Introducing the 2026 College Basketball Cup(Who is not expanding to 76 teams)
It's June, you know what that means. It's the 3 edition of the College Basketball Cup! Last season we saw the Alabama Crimson Tide take home the trophy after a high scoring battle with Gonzaga. What will go down this year? Who's to say. One thing is for sure though, and that's the college basketball offseason is way to damn long
Here's what the conferences look like for this season. They'll remain the same as the previous 2 seasons. Some changes were explored but for this season we'll keep them the same. Next season there's a good chance of a shake up, particularly in the Great Lakes area and out west.
Some explanation on the set up here:
Conferences have been reorganized and realigned from 32(welcome back Pac 12) to 12 and grouped together by state/region. All teams from the same state will be in the same conference. Bids are determined based on size of the conference vs the rest of the league for now.
The qualification formats vary league to league, but the cup itself will have 64 teams in it, with a group and knockout stage. Matchups will be decided via random draw, also like the IRL world cup. I'm using the NET to act as the FIFA World Rankings, it'll assist with the draws mostly. If there's a better ranking to to use for this game I'll consider for future seasons.
Here's a list of the conferences, plus a map for those more visually inclined. The New Haven Chargers will join into the Liberty Conference this season while next year we will see the addition of the West Florida Agronauts into the Sunshine Conference.
| Conference | States | Number of Teams/Bids |
|---|---|---|
| Golden | California/Hawaii | 26 teams/4 bids |
| Lone Star | Texas | 26/4 |
| Liberty | New York/New Jersey | 30/5 |
| New England | Mass, Conn, Maine, NH, Vermont, Rhode Island | 23/4 |
| Pacific Mountains | Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho | 17/3 |
| Four Corners | Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona | 18/3 |
| Heartland | North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri | 26/4 |
| Great Lakes | Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan | 48/8 |
| Mid Atlantic | West Virginia, Virginia, Penn, Maryland, DC, Delaware | 46/8 |
| Carolina United | North Carolina, South Carolina | 31/5 |
| Sunshine | Florida, Alabama, Georgia | 30/5 |
| Delta | Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi | 43/7 |
Finally, there will be 4 interconference qualifying games as well, which will allow for some of the conferences to gain an additional spot. This could be considered our Last 4 In. These were chosen by taking conference who just about had enough teams for another bid playing each other to decide which one takes the extra spot. The matchups are:
Lone Star 5th place vs. Heartland 5th place
New England 5th place vs. Golden 5th place
Pacific Mountains 4th place vs. Four Corners 4th place
Delta 8th place vs. Great Lakes 9th place
And finally of course, here's a tracker of all the teams who have qualified so far and their method of qualifications. Keep your eyes out for the first draw of the season coming in the next few days
| Teams(0/64) | Method of Qualification | Last Appearance |
|---|---|---|
Posted Jun 2, 2026, 12:07 AM UTC