trial)
What times are the March Madness Sweet 16 games? March Madness schedule
Here is the full Sweet 16 schedule
Thursday, March 26
Friday, March 27
Stream TNT, TBS and truTV on Sling
March Madness bracket
Sixteen teams are left in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Here’s the updated bracket:
FULL PRINTABLE BRACKET (PDF)
How many Big Ten teams are left in March Madness?
Is this the year the Big Ten finally ends its national championship drought? They’ll have plenty of opportunities. The Big Ten has the most teams left in the NCAA Tournament with six of the 16 teams still playing in March Madness are from the conference.
Of the nine Big Ten teams that made the tournament, only UCLA (second-round loss), Ohio State (first-round loss) and Wisconsin (first-round loss) didn’t make the Sweet 16.
Overall, a third of its 18-team conference are playing in the Sweet 16, including the Big Ten’s regular and conference tournament champions in Michigan and Purdue.
The Big Ten went 7-2 in first round games and is 13-3 overall in the tournament.
The South Region has a huge Big Ten representation in Houston. Three of the four teams left in that region are from the Big Ten with Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois playing alongside Houston. Iowa and Nebraska will square off in a regional semifinal, while Illinois will face Houston, last year’s national runner-up, in the Cougars’ hometown.
Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois have been especially dominant in their NCAA Tournament games. Those four teams have won by a combined average of 22 points with seven of their eight games decided by double figures.
Buy Final Four tickets
March Madness schedule, dates
Here are the key dates for March Madness 2026:
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who is in the Sweet 16? March Madness teams left, schedule, bracket
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
