Sneaker Rivals: 2026 Men's Final Four

After several weeks of buzzer beaters, upsets, and the schadenfreude of watching Duke lose in heartbreaking fashion, the field for the 2026 Men’s NCAA Final Four is set. Illinois, UConn, Arizona, and Michigan are a mixture of schools returning to college basketball’s brightest stage for the first time in a generation, along with recent visitors and national champions. Even though there is no Cinderella squad in sight, there are plenty of teams and storylines for diehard fans and casuals who somehow always do well in brackets to check out.

Over here at the Sole Retriever offices, we’re keeping an eye out for the best sneakers among the remaining teams in the tournament. To the great joy of Nike, three out of the four schools are sponsored by the brand, while the fourth is a Jordan Brand school. No doubt the marketing teams over in Beaverton are going to have their hands full no matter who wins the tournament.

The Final Four will also serve as a highlight between the different college programs that Nike sponsors. Even though UConn, Arizona, and Illinois are all winning programs littered with conference and tournament championships, there are schools that receive player exclusives that you can’t find anywhere else, and there are those that get the best of the best that we feature here on the website.

It’s an interesting barometer to see who Nike prioritizes and what a school would have to do to get the same treatment next season. And then there’s Jordan Brand who laces all of its teams with PEs that become collector’s items down the line. Maybe in the age of NIL, the allure of exclusives isn’t the same as it once was, but to say they have no effect would be silly.

So to get you ready for Final Four weekend, let’s check out each team’s sneaker lineup, and then you can vote below who you think is walking away with the National Sneaker Championship, an unofficial title we just made up and is not affiliated with the NCAA in any way.

Illinois (Nike)

Top 3: Andrej Stokajovic’s custom Book 1s, Kylan Boswell’s Nike A’One Candy Corn Queen, Keaton Wagner’s Nike Sabrina 2 Doernbecher

It’s been over 20 years since the Illini last punched their ticket to the Final Four when Deron Williams, Luther Head, and Dee Brown were the team’s triple threat in the backcourt. Time will tell if senior Kylan Boswell and freshman Keaton Wagner reach or possibly surpass the 2005 trio in Illini lore, but one major difference between the two generations is their respective sneaker games. While the 2005 crew wore team-specific colorways of sneakers like the Nike Air Force Opera, Boswell and Wagner have been showing love to WNBA superstars A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu, respectively, by rocking their Nike signature shoes in various colorways throughout the tournament. Another key contributor to the team is forward Andrej Stokajovic (yes, he is Peja’s son), who scored 17 points in Illinois' win over Iowa.

Not gonna lie, hearing Kevin Harlan say the name “Stokajovic” again gave me flashbacks to when Andrej’s dad was a terror on the Sacramento Kings. As for his sneakers, Stokajovic has been wearing custom “Greek Gods” Nike Book 1s, a nod to his Greek heritage on his mom Aleka Kamila’s side.

UConn (Nike)

Top 3: Braylon Mullins’ Nike Kobe 5 Protro PE, Silas Demary Jr.’s Nike Sabrina 2 PE, Jayden Ross’ Nike Ja 3 PE

We’ve talked about UConn’s sneaker bona fides previously in this space, and while they are slight underdogs against UConn heading into the Final Four, where the matchup might be more in the Huskies favor is in the sneaker realm. With the entire roster decked out in Kobes, Sabrinas, and Jas in team colors and logos, it’s not hard to tell which program Nike has given better treatment to over the past few decades. Nike typically doesn’t do player exclusives for the Final Four, possibly out of superstition or overconfidence, but it would be cool to see these same PEs with a hint of gold or some other reference to college basketball’s biggest weekend.

Arizona (Nike)

Top 3: Brayden Burries’ Nike Kobe 6 Italian Camo, Addison Arnold’s Nike Ja 3 PE, Jaden Bradley’s Nike Kobe 6 Kay Yow

Despite Devin Booker debuting a Nike Book 2 player exclusive in Arizona colors recently, none of the players have taken to rocking the shoe so far. That might change in Indianapolis, when the Wildcats step onto the big Final Four stage for the first time since 2001, which featured familiar names like Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson, and Luke Walton. Instead, the Wildcats have been wearing mostly Kobe Protros 4 through 6, including their top players like Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley. Addison Arnold, a redshirt sophomore for the team, has been pictured wearing the Nike Ja 3 Arizona PE, so hopefully we’ll get to see it on the court this weekend. Another interesting omission is the Nike LeBron 23. Despite having redshirt freshman Bryce James on the roster, the LeBron 23 Arizona PE has only been worn by Bryce’s dad, LeBron James in an NBA game.

Michigan (Jordan)

Top 3: Roddy Gayle Jr.’s Air Jordan 4028 PE, Yaxel Lendeborg’s Air Jordan 13 Del Sol, Aday Mara’s Jordan Tatum 3 PE

Jordan Brand might consider itself a competitor to Nike, but it’s a clean sweep as the Swoosh and the Jumpman represent all of the teams in the men’s Final Four. Michigan also owns a rare distinction of having made the Final Four as a Nike (1989, 1992, 1993), adidas (2013), and Jordan Brand (2018, 2026) school.

This year’s iteration of the Wolverines will feature the Air Jordan 4028, a sneaker that has gotten plenty of attention lately thanks to Bam Adebayo’s historic 83-point performance and Rui Hachimura’s Japan-inspired player exclusive. Senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. has been wearing the Air Jordan 4028 with the shroud unzipped in a stunning maize yellow upper and navy blue mudguard.

Junior center Aday Mara’s player exclusive Jordan Tatum 3 is nowhere near as loud as Roddy’s sneakers, but they are an interesting footnote as Jayson Tatum’s alma mater Duke can’t wear his shoes except in very specific circumstances. Yaxel Lendeborg might not have the same connection to Michigan as he’s played for two different schools already before transferring to Ann Arbor, but he’s already made an impact, earning the Midwest Region’s Most Outstanding Player Award en route to leading the team to the Final Four.

In an era when wearing Jordan retros isn’t frowned upon but is definitely not the norm, Lendeborg hasn’t let that get in the way of rocking the Air Jordan 11 Cool Grey or the Air Jordan 13 Del Sol during the Wolverines’ run.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com