Villanova and Penn both punch tickets to the 2026 NCAA March Madness Tournament

For the first time in three seasons, Philadelphia has two teams in the NCAA Tournament. Villanova as an at-large bid out of the Big East and Penn as Ivy League tournament champions.

Villanova is the eight seed in the West and opens against Utah State, who went 28-6 and won the Mountain West regular season and tournament title. The Aggies beat VCU, Tulane, and Davidson in non-conference play. This is not a gift first round matchup. The winner gets number one seed Arizona, assuming nothing crazy happens.

Penn’s road is harder on paper. The Quakers are the 14 seed in the South and will play third seeded Illinois, who went 24-8 and finished second in the Big Ten with wins over ranked Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas Tech. Penn is a 10-point underdog.

TJ Power was the story of the night. He scored 44 of Penn’s 88 points and single-handedly carried the Quakers to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2018. He shot 14-for-26 from the floor and 7-for-14 from three, finished with 14 rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal, and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line in overtime despite coming in as a 61.2 percent free throw shooter on the season.

Penn’s TJ Power picked the right time to play the best game of his career.

TJ Power forces overtime ‼️

He leads Penn with 40 points and 12 rebounds 🍿 pic.twitter.com/4ZscKOgr1X

— ESPN (@espn) March 15, 2026

This Ivy League championship is on CRACK pic.twitter.com/OHmjo2xh4A

— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 15, 2026

Via TJ Power’s Instagram: pic.twitter.com/Ui35fHji4L

— Conor Smith (@conorfsmith) March 16, 2026

Penn did all of this without Ethan Roberts, their leading scorer in the regular season, who is dealing with concussion symptoms. If Roberts gets clearance before the tournament, the Quakers would get an obvious upgrade as they face a tough Illinois team in the first round.

Either way, Penn won nine of their last ten games to get here and they have been resilient all season long. Fran McCaffery deserves real credit for what he has built in year one at Penn. Eighteen wins, eleven losses, a Big 5 final appearance, an Ivy League tournament title, and the program’s second NCAA tournament bid since Fran Dunphy left.

Illinois is familiar territory for McCaffery who spent years coaching at Iowa in the Big Ten. That familiarity cuts both ways.

Philadelphia is also hosting first round games at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The field coming to town includes the winner of Miami Ohio and SMU against sixth seeded Tennessee, plus Virginia, Wright State, UConn, Furman, UCLA, and UCF.

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