Printable NCAA Bracket 2019: Downloadable Bracket and Picks Advice

Nell Redmond/Associated Press

For many college basketball fans, March Madness is their favorite time of the year—when brackets are filled out and nearly every game of the NCAA tournament is filled with excitement and unpredictability.

This year's 68-team field was announced on Sunday evening, so now is the time to fill out brackets before the first round of the NCAA tournament begins on Thursday. (The First Four round takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, but most bracket challenges don't require users to pick those games.)

Will any top seeds go on a dominant run to the end? Which first-round matchups are poised to be upsets? And will there be a Cinderella team this year? Correctly predict the answers to those questions and your bracket could be good enough to win your pool.

Here's a look at this year's bracket, as well as some tips to ponder while filling yours out over the next several days.

Bracket

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For a blank bracket to print and fill out yourself, go to NCAA.com.

Bracket Advice

Balance Chalk Picks and Upsets

There may be some surprising upsets this year, and everybody would love to be the person in their office pool who correctly picks a No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2, or even a No. 16 to beat a No. 1. But don't go wild.

UMBC may have beat Virginia as a No. 16 seed last year, but that was the first time it had happened in NCAA tournament history. This year's group of No. 1 seeds (Duke, Virginia, Gonzaga and North Carolina) are strong, so it's probably not wise to pick any of them to lose in the first round.

But feel free to pick a few seeds in the Nos. 10-13 range to notch an upset in the first round. Those are much likelier to happen, and in fact, there usually is at least one big upset. It's just a matter of correctly predicting which matchup it's going to be.

Do Your Research

It's probably not wise to dedicate countless hours over the next few days poring over your bracket, as even that can't guarantee success during the unpredictability of March Madness.

But it's also not wise to go in blind. If you're going to pick a higher seed to notch a first-round upset or go on a Cinderella run, you might want to know a little about that team before randomly picking it.

Another good resource is odds sites, such as OddsShark, to see what the current betting lines are for first-round games and NCAA tournament favorites before the tourney begins. If you're really unsure about an early matchup, going with a sportsbook isn't a bad idea.

Have Fun, and Don't Stress

This tip is simple—just have fun.

This is one of the best events in all of sports, and it's quite likely that nobody will have a perfect bracket anyway.

So just have a good time filling out your bracket and entering pools with family and friends, because March Madness only comes once a year.