How to Make a March Madness Tournament Bracket
Gather your supplies., Verify necessary bracket information., Draw the bracket slots., Fill in and update your bracket as the tournament is played.
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Gather your supplies.
If you’re making a bracket for a large event, you might want to write it out on a large piece of poster board so it’s easier to see.
You may already have many of these supplies in your home, but if not, a quick trip to your local grocery or convenience store should provide you with:
Eraser (optional) Paper Ruler (or other straight edge; optional) Writing utensil(s) -
Step 2: Verify necessary bracket information.
Find out the names of all teams involved in this year’s tournament.
The initial seed list, which specifies the starting pairings for teams, will be necessary for filling in the round one matchups.
Listed along with team information should an assigned division:
East, Midwest, West, and South.
Teams only play against others in their division until the last round.
The official March Madness information can be found on the NCAA homepage and official sports networks, like ESPN and Fox Sports., You’ll need a total of 126 slots, but your first column will only contain 64, one for each team involved in round one.
Each pair of slots represents a matchup of two teams.
There is only a single winner per matchup, so a single slot should follow each pair of slots until there is only one slot – the champion.Prior to round one, the eight lowest seeded teams will play four games amongst themselves.
The top four teams move on to round one.
Each March Madness tournament is comprised of five main rounds:
Round One (round of 64), Round Two (round of 32), the Sweet 16 (round of 16), the Elite 8 (semi-finals), the Final Four (finals).
Spacing out your brackets can be difficult by eye alone.
Use your ruler to divide the paper evenly and to draw lines for each slot.
Grid paper may be the easiest to draw your bracket on.
Simply follow grid lines to draw straight lines for team slots., Write the round one seeds in the first column of 64 slots.
With each successive round, only half of the teams will move on.
Write the round two winners in the round two column.
Continue in this fashion until the champion is decided.
The odds of predicting the correct bracket are very slim, but some sports oriented websites, including the NCAA, have online prediction tools to help you. -
Step 3: Draw the bracket slots.
-
Step 4: Fill in and update your bracket as the tournament is played.
Detailed Guide
If you’re making a bracket for a large event, you might want to write it out on a large piece of poster board so it’s easier to see.
You may already have many of these supplies in your home, but if not, a quick trip to your local grocery or convenience store should provide you with:
Eraser (optional) Paper Ruler (or other straight edge; optional) Writing utensil(s)
Find out the names of all teams involved in this year’s tournament.
The initial seed list, which specifies the starting pairings for teams, will be necessary for filling in the round one matchups.
Listed along with team information should an assigned division:
East, Midwest, West, and South.
Teams only play against others in their division until the last round.
The official March Madness information can be found on the NCAA homepage and official sports networks, like ESPN and Fox Sports., You’ll need a total of 126 slots, but your first column will only contain 64, one for each team involved in round one.
Each pair of slots represents a matchup of two teams.
There is only a single winner per matchup, so a single slot should follow each pair of slots until there is only one slot – the champion.Prior to round one, the eight lowest seeded teams will play four games amongst themselves.
The top four teams move on to round one.
Each March Madness tournament is comprised of five main rounds:
Round One (round of 64), Round Two (round of 32), the Sweet 16 (round of 16), the Elite 8 (semi-finals), the Final Four (finals).
Spacing out your brackets can be difficult by eye alone.
Use your ruler to divide the paper evenly and to draw lines for each slot.
Grid paper may be the easiest to draw your bracket on.
Simply follow grid lines to draw straight lines for team slots., Write the round one seeds in the first column of 64 slots.
With each successive round, only half of the teams will move on.
Write the round two winners in the round two column.
Continue in this fashion until the champion is decided.
The odds of predicting the correct bracket are very slim, but some sports oriented websites, including the NCAA, have online prediction tools to help you.
About the Author
Diane Peterson
A passionate writer with expertise in creative arts topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: