Welcome to March Madness. For the next month, college basketball will dominate the sports world as the 2025 NCAA tournament takes center stage. 68 teams will compete for a chance to etch their names into history by winning the national championship. If this is your first time watching the tournament, get ready to hear this word repeated constantly: bracket.
Filling out a bracket is becoming a yearly tradition for many Americans. In a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about one-quarter of Americans fill out a men’s bracket “every year” or “some years.” A portion of these Americans may not know anything about college basketball. That’s OK. You can watch all the college basketball in the world, and it might not matter because ultimately, the bracket is a game of chance.
Below are some beginner tips and tricks to follow when filling out your brackets.
How to read the bracket
The above picture is the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship bracket. Right now, there are 68 teams listed on the bracket. After the First Four ends on Wednesday night, the bracket will have 64 teams. The goal is to pick the winner of each game.
There are four quadrants, or regions. Each region has schools ranked from No. 1 to No. 16. The goal for each school is to win their region and get to the Final Four. The region winners on the left and right will play each other, with the winners moving to the championship. The winner of that game will be the national champion.
Let’s look at the West Region’s first game (bottom left on the bracket): No. 1 Florida (30-4) vs. No. 16 Norfolk State (24-10). “No. 1” is the seed, and “30-4” is the team’s record. No. 1 is the higher seed, so that’s Florida. You can pick either Florida or Norfolk State to win. However, No. 1 seeds rarely lose to No. 16 seeds. No. 1 seeds are 154-2 all-time against No. 16. The most recent upset victory came in 2023 when No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson defeated No. 1 Purdue.
You’ll notice in some regions that there are two teams listed in a matchup. No. 6. Ole Miss will play No. 11 San Diego St./No. 11 North Carolina in the South Region. San Diego St. and North Carolina will play in the First Four. The winner of that game will face No. 6 Ole Miss. You do not have to pick the winner of San Diego State and North Carolina. However, you can pick that winner to beat Ole Miss if that’s your decision.
Where can I complete my bracket?
Be honest 🤣
Fill out as many as you answer now ➡️ https://t.co/aa9P9fLwqP#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/eYx7bP7KVL
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 17, 2025
NCAA.com has a printable and interactive bracket. There are various tournament challenges you can enter for free. The NCAA Men’s Bracket Challenge, ESPN Tournament Challenge, and CBS Sports Bracket Challenge are some of the more popular internet contests. The grand prizes range from prize money to future trips to the Final Four. The submission deadline for most pools is before the first game at 12:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 20.
Tips for filling out a bracket
Here's how each higher seed has fared in the Round of 64 in recent years 🥊#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ZGsQd5ssLj
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 17, 2025
The objective for every pool or contest you enter is virtually the same: pick the winners for every game. However, the scoring can vary for each contest, so please read the rules before signing up. Generally speaking, players accumulate points in every round for each winner. However, more points are usually awarded for picking winners in later rounds. In other words, the closer a game is to the national championship, the more points available to win. Knowing this, picking the correct champion and having as many teams as possible in the later rounds can be the difference between winning and losing.
What makes March Madness unique from other tournaments are the upsets, especially in the first two rounds. An upset occurs when a higher seed defeats a lower seed. For example, a popular upset pick will be a No. 11 seed over a No. 6 seed. Per the NCAA, a No. 11 seed has defeated a No. 6 seed 61 times (39.1%) since 1985. Therefore, picking at least one No. 11 seed to defeat a No. 6 seed is a good move. Most upsets occur in the first round — 8.5 per tournament since 1985.
Don’t get addicted to picking upsets. The favorites are favored for a reason. The lowest seed to ever make it to the Final Four is No. 11. No. 12-No. 16 have never made it to the Final Four, so while it would be cool to have the bracket with a No. 13 in the championship, it’s never happened.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
🚨 TIP TIMES 🚨
👉 https://t.co/i7SSGAvjyu pic.twitter.com/DlUBMj65Lp
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 17, 2025
Here are the dates for every round of the NCAA Tournament:
- First Four: March 18-19
- First round: March 20-21
- Second round: March 22-23
- Sweet 16: March 27-28
- Elite Eight: March 29-30
- Final Four: April 5
- NCAA championship game: April 7
Men’s March Madness coverage can be found on CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV. Every game can be streamed in the March Madness Live app using a TV provider. TNT, TBS, and truTV games can be streamed with Max , while CBS games can be found on Paramount+ .
