How to Score a March Madness Bracket: 11 Steps (with Pictures) (2024)

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1Filling out Your Bracket

2Keeping Score

3Tweaking Your Bracket Scoring

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Co-authored byRyan Tremblay

Last Updated: March 27, 2022References

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March Madness is an exciting time for fans of college basketball. Some people like to keep up with the action by completing tournament brackets in which they predict the winners of each round of games. At the end of the tournament, the player with the most correct predictions is the winner. Scoring a March Madness bracket is relatively simple, but it does require you to fill out your bracket correctly and make calculated guesses about which teams have the best chances of winning.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Filling out Your Bracket

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  1. 1

    Choose your preferred scoring system. There are many different ways to score a March Madness bracket. The most common method is to award 1 point for correct predictions in the first round, 2 in the second round, 4 in the third, 8 in the fourth, 16 in the fifth, and 32 in the sixth and final round. However, you could also go with a point scheme like 1-2-3-4-5-6 to make each round weighted more evenly.[1]

    • ESPN tracks March Madness brackets using a 10-20-40-80-160-320 scoring system. However, this is no different from a standard 1-2-4-8-16-32 system, as each point value is just multiplied by 10.[2]
    • Many simplified office pools award a single point for each correct prediction, meaning the player with the most accurate guesses at the end of the tournament is most likely to win.[3]
  2. 2

    Look up the seed numbers for each of the participating teams. Knowing a teams' seed number is important for confirming that their placement on your bracket corresponds to their scheduled matchups in the tournament. You can find a complete list of team seeds on the NCAA website.[4]

    • "Seeds" are essentially rankings that show where each team falls in their respective division. Each division has 16 teams, and they're seeded from 1 to 16.[5]
    • Seed numbers change every season, so make sure the listing you're looking at is up-to-date.

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  3. 3

    Enter the names of the participating teams in the first round column. When you look at your blank bracket, you’ll see 32 numbered lines running down either side of the page. These numbers correspond to a given team’s seed number within their region. Write in the name of each NCAA team on the line that matches their seed number.[6]

    • You'll use these seed pairings to predict which teams you think will advance in the tournament.
    • In the first round of games, high seeds play against low seeds. The #1 seed in each division will play the #16 seed, the #2 seed will play the #15 seed, #3 will play #14, and so on.[7]
  4. 4

    Predict a winner for each game. Go down the list of the 64 teams and decide which out of each pairing will win their first round game. Once you’ve made your choice, write the name of your predicted winner on the next line in the bracket. From there, you’ll go on to choose a winner for each game in the subsequent rounds of the tournament.[8]

    • For the first round of action, you’ll be predicting 32 teams that you think have the best chance of moving onto the second round. In the second round, you’ll select 16 of those 32 winners, and so on.
    • It’s usually a good idea to make safe predictions in the first couple rounds to ensure that you end up with as many points as possible by the higher stakes rounds. A #16 seed is unlikely to beat a #1 seed, for instance, so picking the #1 seed will give you the best chance of scoring.[9]
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Part 2

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Keeping Score

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  1. 1

    Note the winner of each game on your bracket. The simplest way to do this is to circle correct predictions or cross out incorrect ones. You’ll need to do this after each and every game, so be sure to keep up with the March Madness play schedule and update your bracket regularly.[10]

    • The tournament unfolds in 6 rounds of games. After each round, half the number of teams from the previous round will move on until only two teams remain.
    • You can also highlight the names of the winning teams to make them more visible at a glance.[11]
  2. 2

    Award yourself points for correct predictions. If the scoring system you’re using awards 1 point for first round wins, you would receive 1 point for each team you have circled on the second round column of your bracket. You would get 2 points for each of your second round victories, 3 or 4 for the third round (depending on the exact scoring system you’re using) and so on until you reach the last round.

    • Put the number of points you receive for each correct prediction in parentheses next to the circled team name, or tally them up on a separate sheet of paper.
    • The sixth and final round of the tournament is worth the most points in the majority of scoring systems—with a standard 1-2-4-8-16-32 scheme, it’s possible to win 32 points (the maximum number for each individual round) just by correctly guessing the outcome of the final game.[12]
  3. 3

    Add up your points for each correct pick to get your final score. Using a standard 1-2-4-8-16-32 scoring system, you’ll score your bracket out of a possible 192 points. The player with the highest number of points at the end of the tournament wins their pool.[13]

    • To calculate the total number of points available in each round according to different scoring systems, simply multiply the point scheme for that round by the number of winning teams.
    • In a 1-2-3-4-5-6 system, for instance, your score will be out of 128 total points, while in a 1-1-1-1-1 system it will be out of 63.
  4. 4

    Determine the winner of your pool. Once you've got your final score tallied up, compare it with those of the people you're playing against to see who had the most accurate predictions. If you're playing in a casual office pool, the task of reviewing players' brackets and declaring a winner will usually be assigned to an impartial third party.[14]

    • Official pools often have closed online scoring systems in place to prevent the possibility of cheating. In these pools, you'll simply fill out your bracket, make your predictions, and let the moderators take care of the rest.[15]
    • It's not necessary to enter an official pool in order to follow the action of March Madness. Many players like to fill out their own brackets alone or with a small group of friends just for fun.
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Tweaking Your Bracket Scoring

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  1. 1

    Try out other scoring systems. 1-2-4-8-16-32, 1-2-3-4-5-6, and 1-1-1-1-1-1 are the most common point schemes used for scoring March Madness brackets, but they’re not the only ones. You can also find pools running systems like 1-2-3-4-6-10, 2-3-5-8-13-21, and 2-3-5-7-10-50.[16]

    • You could even make up your own custom scoring system for a pool you’re running with your friends.
    • Different systems award different numbers of points for different stages of the tournament. This means that some systems reward players more for correction predictions in the early rounds, while some put more emphasis on the last few games.
  2. 2

    Enter pools based on your play style to better your chances. If you tend to choose winners based on statistical probability, sticking to pools that are weighted more evenly will allow you to rack up points for each correct prediction you make. If you’re a lucky guesser, on the other hand, you might fare better in a pool that uses a system where the final round is worth more than the others.[17]

    • By being more selective of the pools you participate in, you can essentially shift the determining factor toward either skill or chance.
  3. 3

    Use bonus points or multipliers to make your pool more interesting. Up the stakes by awarding twice the number of points to players who correctly predict an upset. Alternatively, you could reward players for taking a chance on the underdog by multiplying the point value for the round by the winning team’s seed number.[18]

    • With a seed multiplier, a correct #1 seed pick right in the first round would only be worth 1 point, while getting a #16 pick right would net you 16 points.[19]
    • If you decide to add bonus points or multipliers, you won’t be able to take part in larger pools with fixed scoring systems.
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  • Question

    How is a March Madness bracket organized?

    Ryan Tremblay
    Basketball Coach

    Ryan Tremblay is a Basketball Coach and the Owner of National Sports ID and STACK Basketball. With over 30 years of experience, Ryan specializes in basketball coaching, social media marketing, and website design. Ryan created the National Sports ID as a platform to verify the age/grade of youth athletes and STACK Basketball to inspire young athletes to grow into mature individuals and basketball players. Ryan was a First Team All-Decade basketball player in Bergen County and finished in the top 20 all-time leading scorers in the county’s history with 1,730 points. He went on to Caldwell University on a basketball scholarship where he was part of three championship teams. Ryan was a two-time All-Metropolitan, All-State, and All-Conference point guard and the all-time three-point leader in the school’s history, landing him in the Caldwell University Athletic Hall of Fame.

    Ryan Tremblay

    Basketball Coach

    Expert Answer

    It's based on ranking. There are 4 regions, and there are 16 teams for each region, seeded by their ranks. Then, they're matched up based on those rankings, so #1 plays #16, bracket #2 plays #15, #3 plays #14, and so on. Then, the winners of those matches play each other until there's a champion.

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      Tips

      • You can find blank March Madness brackets online ready to be printed and filled out.[20]

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      • No scoring system is inherently better than another. The system you go with will depend mostly on how you’ve agreed to do things in your pool.

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      • As of 2011, there are now 68 teams participating in March Madness which adds 4 “play-in” games to the tournament. However, most players don’t include these games on their brackets, opting instead to wait until the 64 starting teams have been decided.

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      Things You’ll Need

      • Printable March Madness bracket
      • Pen or pencil
      • Calculator
      • March Madness results
      • Highlighter (optional)

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      More References (11)

      1. https://www.printyourbrackets.com/bracket-scoring.html
      2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mN4q9tvTqU&feature=youtu.be&t=358
      3. https://www.teamrankings.com/blog/ncaa-tournament/bracket-pool-scoring
      4. https://healthfully.com/score-march-madness-brackets-8123089.html
      5. https://www.printyourbrackets.com/howtomarchmadness.html
      6. https://www.boydsbets.com/ncaa-tournament-bracket-contests/
      7. https://www.teamrankings.com/blog/ncaa-tournament/bracket-pool-scoring
      8. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-math-do-you-need-to-win-your-march-madness-pool/
      9. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2013/03/ncaa_bracket_2013_bored_with_your_tourney_pool_here_are_11_alternate_ways.html
      10. https://www.printyourbrackets.com/bracket-scoring.html
      11. https://www.printyourbrackets.com/images/pdfmarchmadness.pdf

      About This Article

      How to Score a March Madness Bracket: 11 Steps (with Pictures) (29)

      Co-authored by:

      Ryan Tremblay

      Basketball Coach

      This article was co-authored by Ryan Tremblay. Ryan Tremblay is a Basketball Coach and the Owner of National Sports ID and STACK Basketball. With over 30 years of experience, Ryan specializes in basketball coaching, social media marketing, and website design. Ryan created the National Sports ID as a platform to verify the age/grade of youth athletes and STACK Basketball to inspire young athletes to grow into mature individuals and basketball players. Ryan was a First Team All-Decade basketball player in Bergen County and finished in the top 20 all-time leading scorers in the county’s history with 1,730 points. He went on to Caldwell University on a basketball scholarship where he was part of three championship teams. Ryan was a two-time All-Metropolitan, All-State, and All-Conference point guard and the all-time three-point leader in the school’s history, landing him in the Caldwell University Athletic Hall of Fame. This article has been viewed 262,775 times.

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      Co-authors: 16

      Updated: March 27, 2022

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      Categories: Basketball

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      How to Score a March Madness Bracket: 11 Steps (with Pictures) (2024)

      FAQs

      How do I score my March Madness bracket? ›

      The most common method is to award 1 point for correct predictions in the first round, 2 in the second round, 4 in the third, 8 in the fourth, 16 in the fifth, and 32 in the sixth and final round. However, you could also go with a point scheme like 1-2-3-4-5-6 to make each round weighted more evenly.

      What is the Fibonacci scoring system for March Madness? ›

      2-3-5-8-13-21. This scoring system is also known as “Fibonacci,” named after the badass 13th century Italian mathematician who introduced the numerical sequence to Western European mathematics. The concept here is that each round value is worth the sum of the previous two round values.

      How to make a March Madness bracket for beginners? ›

      Create a Bracket on ESPN.com

      From the Tournament Challenge Frontpage click on the "Create A Bracket" button. A confirmation panel will pop up with options to either Create a Group or Join a Group. Click on the "x" to dismiss the confirmation.

      What are the odds of getting the March Madness bracket 100% correct? ›

      The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are one in 9.2 quintillion. Written out, that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.

      How to score brackets by hand? ›

      Here is the most common scoring system for brackets... Go through your bracket starting with the First Round (aka Round of 64) matchups and award one point for each correct guess. Then move to the Second Round (aka Round of 32) and work through each matchup awarding two points for picking the correct winner.

      Has anyone had a perfect March Madness bracket? ›

      No, but a neurologist from Columbus, Ohio, named Gregg Nigl had the verified bracket closest to perfection. Back in 2019, he correctly guessed the first 49 games of the men's tournament until then-No. 3 ranked Purdue defeated No. 2 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 — ending his bid for perfection.

      How do you calculate March Madness probability? ›

      To calculate the total number of ways that a player may fill out a bracket, you would need to take the total number of possible outcomes for each game (two) and multiply it out 67 times: (2 × 2 × 2… × 2, or 2^67). The odds of projecting all 67 winners is one in more than 147 quintillion.

      What is the best Fibonacci golden ratio? ›

      The golden ratio of 1.618 – the magic number – gets translated into three percentages: 23.6%, 38.2% and 61.8%. These are the three most popular percentages, although some traders will also look at the 50% and 76.4% levels.

      How do you solve Fibonacci patterns? ›

      The Fibonacci sequence formula deals with the Fibonacci sequence, finding its missing terms. The Fibonacci formula is given as, Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2, where n > 1. It is used to generate a term of the sequence by adding its previous two terms.

      How do you explain March Madness bracket? ›

      The March Madness bracket is the visual representation of all the teams in the tournament and the path they have to follow to the Final Four and the championship game.

      What app should I use for March Madness bracket? ›

      What is the best March Madness app?
      March Madness appStreaming in appBracket challenge
      NCAA March Madness LiveYesYes; 25 per person limit
      ESPN Tournament ChallengeYesYes; 25 per person limit
      CBS SportsYesYes; 10 per person limit
      Mar 19, 2023

      How do you coordinate a March Madness bracket? ›

      Distribute the Bracket

      Pass the printed brackets out to friends, family, and co-workers. Each person is to completely fill in the bracket with the team they think will win each game. For a tie breaker have each person write down what they think the total number of points scored in the championship game will be.

      Who was the first 16 seed to beat a 1? ›

      16 seeds since the NCAA tournament expanded its field in 1985. UMBC became the first 16 seed ever to upset a No. 1 seed in 2018, when the Retrievers defeated Virginia and became an overnight sensation. In 2023, FDU became just the second 16 seed to knock off a No.

      Are any brackets still perfect? ›

      2024. The final perfect men's bracket almost made it through the first round, but No. 8 Utah State's win against No. 9 TCU busted the last standing bracket on the 31st game of the tournament.

      How many people have predicted a perfect March Madness bracket? ›

      There has never been a perfect bracket that correctly guessed the outcome of all 63 games in the tournament, despite millions and millions of brackets submitted each year.

      How does NCAA March Madness bracket work? ›

      Four of those teams are eliminated in the opening round of the tournament (known as the First Four), leaving us with a field of 64 for the first round. Those 64 teams are split into four regions of 16 teams each, with each team being ranked 1 through 16. That ranking is the team's seed.

      How to run a March Madness bracket pool? ›

      Bracket Pool Rules

      This is the pool format most people are familiar with: Members pick all 63 games of the NCAA tournament (15 games if you run a Sweet 16 pool). Points are awarded for each winning pick. Points values increase as the tournament progresses (points per round are configurable by the Pool Commissioner).

      What is the key to the March Madness bracket? ›

      Picking early upsets correctly is key to winning your bracket. Even more important is not losing a team that ends up making a deep run. There are six rounds of NCAA play, and the stakes double with each round in Yahoo's tourney game (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 points).

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