March Madness Betting Bracket

by admin

Michigan and March Madness have a long and complicated relationship. In some years, everyone goes home happy with an in-state university cutting down the nets before One Shining Moment kicks in. In other years, it isn’t so pretty.

When it comes to showcasing talent during March Madness, few schools have been as successful as the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan StateSpartans. Both of these teams have brung their fair share of elation as they’ve made runs to the FinalFour. They’ve also been responsible for their fair share of busted brackets with early departures.

Complete March Madness NCAA Tournament coverage at CBSSports.com. Stay connected with the latest news, scores, stats, highlights and March Madness live. Mar 05, 2021 After all, mathematicians have said that the odds of predicting a perfect March Madness bracket are 1-in-9.2 quintillion. Not to speak for FanDuel’s hoops handicappers, but they’ll certainly manage to give our gamblers a fair-piece fatter odds of success in March.

  1. Its March 2021 and you know what that means. College basketball teams from all over the country enter this “do or die” tournament and only one will come out victorious. And what March would be complete without a bracket contest? This year there is a March madness bracket contest which is paying out $100,000 in total money.
  2. WIN YOUR MARCH MADNESS BRACKET For die hard sports fans, after the Super Bowl is over there is not a lot to do. Baseball has not started yet, both hockey and basketball are still in their regular seasons. However, March Madness is quickly approaching. If you are not a huge college basketball fan, but.

It’s not just the teams that have been memorable, either. Michigan has has several collegiate players step up and create amazing moments for fans to talk about years or decades later. GlenRice, JalenRose, ChrisWebber, TreyBurke, MoWagner, MagicJohnson, MateenCleaves, DraymondGreen, and DenzelValentine will be names fans will likely always remember.

Should you advance the Spartans or Wolverines to the Final Four in your bracket this year? Should you bet it all on bracket contests or futures bets? Our March Madness bracket guide will help your betting strategies and help you understand your best options when it comes to March Madness betting in Michigan.

Best free March Madness bracket contests in Michigan

There are a ton of March Madness contests you can enter out there and a lot of them don’t charge a fee. But which ones are the best? Here are our four favorites in Michigan.

FanDuel $250,000 Bracket Madness

This contest, which is known for having a $250,000 prize pool, is free to join. If you end up with the top bracket, you could pocket an astounding $100,000 for your trouble.

It’s completely free and open to residents across the United States. You just have to register for a free account at FanDuel online sportsbook and fill out your bracket before the first tipoff.

DraftKings Free $64,000 Bracket Challenge

Would you expect anything less from a company that has taken sports betting by storm? The entire country can take a shot at winning DraftKings Sportsbook’s free March Madness contest, and you can win some decent money if you are one of the top contestants. A couple of years ago, the prize pool was $64,000. Expect that to rise even higher in 2021

Yahoo Best Bracket Millionaire: Yes, Yahoo is still a thing, and Yahoo Sports is one of its main properties. Every year, it offers a free-to-enter bracket contest, and the winner walks away with $1 million. You make your picks, and if you’re the best there is, you get an actual lump-sum check of $1 million. There is no reason not to enter — it’s free! Just remember that there is only a single prize awarded.

ESPN Tournament Challenge: Obviously ESPN is the big name when it comes to sports, so it really shouldn’t be very shocking that it has its own tournament contest. The rewards for the free challenge are much smaller than those above, valued around $25,000 — and none of it is cash prizes. You might see a trip to Hawaii, or gift cards, or even ESPN+ subscriptions.

How do you get paid in March Madness bracket contests?

Betting

While the whole point of being involved in an NCAA Tournament bracket challenge is for the fun of it, there’s always something special about walking away with some money in your pocket. Plus, the bragging rights are always nice.

So how do you get paid if you do well in a March Madness contest at a Michigan sportsbook?

The first thing to remember is every sportsbook has its own set ofrules, and you can always find them under the terms andconditions of any contest you enter. In there, you’ll find the specific rules for the sportsbook you’re using.

Typically, the way brackets work is on a pointssystem. The first-round games are worth a certain amount of points — let’s say five points as an example for each correct selection — and those points go up with each round. So 10 points for every correct selection in the second round, 15 in the Sweet16, 20 in the Elite Eight and 25 in the FinalFour. The winning selection is usually worth a solid number of points, and there is usually a tie-breaker (typically the final score of the national title game) in case that situation arises.

But, as we mentioned above, each sportsbook is going to have its own rules and scoringsystem, and you should always read the terms and conditions before participating.

When you do make some money, you’ll have the ability to withdraw your winnings from your online sportsbook account if you wish. To do so, you’ll have to select a withdrawalmethod, which ranges from direct deposit into a bank account to PayPal to a physical check in the mail. Different sportsbooks may have slightly different deposit and withdrawal methods, so make sure you are aware of those before participating in any free March Madness contests.

How to open a betting account for a bracket contest in Michigan

Depending on which online sportsbook or sports betting app you choose to use in the Great LakesState, you’ll find varying sign-up procedures. Thankfully, the general process is the same across the board.

When you open up the app you’ve chosen to go with, you’ll see the option to register or signup. Click that, and you’ll be taken to a page that requires you to enter personal information such as:

  • Name
  • Physical address
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Social Security number
  • Driver’s license number

You’ll have to agree to the terms and conditions, and once you’re through all of those steps, you’ll be able to make a deposit into your account. Then you can start wagering.

Three essential tips for filling out your March Madness bracket

When it comes to March Madness, everyone has their own strategy for picking their winners. In your office pool, you might have a coworker who picks based on which mascot would win in a fight. Some people make their picks by letting their dog choose.

We don’t recommend those particular approaches. But we do have three essential tips for your March Madness selections.

  1. Don’t go with all higher seeds (but don’t go crazy, either): Perfect regions in a bracket are extremely rare. There are going to be upsets. Lots of folks like to focus on the No. 5 vs. No. 12games. While those are often where an upset happens, don’t go crazy on choosing just the underdogs. It will come back to mess up your bracket. Instead, research those teams and identify which game or games you think are most likely to be upsets.
  2. Double-digit seeds can get to the Sweet 16: It’s not uncommon for that Cinderella team to make a trip to the Sweet 16 and, now and again, even deeper. If you have a good feeling about a lower-seeded team, then you should feel free to take that chance. Double-digit seeds often make it through the first two rounds.
  3. National champions are rarely lower seeds: Upsets are great and all, but it’s very rare that a team with even a middling seed will be the one that cuts down the nets at the end of the national championshipgame. Historically speaking, the NCAA Tournament champ is usually a team that has done well throughout the regular season and has a deep bench and an experienced coaching staff. It’s nice to cheer for the lower-seeded teams, but keep in mind they don’t usually make it to the finaldance.

Three mistakes to avoid when picking March Madness brackets

Building a great bracket takes more than just a solid strategy and luck — you also have to avoid the pitfalls, too.

Here are our three top picks for March Madness mistakes you don’t want to make.

  1. Don’t forget to look at those win/loss records: History is available for everyone to learn from, and sports are no different. Just because a team’s win/loss record looks impressive at first glance doesn’t mean that’s the truth. Check and see how it has fared against other quality teams and not just the lower-level squads in its conference. Did it end the season on a losing streak? Does it struggle with nonconference opponents?
  2. Those giant upsets are extremely rare: Remember when University ofMaryland, Baltimore County defeated Virginia, the first time a No. 16 team upset a No. 1 seed? Pretty special, right? It’s so special, in fact, that you really shouldn’t even consider choosing the No. 16 over the No. 1 in your bracket. It’s likely not going to happen again, at least not in the near future. Giant upsets are extremely rare, so avoid building your bracket with them as the primary theme. Find a few games you think could end up with the underdog prevailing, but don’t make that big upset the focal point of your bracket.
  3. Don’t pick based on your favorite teams: Sure, you absolutely love your college team and you cheer, cheer, cheer for them each and every season. And suppose your team makes it to the NCAA Tournament! Amazing! But use your head, not your heart. If your team doesn’t have the talent to win a big game, just admit it and make your picks accordingly.

What if you lose your March Madness bracket?

That’s the way it goes sometimes, and you just have to accept that. Of course, you might be able to enter a contest that has a second-chanceoption.

Some sportsbooks and other March Madness contest organizers allow for you to put together another bracket, typically starting with the Sweet 16 teams and choosing which teams will advance. Sure, that really narrows the field and it isn’t going to have the same kind of prize pool as your original bracket, but it’s nice to have an option to help keep you in the running.

Brackets get busted. Top teams lose. A second-chance bracket lets you stay in the game and, in some cases, redeem yourself if you made a few too many bad choices.

Companies like ESPN, CBS Sports, and FOX Sports all usually have second-chance brackets as the tournament progresses in March.

How do March Madness brackets work?

When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, there is more than one way a team can earn a berth to the bigdance. The first, and most reliable, is to win the conferencetournament. There are 32 conferences that each crown a champion at the end of a postseason tournament. That champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The other 36 teams that need to be selected are done so by a committee, which reveals its choices on Selection Sunday prior to the start of the March Madness tournament. Those at-large bids are determined based on overall performances and strong showings against other tournament-bound teams.

To get from the 68 teams chosen to the field of 64 for the first round, the bottom eight teams compete in four play-in games (called the First Four), with the winners advancing.

All of those teams are seeded No. 1 through No. 16 in each region (there are four regions, mostly based on geographical locations of the schools), and they are paired to play against one another. Since it’s a single-elimination tournament, a team that loses goes home. A team that wins advances to the next round against a new opponent.

As teams are eliminated, the best climb through the ranks to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and, finally, the national championship.

2021 March Madness schedule

It won’t be until March when we know which teams will be playing in the NCAA Tournament, so we can’t give you a full schedule at this point. What we can do is give you the breakdown of when milestone events will take place during March Madness 2021.

  • Selection Sunday: March 14
  • First Four: March 16-17
  • First Round: March 18-19
  • Second Round: March 20-21
  • Sweet 16: March 25-26
  • Elite Eight: March 27-28
  • Final Four: April 3
  • National Championship: April 5

March Madness brackets vs. single-game betting

When it comes to online sportsbooks in Michigan, you’ll be able to find yourself both free and paid March Madness contests to join plus individual game lines and props on every single game.

Which is the better proposition for making some money on March Madness? Here are a few pros and cons of betting on brackets in comparison to betting on single games during the tournament.

Pros of bracket contests

  • The variety of mathematical outcomes is staggering, which means that even longshot bracket champions could end up winners.
  • You don’t have to knowa ton about college basketball to participate, especially in the free or low-cost bracket contests.
  • Brackets are typically inexpensive ways to enter March Madness betting, and because of that fact, you can usually have more than one bracket in each contest if you choose.
  • They’re funto fillout. The upsets. The Cinderellas. The top-ranked teams. That time No. 1 Virginia fell to a No. 16 seed to make history. It’s all a part of the fun.

Cons of bracket contests

  • If you flub your Final Four picks and they lose early, you could really be in a bad spot because you’ll lose all of those points each round.
  • It’s difficult focusing on all of these matchups and researching them the correct way. It’s also even more difficult to see past the first round because you don’t know what the actual matchups will be, who might be injured or who might go on a hot streak. (Remember that Loyola-Chicago run?)
  • It’s time-consuming, unless you’re just going to guess — which we don’t recommend in any wagering environment.

Pros of single-game March Madness betting

  • It’s much easier to research a single game and gather as much information as you need before you place your college basketball bets.
  • You win some, you lose some, but there’s always the next game if you want to keep playing.
  • It gives you a much better excuse to be watching the games so you can keep track of your wager and any prop bets or live betting you may be doing.

Cons of single-game March Madness betting

  • You miss out on the enthusiasm that March Madness brackets typically bring out in bettors and pool participants.
  • The risk is lower, but so is the reward.
  • You’ll be less interested in the tournament overall, which is one of the most exciting sports tournaments in the world.

March Madness single-game betting

When it comes to placing bets on single games during the NCAA Division I Men’s College Basketball Tournament, you have plenty of options, especially when using legal and regulated sportsbooks here in Michigan.

The main bet types you’ll be considering are the moneyline, point spreads and totals (also known as over/under bets).

For a moneylinebet, you have to choose between the two teams which you think will win the game. Simple as that. It’s the easiest kind of bet to make with the least amount of extra consideration involved. It doesn’t matter if a win is by one point or 100, all that matters is the team you pick wins thegame.

Teams with negative odds are the favorites, while teams with positive odds are the underdogs.

  • Michigan State -110
  • Georgetown +160

If you bet on the Michigan State Spartans to win, you’d have to place a $110 bet to win $100 if the Spartans are victorious. If you choose Georgetown, every $100 you bet stands to win you $160 in profit if the Hoyas win.

For pointspreads, oddsmakers will give you a game and the number of points a team is expected to win or lose by. Your challenge is to choose the correct outcome, taking that spread into consideration.

  • Oakland University +13.5 (-110)
  • Marquette University -13.5 (-110)

The sportsbook has determined that Marquette is the favorite in this game to the tune of 13.5 points. With that being the case, Marquette would need to win the game by 14 points or more for your bet on them to win. A bet on Oakland, meanwhile, means that team would need to lose by 13 points or fewer or win the game outright in order for you to collect.

The third of the main bet types is the totalsbet, also known as an over/under bet. Oddsmakers will determine how many points they think the two teams in a single game will score combined, and your decision to make is if you think the combined final score will be over or under what the oddsmakers have listed. It doesn’t matter who wins, just that the combined point total is over or under the projection.

Here’s an example of a game between Michigan and Duke.

  • Over 135.5 (-110)
  • Under 135.5 (-110)

The sportsbook has put the total score at 135.5 points (yes, half-points are impossible, but this ensures the game won’t land exactly on a number and thus cause a push).

If you think Duke and Michigan can combine for 136 points or more, then you’d bet on the over. If you think the defenses will prevent the game from getting more than 135 combined points, then you’d bet the under.

AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File

March Madness bracket contests are the traditional way most Americans bet on the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Bracket contests among friends and co-workers are probably the easiest way to get in on all the March Madness action, and undoubtedly among the most fun.

In the past few years, NJ online sportsbooks and daily fantasy sports sites have jumped in the bracket game, too. Most now run a number of free or small buy-in March Madness bracket contests with prize pools that make the ones between you and your friends look decidedly small.

If you’re looking for the best free March Madness bracket contests out there, we’ve got them listed below alongside some simple bracket building tips that might help your picks last a little longer. Maybe. The Madness is the Madness, after all.

Best March Madness bracket contests

Most NJ online sportsbooks and DFS sites have run free NCAA Tournament bracket contests in the past and will again this year. DraftKings has already thrown down the gauntlet in the paid-entry market by announcing a $2 million prize pool, $1 million to the winner bracket contest it has declared is “America’s Biggest Bracket Prize.”

Details below, plus more on other free and paid-entry bracket challenges expected.

DraftKings $2M Championship Series Millionaire Bracket

A full 1,500 entrants in this epic bracket challenge will get a share of the $2 million prize pool. The minimum payout will be $150 and the winner will take home $1 million. Entry details:

  • Buy-in: $100
  • Max. entries: 20
  • Open to: DraftKings Sportsbook customers in NJ, CO, NH, WV, TN
  • Winner: $1 million
  • Runner-up: $250,000
  • 3rd: $125,000

Rules of note:

  • Due to NJ law, you can’t bet on college teams from that state. If an NJ team makes the tournament, their opponent will automatically be selected for you.
  • If a team you’ve picked is removed due to COVID protocols, you’ll be notified and the pick will automatically be moved to the replacement team. You can edit your picks until that team tips off. If the team is removed after the tournament tips off, the pick will automatically move to replacement team, but you can’t make changes.

Free March Madness Bracket Challenges

More bracket challenges DraftKings and others have run previously that are free to enter and available in all states:

DraftKings $250,000 Survivor Pool

Not to be outdone by its main DFS and sportsbook competitor, DraftKings Sportsbook actually ran three separate free contests the last time March Madness was held.

Headlining the list was the DraftKings $250,000 Survivor Pool. Survivor pools run a bit differently from traditional bracket pools, in that you only pick one game-winner per day, not all the game winners.

If your team wins, you move on to the next round. As the rounds progress, the last players to pick winning teams are the winners. Another catch is, you can only pick a team once — you can’t select them in subsequent rounds.

DraftKings $64,000 Bracket Challenge

Another free DraftKings bracket contest was also open to the entire country in 2019. The free-to-enter contest offered up $64,000 in prizes and ran similarly to a standard bracket pool.

Entrants pick all 63 games in advance and are awarded points for each correct pick. The person (or people) with the most points in the end collect a share of the prize pool.

Draftkings also ran a $16,000 Free Second Chance Bracket Contest, with entrants only having to select games from the Sweet 16 down to the National Championship.

FanDuel $250,000 Bracket Madness

FanDuel Sportsbook Bracket Madness is the richest bracket contest among NJ online sportsbooks. It gave away $250,000 in 2019, including $100,000 for the best bracket.

It is totally free and open to residents of all 50 states, including NJ. To create a new account in NJ and participate for free, you’ll need to download the FanDuel DFS app right here.

If the contest isn’t being run on the sportsbook side you can easily find it by flipping over to the FanDuel DFS tab.

BetMGM Sportsbook

BetMGM hasn’t run its own free brackets contest just yet, but it does have an affiliate deal with Yahoo Sports, which has a free Yahoo Best Bracket Millionaire contest that gives away $1 million to whoever puts together the best bracket.

Caesars Casino & Sportsbook

Caesars Sportsbook‘ free bracket contest is its March Pick’em Challenge, and it gave away more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. It also gave away a free $20 sports bet to anyone that filled out a bracket in 2019. Plus, the best bracket walked away with a $250 sports bet every week for a year.

March Madness Betting Brackets

Second-chance bracket contests

The reality is most of our March Madness brackets are well and truly busted by the Sweet 16. Thankfully, some NJ sportsbooks will run second-chance bracket contests that start right then.

All you have to do is pick winners for each of the remaining games in the rest of the tournament in a new Sweet 16 bracket and enter that in a second-chance bracket contest.

There should be several free and paid second-chance bracket contests around. That way no one is completely out of all the fun after the tournament’s first weekend.

March Madness Bracket Names

How are bracket contests scored?

Like we suggested earlier, March Madness bracket contests can vary in buy-in, field size, and payouts. What doesn’t change across contests is that you have to fill out a complete bracket.

That means winners for all 63 games, from the first round through the national championship game.

Most bracket contests involve a points system assigning a certain value for every pick you get right, with late-round winners worth more than early-round winners. In fact, most standard bracket scoring systems give you a single point for every first-round pick you get right.

Then, it’s two points in the second round, four points in the Sweet 16, eight in the Elite Eight, 16 in the Final Four, and 32 points for picking the winner of the National Championship.

You can win with scoring systems like this by getting it right late, but the nature of brackets themselves means you have to get it right enough early as well, just to give yourself a chance.

March Madness bracket contest odds

The odds of picking a perfect March Madness bracket is said to be 1 in 9.2 quintillion. That’s 1 in 9.2 billion billions, and virtually impossible.

That means it’s probably a bad idea to enter a March Madness bracket contest that’ll only pay for a perfect bracket unless it’s free or also pays something substantial to whoever lasts longest before they miss a game.

Of course, you don’t have to be perfect to win most contests. You just need to build a better bracket than everyone else.

That makes the odds of winning much more manageable. What are those odds exactly? Well, it really depends on how many people enter. What we can tell you is that the free bracket contests listed above, which are available all over the US, receive a ton of entries. That makes the odds of winning astronomical.

Any free NJ-only contests will be much smaller, and paid-entry local contests even smaller, giving you a much better chance of winning. Plus, you can give yourself an even better shot at winning by entering multiple different brackets.

In other words, if you want the best shot to win any contest, consider these three things:

  1. Avoid contests that only pay for perfect brackets
  2. Play regional contests over free US-wide contests
  3. Enter multiple brackets

How to sign up and enter a bracket contest

Entering a March Madness bracket contest at an NJ online sportsbook or DFS provider requires you to complete three simple tasks.

March Madness Betting Bracket Against

First, you need to sign up for an account by clicking on our exclusive link to the sportsbook or DFS site running the contest you want to enter. You’ll be instantly transported to the operator’s website where you can sign up for an account.

You can also download and install the sportsbook or DFS app and sign up there. Either way, if you’re asked to enter a promo code or bonus code, find it here on PlayNJ and enter it there to get the best bonus you can.

Next, you need to deposit some money into your account. Just choose the deposit method that’s best for you from a list likely to include everything from PayNearMe to PayPal, prepaid cards, online banking, and even cash at an NJ casino cage.

Finally, it’s just a matter of finding the right contest to enter. Most will be right up front come tournament time, but you will also find March Madness brackets under the Basketball, NCAA Basketball, and NCAA Tournament betting tabs. To enter any contest, just fill out the bracket online and fire away.

March Madness bracket contest do’s and don’ts

Here’s a list of some general do’s and don’ts when it comes to building brackets:

Do: pick the top seeds

Everyone remembers March Madness upsets. Partly because there are so few it’s pretty easy to. That means the seeding is accurate. In fact, a No. 1 seed has won 21 times in the past 34 years, since the field was expanded to 64 teams. Plus, a No. 2 or No. 3 seed has won nine times. The truth is the lowest seed ever to win was a No. 8, which means a bracket filled with top seeds is often best.

Don’t: sleep on the 10-12 seeds

The Nos. 10, 11, and 12 seeds are responsible for more first-round upsets than anyone. Nos. 10 and 11 have 50 first-round upset wins each, and No. 12 has 47. That means these squads are winning one out of three times. You’ve got to pick at least some upsets to win bracket contests, and forgetting to look at these three seeds first would be a mistake.

Do: find out who’s hot or not

March Madness Bracket Game

The Final Four is rarely all four No. 1 seeds. That means one or more of the top-seeded teams are due for a letdown, and one or more lower-seeded teams are going to put together some kind of Cinderella story. It’s easier to pick who will wear either of these slippers by paying attention to how teams are playing late in the regular season and in conference tournaments heading into March Madness.

Don’t: give higher seeds too much or too little credit

Remember that seeding is less of a factor in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. However, it comes into play again in the Final Four, where the higher-seeded teams win close to 75 percent of the time. Avoid giving the higher seeds too much credit in the second weekend of games, and too little credit in the third and final one.

The run For March Madness bracket perfection

The NCAA says no one has ever built a perfect bracket, but these brackets have come the closest, posting the longest winning streaks to start March Madness:

  • 34 in 2015: An entry in ESPN’s bracket contest got the first 34 games right, setting the record for that particular contest.
  • 36 in 2014: Brad Binder went 36 for 36 in the Yahoo! Sports bracket contest. It was the only time someone in the Yahoo! contest had a perfect bracket into the second round and a record at the time.
  • 39 in 2017: An entry in Yahoo’s bracket contest got the first 39 straight to set a new record. Iowa State lost to Purdue to end that run.
  • 49 in 2019: Columbus, Ohio, resident Gregg Nigl’s Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge bracket had the first 49 games in the 2019 NCAA Tournament right, setting a new record. Game 50 got him when Purdue beat Tennessee in overtime in the second game in the Sweet 16. Nigl’s was the first ever verified bracket to get it right all the way through to the Sweet 16.

Current March Madness Bracket

Honorable mention

  • 0 in 2018: It’s worth noting that no perfect bracket lasted through the first round in 2018, due to the fact UMBC beat Virginia to become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1. Even those that had it all right through that Friday night first-round game didn’t have UMBC making history.