Gonzaga's March Madness seed revealed on Selection Sunday

Gonzaga is headed to familiar territory for the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

The reigning West Coast Conference champions are set to officially make their 27th consecutive men's basketball tournament appearance Thursday from Portland, Oregon, where the 3-seeded Bulldogs will take on 14-seeded Kennesaw State at the Moda Center.

The Zags' third trip to the Rose City, where they beat Oregon in December and suffered a shocking upset to Portland six weeks later in a three-month span, will pit them against the Conference USA tournament champion Owls.

It's the third time ever Gonzaga has been sent to Portland for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The Zags' last postseason appearance in the city was in 2022, when Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme led the West Region's No. 1 seed to wins over Georgia State and Memphis before bowing out to Arkansas in the West Regional round in San Francisco.

Gonzaga also advanced to the second weekend after its first trip to Portland for the NCAA Tournament ended with wins over Akron and Western Kentucky in 2009. The Zags' 4-0 NCAA Tournament record in Portland marks the program's most postseason wins in a single site without a loss.

Mark Few and company earned themselves a trip back to Portland after achieving the program's ninth 30-win season ever, with seven Quad 1 victories and a 23rd WCC conference championship title highlighting Gonzaga's path to the postseason.

The winner of Thursday's first round matchup will take on 6-seeded BYU, or 11-seeded Texas or NC State on Saturday. The Longhorns and Wolfpack will face off in the First Four for the right to play AJ Dybantsa and the Cougars.

The entire 68-team bracket was revealed during the nationally-televised Selection Sunday show on CBS.

A couple of Gonzaga's WCC counterparts will join the Zags in this year's NCAA Tournament, which begins Tuesday with the First Four. Santa Clara, which lost to Gonzaga in the conference title game in Las Vegas, was placed on the 10-seed line, while Saint Mary's, which split the regular season series with the Bulldogs, got in as a No. 7 seed. It's the fourth time since the turn of the century the WCC has three teams participating in the NCAA Tournament.

Making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996, the Broncos will face 7-seeded Kentucky in Saint Louis. The Gaels, who've qualified for their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament, take on 10-seeded Texas A&M in Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Sunday's bracket reveal lined up the projections bracketologists forecasted in the hours leading up to the selection committee's final call. ESPN's Joe Lunardi bumped Gonzaga up to the 3-seed line in his final bracket after Vanderbilt lost to Arkansas in the SEC title game earlier on Sunday.

Had that result from Nashville been reversed, the Zags might've wound up on the 4-seed line instead. Lunardi had the Bulldogs on his 4-line going into Sunday.

About Gonzaga's First Round Opponent

The Owls earned their second NCAA Tournament appearance since transitioning to Division I in 2009 with a win over Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA title game. It was Kennesaw State's first Conference USA title and the first time a No. 6 seed in that conference tournament clinched an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Kennesaw State won 21 games, it's second-most since 2005, by playing a physical brand of basketball. The Owls went into the NCAA Tournament averaging 27 free throw attempts per game — second-most in the country — and 13.9 offensive rebounds per contest, which checked in at No. 8 in the country, with an average height that ranked No. 46 in the country (78.3 inches).

Kennesaw State made it to the big dance despite missing its leading scorer, Simeon Cottle, who was suspended indefinitely in January due to his involvement in a sweeping college basketball game-fixing scandal. He was averaging 20.2 points and 3.8 games before his suspension.

NCAA Tournament Schedule

First Four: March 17-18
First round: March 19-20
Second round: March 21-22
Sweet 16: March 26-27
Elite Eight: March 28-29
Final Four: April 4 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
National championship game: April 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis