This coming weekend starts the month-long march towards deciding the 2026 Division I NCAA champion. The NCAA announced the Field of 64 on May 25, with some surprises and some expected decisions. Most notably, UCLA, the winner of the Big 10, will head into the tourney as the consensus top-ranked school in the nation.
2026 Post-Conference Tourney rankings
Here’s a look at the top 25 (coaches’ poll via USA Today) after the postseason conference tournaments:
- UCLA
- Georgia Tech (+1)
- Georgia (+1)
- North Carolina (-2)
- Texas
- Auburn
- Southern Miss (+3)
- Oregon State (-1)
- Florida State (-1)
- Texas A&M (-1)
- West Virginia
- Oregon
- Arkansas
- Florida (+3)
- Kansas (+1)
- Alabama (-1)
- Mississippi State (-3)
- Nebraska
- USC
- Ole Miss
- Oklahoma State
- Arizona State
- Jacksonville State (JUMP)
- Cincinnati (-1)
- Tennessee
Coastal Carolina dropped out of the top 25.
It’s interesting to see how the coaches on the poll committee reacted to the past week, in juxtaposition to what the NCAA committee chose to do for the tournament selection.
Florida, the seventh seed in the NCAA Tournament, was ranked #14 in the post-conference poll. And there were some more surprises.
Arkansas, the runner-up in the SEC postseason tournament, ranked #13 in the coaches’ poll but did not receive a Regionals home site designation. Instead, the Razorbacks will have to go to Kansas in the Lawrence Regional. Oregon State, meanwhile, ranked #8 in this poll. But, the Beavers will go to #12 Oregon in the Eugene Regional, after the Ducks finished as the Big 10 runner-up.
The top spots are not a shock by any stretch of the imagination. UCLA (B10), Georgia Tech (ACC), and Georgia (SEC) all won their conference tourneys. And as expected, the Bruins received the top seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
This poll isn’t an exact science, by any means. However, it is worth taking a look at schools that received votes and those that didn’t. Kentucky didn’t receive one vote in this week’s poll after the tourneys. However, the Wildcats were an at-large berth.
Mercer, meanwhile, did receive 13 votes. The school won over 40 games, had three hitters with 20+ home runs, and picked up some major wins, including a road victory against Georgia Tech. Yet, Mercer was left out of the dance.
Check out more of our college baseball rankings.