85 Expansion - Births and Berths of 2026
Our bracket returns with storylines galore both in the college basketball world and our bracket group itself. 2026 is a huge year for us all, as both the Clouser and Beglane households are expecting their firstborns in the coming weeks. Yet both households also had the berth of their alma maters, and that led to a debate just this morning - which is more important? 2025 bracket champion Jonathan did say Florida was a “close 2nd” in his tier list. However, he did not experience 3 years of playing in the Not-In-Tournament NIT… I am not sure I’m ready to declare a personal winner just yet.
In the CBB world, four of the most dominant teams all season in Duke, Arizona, Michigan, and Florida take the #1 seeds, and all look much too strong for some dramatic storylines. However, for the first time since pulling off the first #16 - #1 upset in history, the UMBC Retrievers are back dancing, and if they can win their play in game would face Michigan. In the NIL era, this would be an even more impressive miracle and someone would have to send my fellow alumni Pope Leo XIV to that campus to see what is going on. The Long Island University Sharks are one of the best stories for the mid-majors, with this viral video showing just 3 students putting their fins up during the home team’s free throws. But those two storylines are all but certain to be short lived. To touch upon teams with a chance, Alabama just had a huge blow with their 2nd leading scorer arrested on a felony drug charge this morning. If he is to miss their opening game, could the Hofstra Pride take advantage of this distraction for their first ever NCAA tournament win? St. John’s is of course well noted in this area, but sneakily are 19-1 in their last 20 games, an incredibly strong record for a 5 seed. Duke would be a challenge for anyone, but St. John’s is battle tested this year and has some of the best size in the country. Some veteran experience could put Cameron Boozer on his non-tar heels… McNeese returns as a 12 seed, after beating Clemson in the first round this year. Can their aura help them bust brackets for the 2nd year in a row? And to close out my Northeast bias, UPenn just put on a show to make the tournament, with forward TJ Power scoring an incredible 44 points including back to back 3’s to close out regulation and send the Ivy League Championship to overtime. While Illinois will undoubtedly have all attention on him, there is no ruling out the Quakers after what we just saw.
We look towards the opening games on Thursday at 12:15, which is the deadline for our entries.
Click here to download the Excel File from the website. Please email back to me at rfbeglane@gmail.com
$20 buy in, Venmo @Rory-Beglane. Winner’s pot will be updated upon entry count.
Rory F Beglane
Founder of the 85 Expansion Bracket Challenge - www.85expansion.com
Villanova Enthusiast
0 Time Bracket Winner
1 Time Always March Winner