NCHSAA Releases 2026 Basketball Playoff Brackets; Buncombe Teams Open Feb. 24

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association finalized 2026 boys and girls basketball playoff brackets on Saturday, Feb. 21, and first-round games are scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 24 at higher-seed sites. North Buncombe enters as the 9 seed with a 15-10 record and is slated to play in Weaverville on Feb. 24.

Bracket release weekend included several revisions before the field was declared final. "After the first batch of preliminary brackets had several errors, the NCHSAA quickly released a second draft of the preliminary brackets. The Association then released two more revisions to the brackets. Schools then had until 1:00 p.m. to submit questions." The association completed seeding after staff convened in Greensboro and released brackets across eight classifications for the first time.

The playoff calendar lists second-round games Thursday, Feb. 26, third round Saturday, Feb. 28, fourth round Monday, Mar. 2, regional finals March 4-7 at neutral sites, and state championships March 11-14 at neutral sites. "With the release of the final brackets, the NCHSAA announced that the western regional finals will be held at Shuford Arena on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory. The eastern regional finals will be held at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville. The state championship games will return to Lawrence-Joel Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem."

Local and eastern North Carolina seed listings include multiple top seeds that will receive early-round byes. Northern Nash is the 1 seed in 6A boys with J.H. Rose listed as the 2 seed and White Oak the 6 seed; Farmville Central is the top seed in 3A boys with Kinston second; Southeast Alamance is the 1 seed in 5A. Vance Charter earned the top seed in the 1A boys bracket and finished the regular season 19-2; "They'll play Thursday against the winner of Tuesday's contest between the 16-seed Bear Grass Charter and 17-seed Cape Hatteras."

Conflicting bracket excerpts appear in the published pairings for North Buncombe's first-round opponent: one excerpt lists "(24) Forestview at (9) North Buncombe" and another lists "(24) East Rowan at (9) North Buncombe." A separate excerpt reads verbatim: "will travel to play 9 seed North Buncombe (15-10) in Weaverville. That’s near Asheville." Those discrepancies mean the opponent listed for North Buncombe's Feb. 24 game should be confirmed on the official bracket PDF for accuracy.

Early-round results already logged in nearby brackets show (3) Gaston Christian beating Asheville Christian 73-51 on Saturday, Feb. 21, and (5) Gaston Day posting 81-50 and 72-39 wins on Feb. 17 and Feb. 19 respectively in their 2A run. Those outcomes demonstrate that some classifications have already started play and that the postseason timeline is active across the region.

With first-round play set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 24 at higher seeds and neutral-site regional finals scheduled for Shuford Arena and Minges Coliseum March 4-7, Buncombe County teams will see their postseason paths clarified only after final pairing conflicts are resolved and any post-release corrections are posted to the official brackets.