The Tonight Show host filled out his 2026 NCAA bracket picking the Red Storm to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.
Key Highlights:
- National Champion: St. John’s to win the national title over Arizona
- Final Four: St. John’s, Arizona, Iowa St., Illinois
- Biggest Upsets: VCU over North Carolina
Jimmy Fallon isn’t hedging. While millions of bracket-fillers are penciling in Kansas, Duke, or Arizona as their national champion, the host of The Tonight Show went with his heart and possibly his zip code, filling out a bracket that screams New York all the way to Indianapolis.
St. John’s To Win The National Title Over Arizona
St.John’s to win the national championship under Rick Pitino is the boldest call on his bracket.
St. John’s, the No. 5 seed in the East, would need to knock off Kansas, Michigan State, and Duke just to reach the Final Four, then beat a battle-tested Arizona squad in the championship. The Red Storm finished the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the Big East, and their defense ranks among the nation’s elite. Fallon isn’t just picking with his heart; there’s a legitimate case to be made.
Arizona gets to Indianapolis the hard way too, surviving Wisconsin and Gonzaga out of a brutal West Region. On paper, it’s a worthy final. In Fallon’s bracket, it falls one game short.
Fallon’s Final Four
Rounding out the Final Four are Illinois out of the South and Iowa State out of the Midwest, two programs built for March.
Illinois brings size and physicality that causes problems for uptempo teams late in the tournament.
Iowa State, one of the more efficient offensive units in the Big 12 all season, is exactly the kind of well-coached, unflashy team that quietly wins four games in three weeks.
Neither pick is a reach.
Biggest Upset: VCU Over North Carolina
Every great bracket needs a Cinderella, and Fallon’s is VCU over North Carolina in the first round.
The Rams have done it before — their suffocating pack-line defense is tailor-made to neutralize bigger, more talented rosters. A double-digit seed beating a blue blood in the opening round is March Madness at its most chaotic and most beautiful.
Fallon’s bracket won’t survive intact. No one’s does. But that’s exactly what makes this tournament worth watching: 68 teams, three weeks, and the nagging feeling that your picks might actually hold.
If St. John’s cuts down the nets in April, Fallon won’t just have the best bracket in the office. He’ll have called his shot on national television.
