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The Duke mascot performs during a game against Louisville in the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. | Chris Carlson
March Madness is almost here, which means it’s officially bracket season.
One of the best parts of March Madness is that you don’t have to be a basketball junkie to join in on the fun. Casual fans are welcome.
From the tournament format to when your completed bracket is due, here’s everything you need to know to participate in March Madness this year.
Who are the top seeds?
The Auburn Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars and Florida Gators make up the No. 1 seeds in the men’s tournament.
UCLA, defending champs South Carolina, USC and Texas are the No. 1 seeds for the women’s tournament.
What is the tournament format for March Madness?
March Madness is a six-round, single-elimination tournament.
But before the first round of the tournament, there’s the First Four.
During the First Four, eight teams compete to determine which four teams will advance and take the final four spots in the main tournament.
The men’s First Four games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday night.
The women’s First Four games will be played Wednesday and Thursday night.
March Madness officially starts with the first round, when the No. 1 seed in each region plays the No. 16 seed, the No. 2 seed plays the No. 15 seed and so forth.
The first round’s 32 winning teams advance to the second round, and the winners of the second round games advance to the Sweet 16, then the Elite Eight, then the Final Four and finally the national championship.
The men’s Final Four semifinal games will be played on April 5, and the tournament will culminate with the national championship on April 7.
The women’s Final Four will take place April 4 ahead of the national championship on April 6.
When is the deadline to fill out my bracket?
If you’re wanting to participate in March Madness by guessing winners and taking part in a bracket contest, you’ll have to finish filling out your bracket before the first round starts.
The first game of the men’s first round tips off Thursday at 10:15 a.m. MDT, according to Yahoo Sports.
The first game of the women’s first round tips off Friday at 9:30 a.m. MDT, per USA Today.
How to fill out the perfect bracket — and is it possible?
No one has ever had a perfect bracket. Before you start daydreaming about being the first, you should know, it’s not going to happen.
While the odds aren’t zero, they’re pretty low.
According to the NCAA, if you fill out your bracket by guessing or flipping a coin, your chances of a perfect bracket are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 — that’s one in 9.2 quintillion.
How big is 9.2 quintillion?
With there being 31.6 million seconds in a year, 9.2 quintillion seconds would be equal to 292 billion years, according to the NCAA. Or, you could walk the Earth’s circumference of roughly 1.58 billion inches 5.8 billion times.
Your odds are slightly better if you have some basketball knowledge, but your chances are still only 1 in 120.2 billion, per the NCAA.
Knowing that your chances of perfection are quite slim, there are multiple ways to fill out your bracket.
You could use AI, flip a coin, pick the team with the cooler mascot, go off of metrics (such as KenPom or NCAA Evaluation Tool) or use “the chalk” method.
When you’re “picking chalk,” you’re picking the higher seed in each matchup.
Picking chalk is a safe way to start because the higher seeds win approximately 70% of the time, according to The Athletic. Of the past 39 March Madness tournaments, 34 were won by a team that was at least a No. 3 seed. Twenty-five of those winners were a No. 1 seed.
But a word of caution if that’s the route you take: Upsets are bound to happen and they will kill your perfect bracket.
The men’s tournament averages 8.5 upsets each year, per the NCAA. But there’s been as few as three upsets (2007) and as many as 14, which happened in both 2021 and 2022.
With all of this information in mind, good luck as you enjoy the madness of March.
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