Colin Cowherd has had a very long and successful sports media career, but he isn’t exactly known for his prognostication skills. And that was on full display as he attempted to share his 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket with his followers on social media.
Cowherd is a big picture guy. But when it comes to his picks for select games, they haven’t always gone well, whether it’s for the NFL or college football. And granular details haven’t really been his strong suit either over the years.
But maybe there’s comfort in knowing that multi-million dollar hosts who get paid to talk sports for a living struggle with their March Madness brackets just like you and everyone else in your office or neighborhood pools.
On the eve of the first round of the tournament, Colin Cowherd shared his bracket on social media. It was an old-fashioned one done by hand and appeared to be right in the pages of the New York Times. He said the bracket was mostly chalk, although he picked MAC champion Arkon to make the Sweet 16. Hilariously, his “sleeper” pick is #2 seed Iowa State.
But the real fun is in the East region, where Cowherd appeared to be tormented over who to pick. He picked Duke over UConn in the Elite 8, but somehow had Michigan State in his Final 4 emerging from the region.
My mostly chalk bracket. Talked myself into two Akron wins. Iowa State is my sleeper. pic.twitter.com/j4RmssV7n2
— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) March 18, 2026
After that impossible situation was pointed out by Cowherd’s followers, he returned to try to take another try. And this time he went in an entirely different direction by picking Duke to come out of the East region instead of either UConn or Michigan State.
Made a little correction🤷🏼♂️ we good now. 😬 pic.twitter.com/cIrPONQO9n
— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) March 18, 2026
We all know a person who picks a bracket purely based on vibes, team mascots, or colors wins bracket contests anyways. So all of the agonizing over Duke, UConn, or Michigan State could probably be solved by picking a random number or deciding which locale makes for the best vacation destination. But the thought of Colin Cowherd furiously scratching teams in and out of a newspaper bracket is probably the most relatable thing he has ever done.
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