I didn't used to watch the tournament. I said it was because I didn't follow college basketball, so what was the point? I wouldn't know any of the teams or players. Which was true!
But if I'm being honest, it was because I didn't understand it. I didn't know what it meant to "make a bracket" nor how I would do that if I'd never even heard of half the schools. I went to a nerd college whose sports are not televised.
If you've always been curious but too afraid to ask, here's a little crash course of the basic terms and, if you're feeling up for it, how you might give it a go. (Did I miss an FAQ? Leave a comment below or email me)
What is March Madness?
- It's a tournament
- Specifically, it's the end-of-season tournament for the top college teams, technically called the "NCAA Division 1 Tournament"
- The First Round is 64 teams, and 32 of them win and move on to the Second Round. 16 of those teams win and move on to the Sweet Sixteen, then the Elite Eight, then the Final Four, and then the Finals. One team wins it all!
Why do people like it so much?
- It's a single-elimination tournament. You lose one game and you're out. Because any team can have a bad day, this leads to some really wild and unpredictable upsets!
- Contrast this with formats like the NBA playoffs, where each matchup is a "best of seven." That means the same two teams play until one team has four wins—they advance to the next round and the losing team is eliminated. More games means more revenue and lower outcome variance, and changes the coaching strategies, but I digress.
What does it mean to "make a bracket"?
- The "bracket" is what the tournament structure looks like if you write it down. It's shaped like a branching tree, where the 64 entering teams are at the leaves, and it gets smaller and smaller as teams are eliminated until you're left with just one game at the center—the Finals
- When you "make a bracket" you're handed a bracket with the first round teams filled in, and you guess who will win each matchup, all the way through the Finals game. Everyone in your "pool" makes their own bracket, and then as the tournament goes on, you're awarded points for any correct predictions
- Sometimes there's a nominal entry fee, like $5-20, and the winner of your pool gets the pot
Why do people bother with the brackets?
- Because it's really darn fun! Like magic, it makes you feel invested in the teams, and gives you something to root for in each game. Just try it
- I recently learned about Super Bowl Squares, maybe the least-skilled form of gambling I've ever seen, and was floored by how fun it suddenly was to watch football! It really makes a difference.
But I don't know anything about college basketball, what if I get a pick wrong?
- Literally no one has ever gotten a bracket fully correct. Warren Buffet has had a standing offer to pay $1 million for anyone who makes a perfect bracket, and no one has ever done it. Feel free to do the math. The odds are very low.
- And remember, you overachiever, the point of doing a bracket pool is not to get an A+, but to have fun with your friends, talk some trash, and to make watching the tournament more fun!
Do I need to follow college basketball (or basketball at all) to make a bracket?
- No! The bracket tools will give you some stats and info about the teams, or you can just go based on vibes. Totally up to you
- The teams are "seeded" which is a rough prediction of their ranking. The bracket is divided into four sections and each one has a seed numbered 1 (the best) through 16. So a 1-vs-16 game is easier to predict than a 8-vs-9 game.
- A common strategy is to go based on seeds, and then throw a few upset picks here and there
I want to try, but the season has already started. Is it too late??
- For a full bracket, you DO have to lock it in before the first game tips off
- I think Yahoo and ESPN have a "second chance" bracket that starts at the Sweet Sixteen, but haven't tried it myself yet