2026 The Crown bracket: Printable version, schedule, teams and rules

The men's NCAA Tournament gets most of the buzz this time of year, and rightly so. The selection committee picks who they believe are the 68 best teams in college basketball, and give them the right to battle it out in March Madness. However, for those left on the outside looking in, there is a consolation prize — and no, we're not talking about the NIT.

We're talking about the College Basketball Crown, which upended the postseason picture on the men's side when it debuted last year. The Crown was able to lure 16 power-conference teams to Vegas with the promise of a six-figure NIL payday for the winner, in the process assembling a field that suddenly became the best out of any non-NCAA tournament.

Now it's back for an encore, having already more or less killed the CBI. Here's everything to know about this year's College Basketball Crown, from bracket to schedule to NBA Draft prospects to keep an eye on.

2026 College Basketball Crown bracket

Unlike last year, when The Crown was able to bring 16 teams to Vegas, this year's version only features eight — a 50-percent reduction that underlines just how hard it is to hold a non-NCAA postseason tournament in the age of the transfer portal. Oklahoma (19-15, 7-11 SEC), West Virginia (18-14, 9-9 Big 12) and Stanford (20-12, 9-9 ACC) were all legitimate bubble teams with hopes of earning an at-large bid right up until they were eliminated from their respect conference tournaments. But the field drops off a cliff after that: Of the remaining five teams, only Colorado finished at .500 overall, and even that came with just a 7-11 record in Big 12 play.

The 2025 Crown featured four teams inside the top 50 in NET ranking; 2026 features exactly one in Oklahoma. The reality is that there simply isn't a ton of demand for postseason play outside the Big Dance, even when NIL money is involved. Sure, there's a six-figure payday awaiting the winner, but once you split that up evenly among each player, that's not enough to move the needle — and convince everyone to stick around for a few more weeks rather than making plans for next season and beyond.

2026 College Basketball Crown schedule and key dates

The 2026 College Basketball Crown begins on Wednesday, April 1, and runs through Sunday, April 5, when the title game will be held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Yes, that is Final Four weekend; in fact, the Crown semifinals will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, April 4, leading into the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament later that night.

With only an eight-team field this year, we're going straight to the knockout rounds, with two quarterfinal games apiece on April 1 and April 2. Here's the full schedule.

Wednesday, April 1:

• Oklahoma vs. Colorado, 8 p.m. ET
• Minnesota vs. Baylor, 10:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, April 2:

• Stanford vs. West Virginia, 8 p.m. ET
• Rutgers vs. Creighton, 10:30 p.m. ET

The winners of those four games will face off in the semifinals on April 4, with the last two teams standing playing for the title (and some cash) on April 5.

Which teams declined The Crown invitations?

The fact that The Crown saw its field cut in half after just one year of existence should tell you how difficult a sell postseason basketball has become outside of the NCAA Tournament.

By virtue of FOX Sports' contract with the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, The Crown offers autobids to the top two teams by NET ranking that failed to make the Big Dance in each of those three conferences. But several teams who were offered a spot in the field have declined to accept. In fact, The Crown couldn't even fill the Big East's second autobid, with only Creighton accepting.

• Indiana
• Washington
• Northwestern
• USC
• Cincinnati
• Seton Hall
• Providence
• Butler
• Georgetown
• Marquette
• Xavier
• DePaul

How to watch the 2026 College Basketball Crown live

The Crown is the brain-child of FOX, so it's no surprise that you'll be able to catch the entire tournament on their family of networks. The quarterfinals will air on FS1, with both the semifinals and the championship game airing on FOX. You can also stream all the action on FOX Sports Go and the FOX Sports app with a valid cable subscription.

If you don't have a cable subscription, you're not out of luck entirely. Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV all carry FOX channels, and all three come with a free trial for new customers. Fubo's free trial lasts a full week, with five days for YouTube TV and three days for Hulu + Live TV.

NBA Draft prospects to watch at the College Basketball Crown

Okay, so the quality of competition isn't quite what The Crown was likely hoping for. But all college hoops are good college hoops, and if you're looking for something to do in between March Madness games, the tournament will give you a chance to do some scouting on a few names that could hear their names called in the 2026 NBA Draft.

In fact, three different players taking part in The Crown landed inside the top 50 on Christopher Kline's latest big board here at FanSided.

G Ebuka Okorie, Stanford

Okorie was Stanford's offensive engine all year long, a dynamo with the ball in his hands who averaged nearly 23 points per game on 46 percent shooting from the field (36 percent on 3s). Here's what Kline had to say about his pro prospects

"Okorie faces all the standard challenges of a 6-foot-2, 185-pound guard when it comes to generating NBA interest. That is also compounded by the absurd volume of talented guards currently on NBA radars. And yet, Okorie generates 1.6 steals per game with active hands; he's not a slouch on defense. There is also value, regardless of size, in advantage creation. Okorie is a bullet shot of the chamber. His speed, twitch and creativity as a ball-handler leaves defenses constantly scrambling. It's hard to keep him out of the paint.

NBA teams would love if Okorie's playmaking numbers were a bit more robust, but it's not like he can't extend those advantages with quality passing reads against a defense in rotation. At worst, it's easy to imagine him as a classic sixth man who comes in off the bench for 20 minutes a night and lights the net on fire."

G/F Cameron Carr, Baylor

Carr checked in at No. 22 on Kline's big board, putting him squarely in first-round consideration.

"After two lost seasons at Tennessee, Cameron Carr arrived at Baylor and blossomed into a star. There aren't too many holes to poke in his repertoire at this point. He's a long, agile wing who blows s**t up on defense, fluidly attacks closeouts and shoots 3s at a high volume with peak efficiency. He's not an on-ball generator, but Carr isn't a bad passer. He makes the right plays in the flow of the offense, stays engaged off-ball, and he emerged as a quality all-around play finisher.

Carr's opportunities were scarce prior to arriving at Baylor, but it's hard to imagine why. He's such a natural scorer, with a buttery pull-up jumper and a high release point and impressive acrobatic flourishes at the rim. He scores in bunches and does a lot of the little things. If he can add strength and become a bit more airtight on defense, he has the foundation of a longtime NBA contributor."

F Tounde Yessoufrou, Baylor

Yessoufrou ranked No. 48 on the big board, and it remains to be seen whether he'll actually declare for the draft or opt to spend another season in college in order to try and develop into a first-round pick next year. He averaged 17.8 points per game and 5.8 rebounds for the Bears to go along with a whopping 2.0 steals, evidence of a freakishly long wingspan despite standing just 6-foot-5.

That said, Yessoufrou's playmaking chops leave something to be desired; he averaged just 1.6 assists to 1.9 turnovers, which isn't what you want from a guy whose lack of positional size will make it difficult for him to stick as an NBA wing. Still, these sorts of physical tools are worth gambling on.