The 2023 NCAA tournament is finally here, and what fun is March Madness without the bracket?
Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place. Sporting News has all types of college basketball fans covered with our 2022 NCAA Tournament Bracket in printable PDF, complete with the entire field of 68. Download, print, fill out, and start chatting to your peers .
This year’s tournament schedule begins with the First Four on March 14 in Dayton, Ohio. The Big Dance begins with Rounds 1 and 2 March 16-19 and concludes with the Final Four and National Championship games April 1-3 in Houston.
In addition to the printable bracket below, you’ll also find tips and tools to help you complete it, including tips and analysis from TSN expert writers.
MARCH MADNESS HQ by SN
Live NCAA Bracket | TV Schedule | prediction tool
Printable March Madness Bracket 2023
Download the Sporting News Printable NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF) by clicking here.
MORE: Sporting News’ latest March Madness Bracket projections
How to complete a March Madness bracket
- Your group consists of 64 teams – after completing the first four play-in games – evenly distributed across the West, Midwest, East and South regions.
- The first round is determined by the NCAA selection committee using a seeding system: a 1-set (considered the best team in its region) plays against a 16-set (considered the worst team), a 2-set plays against a 15-set -seeds, and so on. Select the team you expect to win the first round and let them advance to the second round by writing their name on the matchup line below.
- From there, repeat the process until you’ve predicted the entire tournament in Rounds 1 and 2, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and NCAA Championship Game.
- Predict the outcome of the championship game as the final potential tiebreaker with anyone who may end up tying the tournament with your score.
How does a March Madness Bracket work?
The most common scoring method is one point for each correct prediction in the first round; two points for each prediction in the second round; four points for the Sweet 16; eight points for the Elite Eight; 16 points for the Final Four; and 32 points for NCAA Champion selection.
This scoring method puts more emphasis on correct predictions as the tournament progresses. For example, simply predicting the correct NCAA tournament champion is worth as many points for your bracket (32) as a perfect first round. Keep that in mind when making your selection.
The first four games are not normally used for scoring, which begins in Round 1. A wrong prediction in any of the first four play-in games does not result in penalties or lost points.
HISTORY OF ORIGINS THROUGH SEEDS:
15 against 2 | 14 against 3 | 13 against 4 | 12 against 5
March Madness Bracket tips from SN experts
So you printed a bracket. Need a hand to fill in? The Sporting News staff, college basketball pundits, will fill out their own brackets on selection Sunday and share the method to their madness. In the meantime, here is a list of tools to help you win your office pool.
Bracket prediction tool: Our friends at TeamRankings offer a handy free comparison tool to help you fill out your rankings.
Play the odds when you select Final Four, national champions: Don’t get cute. Your Final Four should contain a lot of chalk.
March madness schedule 2023
The 2023 NCAA tournament begins March 14-15 with the first four play-in games. The first and second rounds take place on March 16-19, followed by the Sweet 16 (March 23-24) and Elite Eight (March 25-26) a week later. This year’s Final Four will take place April 1-3 in Houston.
| Round | Events |
| First Four | 14-15 March |
| round 1 | 16-17 March |
| round 2 | 18-19 March |
| sweet 16 | 23-24 March |
| Elite Eight | 25-26 March |
| last four | April 1st |
| National Championship | 3rd of April |
More NCAA tournament news from Sporting News
Sporting News’ 2022-23 College Basketball All-Americans: SN’s Mike DeCourcy names the top 15 players of the 2022-23 college basketball season.
Sports News Player of the Year: Purdue’s Zach Edey joins rare company as the winner of the award, which includes legends such as George Mikan (1945) and Bob Kurland (1946), repeat winners Oscar Robertson (1958-60) and Michael Jordan (1983 and 1984 ) as well as Purdues include one of the previous winners, Glenn Robinson, in 1994.
Sports News Coach of the Year: Texas’ Rodney Terry unexpectedly took over as head coach when Chris Beard was fired in January. How he’s dealt with the aftermath and held together the Longhorns, who have gone 16-7 since Beard’s firing, made Terry the obvious choice for the 2022-23 Coach of the Year honor.
The 37 best teams not to win the NCAA tournament: Sporting News picks teams from the past three decades who haven’t delivered a title. Which was the best?
March Madness Cinderella Players We’ll Never Forget: Stephen Curry is among the greatest Cinderella players in March Madness history, but he’s not number 1 on our list.
Most Hated College Basketball Players of All Time: Sporting News takes a look at the most hated college hoop players of all time. Don’t worry, there’s a lot of Duke on this list.
The 10 best schools without a Final Four appearance: Who are the best schools not to make the Final Four since the start of the 64-team era in 1984-85?
The best college players who never made it to the NCAA tournament: Say hello to Ben Simmons, Noah Vonleh, Nerlens Noel, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and others who watched March Madness on TV. It’s quite a list.