How to Score Bracket Points [Updated Guide]

What You Need to Know About Scoring Bracket Points

Getting your NCAA champion to pick correctly is worth 32 points

The best way to score a high number of points in a bracket contest is by getting your NCAA champion to pick correctly. This will allow you to make up for any loss you have in the first or second round. However, you have to consider the teams’ paths to the title game. Getting your pick correct is worth 32 points, and getting it wrong will cost you 15 points.

In terms of history, 13-seed teams have won 26 of the last 36 tournaments. However, in the previous 33 years, only three of those games featured multiple 13-seeds. Only two teams have been favored by fewer than three points in the first round against a 13-seed, and in the past two years, Providence opened as a two-point favorite over South Dakota State.

Getting your first-round games correct is worth 16 points

A perfect First Round can be the difference between a great tournament and a terrible one. Getting the right teams in the right games can mean the difference between winning your pool and going home empty-handed. For example, if you picked a No. 13 seed to win against a No. 4 seed, you would earn 10 points: one point for the first-round win, and nine bonus points for the seed difference. This is more than double the points you’d get if you picked a Final Four team, which is worth only eight points.

In the NCAA basketball tournament, there are 68 teams. The bracket contains the conference champions and the best 36 teams. It excludes teams that are unlucky enough to lose in the regular season. This means that your goal is to select the correct teams in the first round as well as hypothetical games that will be played later in the tournament.

Getting your Final Four games correct is worth the same as an Elite Eight game

The NCAA tournament has changed a great deal since the early days when four-seeds never made it past the Elite Eight. Now, there are three 1-seeds in the Final Four, two from the Big East and one from the Big 12. Since 2008, four no. 1 seeds have made the Final Four – 15 times more than the combined total of teams in the fourth through 16th seeds!

The tournament is no longer the same old tournament, with many surprises. The most recent perfect bracket came from an Ohio man who correctly predicted all 49 games. It’s the longest streak of a perfect bracket in the tournament. He also correctly predicted the winner of the Sweet 16 game, which Purdue won over Tennessee.

How to Score Bracket Points

Scoring bracket points in a tournament, such as March Madness for college basketball, typically involves assigning points for each correct prediction made in your bracket. The exact scoring system may vary depending on the specific rules of your pool or contest, but here’s a general guide to scoring bracket points:

Round-based scoring: For each correct pick in the first round, assign 1 point. In the second round, assign 2 points, and so on. In this system, the points double with each subsequent round. This is the most common scoring method used in bracket pools.
Seed-based scoring: In this method, you earn points based on the seed of the team you correctly predicted to win. For example, if you correctly picked a 12-seed team to win in the first round, you would receive 12 points.
Combination scoring: Some bracket pools use a combination of ground-based and seed-based scoring. For example, you may earn points based on the ground, as well as bonus points for correctly predicting upsets (lower-seeded teams defeating higher-seeded teams).
Custom scoring: In some pools or contests, custom scoring rules may apply. These could include awarding bonus points for predicting the total number of points scored in the championship game or the number of wins by a specific conference.

To score your bracket, simply tally up the points you’ve earned based on the specific rules of your pool or contest. Keep track of your points as the tournament progresses and compare your score with other participants. The participant with the most points at the end of the tournament wins the bracket pool.

Always remember to double-check the rules of your specific bracket pool or contest, as scoring systems can vary.

How to Score Bracket Points [Updated Guide]

What You Need to Know About Scoring Bracket Points

Getting your NCAA champion to pick correctly is worth 32 points

Getting your first-round games correct is worth 16 points

Getting your Final Four games correct is worth the same as an Elite Eight game