Chipotle Nationals 2026: Boys and Girls Preview

The Chipotle Nationals 2026 high school basketball tournament is set to take place at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana, from April 1-5 to ultimately decide who will be crowned as the best team in the country. When it comes to the Chipotle Nationals, many of the elite high school basketball programs are invited from around the nation to compete for a chance to be recognized as the top team from coast to coast.

Last year’s winners were Miami Columbus (Fla.) from the boys end and IMG Academy (Fla.) on the girls side. New champions will be crowned as neither the Explorers or Ascenders were invited to this year’s edition. Who will be crowned when it comes to the boys and girls brackets this time around?

We preview both brackets as the tournament is set to begin on Wednesday, April 1 in Indiana.

Boys Bracket

Starting off with the boys bracket, which will consist of 10 elite high school basketball teams, the field is as good as it gets with those that were invited. Six of the Top 10 teams from the most recent National 2025 High School Boys Basketball Massey Rankings are all taking part, making this bracket a tough one to make a prediction on.

Someone folks can not count out because of his extremely competitive nature is the 2026 Gatorade Player of the Year Paul VI Catholic (Washington, DC) Five-Star Plus+ shooting guard Jordan Smith Jr.. The Arkansas commitment has been on a tear all season long and led the Panthers to the City of Palms title along with winning a third straight Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) title and notching a fourth consecutive Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) state crown.

Link Academy (MO) should have a chance as any to come away with the championship as the Lions feature one of the top front courts of the tourney, with Michigan State commit Ethan Taylor at center alongside power forward Tristan Reed (Mississippi State pledge). Prolific Prep and Montverde Academy are two teams from Florida that head into the Chipotle Nationals playing some of their better basketball of the season and could make the argument like most to winning the entire thing.

Andy’s Take: Paul Catholic VI (Va.) wins 2026 title

Girls Bracket

The girls bracket has four less teams than the boys as six clubs will be vying for a chance to win the national crown. Taking the No. 1 seed in the tournament are the The St. James Academy (Va.), which enter with a 23-3 record and ranked No. 13 nationally, according to the National 2025 High School Girls Basketball Massey Rankings.

The Strivers feature one of the more well balanced lineups of the six girls teams, but it will be hard to ignore a well-traveled team like Long Island Lutheran (NY) at the No. 4 seed as the Crusaders feature one of the best players in the tournament in 2027 four-star point guard Taylor Brown. The Bullis School (Md.) could be considered the favorite in this tournament as they enter with an impressive 24-6 record and recently defeated Bishop McNamara back on Mar. 6.

Andy’s Take: Long Island Lutheran (NY) wins 2026 title

Chipotle Nationals 2026 boys basketball tournament schedule

Opening Round – April 1

6:00 p.m. – #7 Wasatch Academy vs. #10 Link Academy

7:45 p.m. – #8 SPIRE Academy vs. #9 Archbishop Stepinac

Quarterfinals – April 2

2:00 p.m. – #4 Prolific Prep vs. #5 Montverde Academy

4:00 p.m. – #3 CIA Bella Vista Prep vs. #6 Paul VI

6:00 p.m. – #1 AZ Compass Prep vs. SPIRE/Stepinac

8:00 p.m. – #2 Dynamic Prep vs. Wasatch/Link

Semifinals – April 3

2:00 p.m. – TBD vs. TBD

4:00 p.m. – TBD vs. TBD

Finals – April 4

12:00 p.m. – TBD vs. TBD

Chipotle Nationals girls basketball tournament schedule

Opening Round – April 3

10:00 a.m. – #4 Long Island Lutheran vs. #5 DME Academy

12:00 p.m. – #3 Bullis School vs. #6 Bishop Gorman

Semifinals – April 4

10:00 a.m. – #1 The St. James Academy vs. Long Island Lutheran/DME

12:00 p.m. – #2 Westtown School vs. Bullis School/Bishop Gorman

Finals – April 5

10:00 a.m. – TBD vs. TBD

About the Chipotle Nationals

“The National High School Invitational (NHSI) was created in 2009 by Paragon Marketing Group to provide a platform for the top, nationally ranked high school basketball teams in the country to compete against one another in a season-ending tournament. Over the course of fifteen-years, this event (previously titled DICK’S Nationals and GEICO Nationals, taking place in DC, NYC, FL) has crowned the best high school basketball teams in the country. In 2024, the event moved to IN and became the Chipotle High School Basketball Nationals.”