NCAA Bracket 2020: Tips, Info and More for Top March Madness Games

Think you can fill out the perfect March Madness bracket?

If so, you're almost positively wrong. Albeit one of the most fun interactive activities in all of sports, filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket is difficult. With 68 teams in the field, it's practically impossible for somebody to correctly predict every single matchup of the tournament.

Yet many people are going to try and hope that they can somehow find a way. On Sunday, the bracket for this year's NCAA Tournament will be revealed, then March Madness will officially get underway on Tuesday.

With the time to fill out brackets nearly approaching, here's a look at the NCAA Tournament schedule, followed by some tips for this year's March Madness.

2020 NCAA Tournament Schedule

March 17-18

First Four games in Dayton, Ohio.

March 19-20

First-round games at eight sites.

March 21-22

Second-round games at eight sites.

March 26-27

Sweet 16 games in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and New York City.

March 28-29

Elite Eight games in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and New York City.

April 4

Final Four in Atlanta.

April 6

National championship game in Atlanta.

Bracket Tips

Let's get this one out of the way quick—don't take March Madness bracket pools too seriously and have fun while participating. There's a good chance that some early upsets and a Cinderella team are going to wreck your bracket and put you in a hole in your pool with family, friends and/or coworkers.

But that's part of the fun. At least you'll get to watch some thrilling, exciting college basketball while you're losing.

Now, you're going to need an upset pick or two in the opening round. It can be beneficial to go chalk and rack up some points, but if you really want to win, correctly predicting one of the bigger upsets of the first round can go a long way in helping you do that.

Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there have been an average of 12.7 upsets a year in which a lower-seeded team knocked off a higher-seeded opponent, according to Andy Wittry of NCAA.com. However, only the first round averages more than 3.6 upsets a year. And there are rarely ever upsets once the tournament reaches the Sweet 16.

So, don't go all-in on a Cinderella team to reach the Final Four. Pick a strong No. 11 or No. 12 seed to notch a couple impressive wins and bow out in the Sweet 16. That's the safest route to go.

Even if you don't fare too well in the opening rounds, it's still possible to win your bracket pool if you correctly guess the national champion. The championship game is worth the most points, so picking the team that will cut down the nets and win the national title is the most important aspect of a bracket challenge.

The lowest seed to win the NCAA Tournament came in 1985, when No. 8 Villanova won it all. There have only been three other national champions that were ranked lower than a No. 3 seed.

In fact, March Madness has frequently been dominated by the No. 1 seeds, as they've won 22 national titles since 1985 and no other seeding has won more than five. This year, teams such as Kansas, Gonzaga and Dayton are likely to be among the No. 1 seeds, assuming they don't suffer an upset loss during this week's conference tournaments.

After factoring in all these bracket tips, make sure to go with your gut. Sometimes too much analysis can cause people to overthink it, so it's important not to that while having fun in a bracket pool.