Printable NCAA Tournament Bracket 2015: Easy-to-Print Sheet with Tournament Tips

March Madness is officially in full gear with the release of the NCAA tournament bracket, and everyone from diehard college basketball fans to total novices can play along.

A big part of the NCAA tourney's charm is the fact that it even manages to captivate those who don't usually watch college basketball. There is something entertaining about filling out a bracket and following along, which is likely why March Madness has developed into such a phenomenon.

With the 2015 NCAA tournament finally on the precipice, here are all the tools you need to fill out a bracket of your own, including tips for how to succeed in your pool.

All Your Bracket Essentials

• Download the Printable Bracket
• Play the Free Bracket Challenge 

Key Tournament Information

Dates: March 17 through April 6

Channels: CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV

Live Stream: March Madness Live

Printable Bracket: Click Here

Bracket and Schedule

NCAA Tournament Tips

Don't Pick No. 16 Seeds

It may seem simple and obvious, but it needs to be said that a No. 16 seed should never be chosen over a No. 1 under any circumstances.

Inexperienced "bracketeers" may view such an upset as the perfect opportunity to get a leg up on the competition, but all it does is squander an easy selection. As pointed out by SportsCenter on Twitter last year, No. 1 seeds are a perfect 120-0 against their underdog counterparts in the opening round:

There is a first time for everything, and it is likely that a No. 16 will pull off the ultimate upset one day, but there is no sense in chasing it. Even if it happens in 2015, the fact of the matter is that almost everyone will be in the same boat in terms of picking that No. 1 seed to win.

A few contrarians will get it right, but the odds of the rest of their bracket succeeding aren't great anyway. 

In addition to that, this year's No. 1 seeds are all extremely strong teams that should have no problem getting through the Round of 64 with relative ease. All of them have legitimate Final Four potential, and the same simply can't be said for the No. 16 seeds.

Pick at Least One No. 12 over a No. 5

Perhaps the most popular upset pick on the bracket every year is the No. 12 over the No. 5. If it feels like a 12 knocks off a fifth-seeded team annually, that is because that has essentially been the case over the past three decades.

According to Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com, there has been at least one such upset in 27 of the past 30 years. Also, per Reid Cherner of USA Today prior to last year's tournament, No. 5 seeds had a winning percentage of just 65 percent in the opening round all time.

That number has since shrunk as a trio of 12th-seeded squads in the form of Stephen F. Austin, Harvard and North Dakota State came out on top in 2014.

No. 5 seeds are often tough to get a handle on due to the fact that they are either near the tail end of the Top 25 or just outside it. No. 12 seeds, on the other hand, tend to be top teams in unheralded conferences or teams that just made it into the tournament out of power conferences.

The former teams tend to enter the tournament with confidence, while the latter are battle tested. That makes for some tightly contested matchups that are conducive to upsets.

It wouldn't be wise to turn in a bracket without at least one No. 12 seed winning, and it can even be argued that putting two 12th seeds through to the second round is a wise strategy as well.

Pick at Least One No. 11 over a No. 6

It may not be quite as commonplace as a No. 12 seed beating a No. 5, but betting on a No. 11 over a No. 6 is pretty safe as well.

According to Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News, at least one No. 6 seed was upset in the first round for nine straight tournaments leading up to last year's edition. The streak was then extended to 10 when both Dayton and Tennessee made it to the second round.

Per MCubed.net, No. 6 seeds beat No. 11 seeds roughly two-thirds of the time, which mathematically suggests that at least one No. 11 is likely to win on a yearly basis.

Dayton went all the way to the Elite Eight as a No. 11 last year, and while the odds aren't in favor of a team replicating the Flyers' success, it goes to show that some very strong teams tend to be seeded 11th.

Every No. 11 has the potential to knock off a sixth seed this year, but pick the one you feel best about and there is a solid chance that it will yield positive results.

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