Selection Sunday has come and gone, so it’s officially time to start filling out your March Madness bracket.
There are 68 teams in the field this year, all with the hopes of lifting the National Championship trophy at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 6.
Below, we’ll examine the 2026 March Madness bracket, which you can print out for your office pools.
March Madness Men’s Printable Bracket
⬇️ March Madness Bracket Printable PDF
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What is March Madness?
March Madness is one of the marquee events on the North American sports calendar.
The 68-team, single-elimination tournament crowns the champion of Division 1 men’s college basketball and is widely admired for its buzzer-beaters, Cinderella stories, and dramatic upsets.
The NCAA Tournament features 67 games over a three-week span, culminating in the National Championship Game.
🏀 Betting on the tournament? Check out our favorite March Madness betting apps.
March Madness 2026 tips off with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. From there, the tournament splits into four regional brackets, each featuring 16 teams.
First and second-round games will be contested at eight neutral sites over the first weekend, setting the table for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 at four regional sites the following weekend.
The 2026 NCAA Tournament concludes at the Final Four, which returns to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this year.
How Does a March Madness Bracket Work?
March Madness brackets are pretty straightforward.
If you’re joining a March Madness bracket contest, the goal is to score the most points by getting the most correct picks.
🏀 Use our March Madness winner odds to fill out your bracket with confidence.
Traditionally, each round is weighted, and the correct number of points doubles after each round. This way, you get more credit for correctly picking teams that reach the Final Four or win the National Championship.
ESPN’s Tournament Challenge awards 10 points for every correctly picked first-round game, 20 for second-round games, 40 for the Sweet 16, 80 for the Elite 8, 160 for each Final Four game, and 320 points if your pre-tournament national champion cuts down the nets.
How to Fill Out a March Madness Bracket
Filling out a March Madness bracket is easy.
Since it’s a single-elimination tournament, you’re just picking the winner of each game all the way through the National Championship.
Research is generally a good idea, but it doesn’t always help, as there’s always one or two tournament favorites who go home early.
Follow these three simple steps when filling out a March Madness bracket:
- Print out your bracket.
- Pick a team to win each game.
- Watch the games and root for your teams to win.
March Madness Bracket Fun Facts
Winning a bracket pool isn’t as easy as loading up your picks with better-seeded teams.
There will invariably be upsets, and there’s a good chance yours will get busted by some underdog in the first weekend. Little-known St. Peter’s University from the MAAC stole the show and spoiled many a bracket by upsetting three higher seeds to advance to the Elite Eight in 2022.
Here are some facts and tips to consider before filling out your bracket:
- The odds of filling out a perfect bracket — correctly picking the winner of all 63 tournament games (excluding the First Four) — are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
- Even though a No. 1 seed has won the championship in 14 of the past 18 tournaments dating back to 2007, only twice (2005 and 2025) have all four top seeds reached the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
- The overall No. 1 seed, aka the top team in the country entering the tournament, has only won the championship four times since 2004.
- A No. 16 seed has defeated a No. 1 twice (UMBC over Virginia in 2018 and Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue in 2023)
- Only 11 No. 15 seeds have defeated No. 2 teams, with the most recent being Princeton’s 2023 upset of Arizona.
- Always pick at least one 12-seed to beat a No. 5. At least one No. 12 seed has won a game in 34 of 40 tournaments, including two in 2025 (Colorado State and McNeese)
- Upsets don’t stop after the first round. A double-digit seed has reached the Sweet 16 in 38 of the last 40 tournaments, including each of the past 17.
- Wait until the First Four ends to fill out your bracket. A First Four team has reached the second round in 12 of 14 tournaments. Five have reached the Sweet 16, and two (UCLA in 2021 and VCU in 2011) have reached the Final Four.
Are There Any Online Sportsbooks With Bracket Pools?
Bracket challenges are widely available on media sites like ESPN, Yahoo, and CBS, and online sportsbooks have gotten in on the fun, too.
FanDuel and DraftKings typically let users participate in office-pool style bracket challenges, with cash prizes for users who reach a certain points threshold.
And if you’re betting on March Madness, be sure to check out our best college basketball bets today throughout the duration of the tournament.
