NCAA Bracket 2015: Printable Bracket Preparation and Top Challenge Games

Once the NCAA tournament bracket is unveiled on Sunday night, the universe will collectively drop everything else to predict college basketball outcomes.

Per ESPN.com's David Purdum, the American Gaming Association estimates $40 million Americans will fill out a March Madness bracket. At this point, it's more about the ritual than appreciating the sport.

Everyone else is doing it, so by the rules of peer pressure, you must too. There's plenty of time to dissect every team's title chances, but according to someone better at creating cliches than understanding basic math, showing up is half the battle.

Printable Bracket

Brennan Linsley/Associated Press

As of now, the March Madness bracket is just a bunch of blank connected lines with numbers attached. But if you want the bad boy printed and ready to fill out on Selection Sunday, NCAA.com offers a printable bracket. 

For those more concerned with clearing his or her schedule, here's an online bracket with dates for every round. Wait until Sunday night, and the Internet will do the work of detailing all four regions for you.

Before preparing a bracket, hoops fans—and those who will inevitably outperform so-called experts by picking solely based on which mascots would conquer the others in combat—must decide which website has the honor of hosting this endeavor.

As per usual, several choices are available.

Challenge Games

For starters, stay right here on Bleacher Report to register for the NCAA's March Madness Bracket Challenge. The game offers an interesting wrinkle, allowing participants to change one pick before the Sweet Sixteen.

The amnesty pick will come in handy if a top seed sent to your Final Four suffers a swift second-round exit. Submitting a perfect bracket is nearly impossible, so everyone can use a mulligan. 

More accurately, most players would benefit from a few, but don't get greedy. Make the one count.

On ESPN's Tournament Challenge, the first-place finisher will win a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip to the 2015 Maui Invitational. But don't get too excited, as a record 11.01 million brackets were submitted to ESPN last year. 

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

So, not the greatest odds. Oh well. You can always join a public group or play for bragging rights against friends, family, enemies and/or workplace proximity associates. 

CBS Sports also offers customized groups along with its Bracket Challenge, with a trip to next year's Final Four serving as the grand prize.

Not that anyone would have won it, but Warren Buffett won't extend his challenge to craft the perfect bracket for $1 billion on Yahoo Sports. CNN Money's Ben Rooney detailed the legal battle waged on Yahoo, Quicken Loans and Buffett's Berkshire-Hathaway (BRKA).

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The squabbling started last year when a small sweepstakes company called SCA Promotions sued Yahoo for allegedly backing out of a deal to put on the perfect bracket contest.

Yahoo counter sued, alleging that SCA spilled the beans when it went to Berkshire to buy insurance that would pay $1 billion in the unlikely event that someone won the contest.

In February, Yahoo sent subpoenas to Berkshire seeking information about its dealings with SCA, including all communication between Buffett and SCA about the contest, according to court documents.

Berkshire responded by asking a judge to quash the subpoenas, which it called "overboard" and "unduly burdensome."

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Instead, gamers can join bracket groups hosted by celebrities, with the winners receiving a prize from each notable name. NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Paul George and Chris Paul will all reward an autograph jersey, among other gifts, to whoever conquers each specific pool.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard, journalist Katie Couric and New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski also make up the celebrity participants. Although her package is worth the highest average retail value, Couric's pool is the least joined. 

Still doesn't have the same ring as $1 billion. But isn't the NCAA tournament fun enough without fantasies of financial gain?