The 2026 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is a sight to behold.
The tournament features a play-in game with the league’s bottom two seeds, Cleveland State and IU Indianapolis. The winner of that game will advance to take on top-seeded Wright State. That part is normal.
Things immediately get weird in the first round. The league’s remaining 10 teams are matched up in 5 first round games.
Then, the second-word seed first round winner will battle the worst seed first round winner. The winner of that game will face the best seed first round winner in one semifinal.
The second-best seed first round winner will square off against the third-best seed first round winner in the other semifinal.
For our purposes, Northern Kentucky University is the tourney’s No. 7 seed. The Norse will play No. 4 Oakland in the first round on Wednesday.
After that, all hell breaks loose.
Here’s what it looks like visually:
