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Arizona seed remains the same with new opponents in updated bracketology

Joe Lunardi has Arizona in the same seed slot with updated opponents in his newest bracketology published on Tuesday.
ByAlan Rubenstein|
Mar 27, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Mar 27, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi continues to have Arizona as the third seed in the South Regional in his updated 2026 NCAA Tournament projections published on Tuesday. Arizona was also a three seed in the South Regional in the previous bracketology update by Lunardi.

Arizona is projected to play South Dakota State in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in San Diego. Lunardi projects South Dakota State to be the automatic qualifier from the Summit League as the Conference Tournament Champion.

The winner of Arizona and South Dakota State is projected to play whoever wins between sixth-seeded Ohio State and 11th-seed Memphis in the first round. Lunardi projects Ohio State as an at-large team and Memphis is projected as an automatic qualifier as the winner of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

St. John's is projected as the two-seed in the South Region as an at-large team and predicted to play Florida Gulf Coast, who Lunardi has as the winner of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Defending national champion Florida is projected as the number one seed in the South Region by Lunardi.

Lunardi projects Houston as the top overall seed. Houston cannot play in their hometown in the NCAA Tournament as the South Regional Host. The other regionals are the East in Washington D.C. the Midwest in Chicago and the West in San Jose.

The other projected number one seeds by Lunardi are Duke in the East and Purdue in the West. Lunardi projects seven Big XII teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids. In addition to Arizona and Houston, Lunardi also projects Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Iowa State and Kansas to earn NCAA Tournament berths.

BYU, who Lunardi projects to be the two seed in the West, is the only other Big XII team projected higher than Arizona in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Four of the top eight projected teams in the 2026 NCAA Tournament field by Lunardi are on the 2025-26 Arizona conference schedule.

In addition to games versus projected one seeds Florida and Houston, Arizona also has games against BYU and Connecticut, who are projected two seeds. The 2025-26 Arizona schedule will have them positioned for a high seed if they are reasonably successful during the season.

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