Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Pitt played their way into the main bracket with victories on Tuesday night’s First Four action in Dayton. Fairleigh Dickinson, Texas Southern, Nevada and Arizona State will try and join them Wednesday evening, but no matter what happens, things get real on Thursday as the action kicks off in earnest.
There has been a lot of content flying around and it can be hard to keep track of all the advice.
Don’t panic. The FTW crew has you covered with this handy guide to point you in the direction of all the answers your endless questions require. March is certainly madness, but you can rest easy knowing all the hard work has been completed for you.
Help me fill out my bracket!
Let’s start off with the most basic problem every March: how do you pick winners from a pool of 68 teams when the matchups get increasingly more difficult to predict?
Start here:
- Print out a bracket for the men’s side here. Print out a bracket for the women’s side here.
- Consider the key injuries and momentum of each team in the men’s tournament.
- Consider filling out a bracket based on each team’s NBA-caliber talent.
- Or fill out a bracket without letting yourself overthink things.
- Keep in mind there’s a pretty rigid outline of which teams are capable of cutting down the nets.
- And remember a perfect bracket is virtually impossible so don’t let a few mistakes get in your head.
- But there are many ways to get in on the fun of March Madness without filling out a bracket.
THE BRACKETS ARE BACK! The USA TODAY Sports Bracket Challenge is back! $1 MILLION grand prize for a perfect bracket, $25,000 prize for top bracket. Free to enter, 21+. Terms apply, void where prohibited by law. See Official Rules. Play now!
Ok, but which teams are going to make the Final Four?
- The FTW staff picked their Final Four here. The most common picks: Kansas, Duke, Houston, Texas, Alabama and Marquette.
- Beware of these four teams that have the toughest paths to the national championship.
- NBA legend Reggie Miller is pretty sold on these teams reaching the Final Four.
- Could Iowa spoil South Carolina’s quest to repeat on the women’s side?
Let's talk upsets: Which teams are going home early?
- Here’s 1 upset to expect in each region.
- Oddsmakers are also concerned these 3 teams were under-seeded and have them favored against higher-seeded opponents.
- In the women’s bracket, oddsmakers expect these 5 teams to pull off first-round upsets.
- These times won’t just be responsible for 1 upset. Here are 5 Cinderella candidates on the mens side and 4 on the women’s side.
Help me bet on these games!
- Live (and updated!) odds for each team on the men’s bracket to reach the Final Four and reach the national championship.
- Live (and updated!) odds for each team on the women’s side to win the national championship (hint: its South Carolina vs. The Field).
- 5 bets to avoid at all costs
- The best bets in each region:
- Worried you’ll bet on the wrong team? Good news, that just means you’re part of the majority.
