2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament: First Four “Mini Madness” Kicks Off

The First Four “Mini Madness” event starts Tuesday night in Dayton. No. 16 seed Howard will go against UMBC, followed by a matchup featuring No. 11 seeds North Carolina State and Texas. Then, on Wednesday, Prairie View A&M will take on Lehigh, and the University of Miami will try to continue its impressive season by facing off against SMU.

Here’s something interesting about the eight teams in this year’s tournament.

Kenny Blakeney, who won a national championship at Duke in 1992, jumped into coaching right after he graduated in 1995. After spending nearly 25 years as an assistant at various schools, he finally got his shot as a head coach in 2019.

That opportunity came from Howard University, and Athletic Director Kelly Davis made a wise choice in bringing him on board.

Under Blakeney’s leadership, Howard has made the NCAA Tournament in three out of the last four years—a notable feat for a program that previously only appeared in 1981 and 1992. After making it to the final four a couple of years back, the Bison are set to seek their first March Madness victory against UMBC.

Meanwhile, the Retrievers are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. It was back then that they became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed, which is pretty remarkable. Ryan Odom, who was the head coach during that historic game, is now coaching Virginia, the team that lost to the Retrievers.

Speaking of impressive stats, UMBC rolls into the tournament with a 12-game winning streak. This is actually the second-longest active winning streak in the nation, only behind High Point’s 14-game run.

North Carolina State has a unique distinction as well. They are the only team with four players who attempt at least four three-pointers per game, and they all shoot at least 40% from beyond the arc. Under Will Wade, the team’s strengths clearly lie in their long-range shooting, highlighted by Paul McNeil Jr., who is closing in on the program’s single-season three-point record.

NC State boasts a record of 14-3 when they make 37.5% or more of their threes, but their performance drops to 6-10 when they fall below that mark.

As for the Longhorns, they’re the only team in the tournament that boasts a top-10 offense, though their defensive performance isn’t quite as strong, ranking outside the top 100. Texas has also been having a rough patch lately, losing five out of their last six games while averaging nearly 89 points in those losses.

Did you know the RedHawks finished the regular season unbeaten? That makes them the sixth team in the expanded tournament era to achieve this. But, moving on to something else…

A key factor in Miami’s success this year is their ability to maintain a lot of their best talent. They returned about 62% of their minutes from last season, a situation a lot of players attribute to the way their previous season ended.

Last season, Miami found themselves in the MAC Championship Game, leading by 18 points at one point against Akron, but ultimately lost, putting them out of the NCAA Tournament.

“I know we experienced something really tough, but I still felt connected to the team,” shared Peter Suder, Miami’s leading scorer. He quickly relayed to head coach Travis Steele that he didn’t want to leave and wanted to stay with the team.

This really shows that sometimes it’s all about protecting your core group, rather than just recruiting new talent.

Now, here’s a bit of trivia about SMU that isn’t directly tied to basketball.

SMU was actually founded out of a dispute between the United Methodist Church and Vanderbilt University, another participant in this year’s tournament.

For the first four decades, Vanderbilt operated under the church’s direction. However, a split occurred in June 1914, over trustee appointments. Following that, the church decided to establish SMU in Dallas as its new flagship institution.

Interestingly, the two unbeaten teams squared off back in December, where Vanderbilt emerged victorious with an 88-69 win.

Turning to the Mountain Hawks, they barely scraped by in their own conference tournament. After a long drought, they now have a shot at winning a game in the NCAA Tournament, reminiscent of CJ McCollum’s breakout performance against Duke in 2012.

And if you’re curious, here’s a recap of how Lehigh triumphed over Holy Cross in their conference quarterfinals a couple of weeks ago.

Will the Mountain Hawks manage to create another moment of magic on Wednesday night? Well, most of the answers can be found on TruTv.

Prairie View’s athletic program is often remembered for its football team’s staggering 80-game losing streak from 1989 to 1998.

While not as widely known, the Panthers’ basketball team has made history too. Recently, they became the first team in SWAC history to win the conference tournament by winning four games in four days.

This marks the third time Prairie View will make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. A win on Wednesday night would represent their first victory in the tournament.