Cardinal editors have enjoyable with March Insanity brackets – The Louisville Cardinal

By Harrison Plank and Vinny Porco

Following the Sunday night launch of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket, your Louisville Cardinal editors have been laborious at work compiling each aggressive and enjoyable brackets in your viewing pleasure. Please benefit from the extra standard picks of Sports Editor Harrison Plank and Opinion Editor Vinny Porco, in addition to a number of artistic takes on the age-old custom of bracketology.

Sports Editor Harrison Plank

The Arizona Wildcats are my decide to win all of it this 12 months. Their excellent match of dimension and pace can propel them previous anybody they match up towards. They rank second within the nation with 47 paint factors per sport whereas solely making an attempt 13 and a half threes an evening. This shot making capacity close to the rim launched the Wildcats in direction of some dominant wins all through the common season, ending with a optimistic scoring margin of 17.4.

And when you suppose Arizona solely beats up on worse opponents, suppose once more. The Wildcats completed this season 3-0 towards Top 3 opponents, besting first-ranked Florida, second-ranked UConn and second-ranked St. John’s. This, together with their stellar defensive effectivity that landed them at third within the nation based on KenPom, proves to me that they’re the clear-cut favorites to win all of it.

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco

I don’t have rather a lot to say about any specific crew, however I’ll go over a few of my extra fascinating decisions.

Acknowledging probably the most obtrusive of my decisions, I feel Houston will take it. That being stated, Duke was my overwhelming favourite getting in. But luck has not been their good friend. The East Region upon which they sit is an absolute gauntlet that they must face with out defensive anchor Caleb Foster for at the very least the primary few rounds. I’d like them to hold on in aggressive Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight video games towards Kansas and Michigan State, however they’ll want to hope laborious to have Foster again earlier than going through a formidable Cougar offense.

Moving to the precise aspect of the bracket, I actually consider Gonzaga is among the most slept-on groups within the nation. They’ll probably should include high NBA prospect AJ Dybantsa within the second spherical towards BYU, put a cease to Purdue’s red-hot playmaking within the Sweet Sixteen and face arguably the perfect crew within the nation, Arizona, within the Elite Eight, however Mark Few’s protection appears as much as the problem. However, I don’t suppose they’ll finest a Michigan crew that may greater than probably coast by arguably the best area on the bracket.

Opinion Editor Vinny Porco’s Mascot Bracket

Mascot brackets are all the time enjoyable. Who would win in a struggle? My guess is absolute nature. Sure, Blue Devils have pitchforks, Bruins have massive claws and Gators have razor sharp enamel. But Cyclones harness the ability of wind to destroy every little thing of their path. On that aspect of the bracket, the Long Island University Sharks outlast the Miami Hurricanes of their factor to face Iowa State within the mascot bracket model of Sharknado. Iowa State takes that one, and swallows up the UCLA Bruin to win all of it.

Vinny Porco & Harrison Plank’s Proximity to U of L Bracket

The query right here is easy. Which faculty or college is closest in proximity to U of L? The inherent great thing about this bracket is that Louisville routinely wins with a distance of 0.0 miles, and does so over the rival Kentucky Wildcats simply over 60 miles east of campus.

In a bracket with only a few surprises, just some issues of be aware stand out. Kansas beat Northern Iowa within the second spherical by simply 12 miles and the Wisconsin Badgers edged out some colleges that appeared nearer at first look resembling Arkansas and Villanova to make all of it the way in which to the Elite Eight.

Vinny Porco & Harrison Plank’s NBA & ABA Players Bracket

This closing bracket resulted in a blowout by the Kentucky Wildcats. Based on the quantity of each NBA and ABA gamers produced within the historical past of a faculty’s basketball program, Kentucky simply took house gold with 140. The subsequent closest faculty was Duke, producing a a lot decrease, but nonetheless spectacular 107 gamers. Honorable mentions go to the opposite two colleges notching over 100 gamers produced, with these being North Carolina at 105 and UCLA at 106.

Feature Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal