A beginner’s guide to filling out your 2026 March Madness bracket with 5 simple tips

Welcome, budding bracketologists! By taking this step, you’ve decided to join the roughly 80 million people who enter a March Madness pool every year. As a first-timer, we imagine this week is both exciting and a bit daunting, which is why we’ve put together these Bracketology 101 course materials. Included is everything you need to know for a successful first run at picking the tournament, and some information to use if you need to convince people around the office you’ve secretly been an exper