5 March Madness bracket tips from SN's experts An incorrect prediction in any of the First Four play-in games will not result in penalties or lost points.ġ5 vs. Keep this in mind as you make your picks.įirst Four games are not typically used in scoring, which begins in Round 1. For example, simply predicting the correct NCAA Tournament champion is worth as many points for your bracket (32) as a perfect first round. This scoring method places greater weight on correct predictions further into the tournament. The most common scoring method features one point for every correct prediction in the first round two points for every prediction in the second round four points for the Sweet 16 eight points for the Elite Eight 16 points for the Final Four and 32 points for picking the NCAA champion.
Predict the score of the championship game as a final potential tiebreaker with anyone who may have the same score as you by the end of the tournament.From there, repeat the process until you have predicted the entire tournament throughout the first and second rounds, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and NCAA championship game.Pick which team you expect to win the first round and have them advance to the second by writing their name on the ensuing matchup line.
The first round will be determined by the NCAA selection committee on a seeding system: A 1-seed (considered the best team in its region), will play a 16-seed (considered the worst), a 2-seed will play a 15-seed, and so on.Your bracket will consist of 64 teams - after completion of the First Four play-in games - divided evenly among the West, Midwest, East and South regions.
EXPERT PICKS: DeCourcy (Arizona) | Bender (Kentucky) | Fagan (Gonzaga) | Pohnl (Arizona) How to fill out a March Madness bracket