The 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket is out, and you can make winning your March Madness pool a 50-50 proposition with the right No. 1 seed.
Consider our point when it comes to top-seeded teams in the men’s college basketball tournament. Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1984-85, there are two stats that matter when talking about the last 34 NCAA tournaments.
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- A No. 1 seed has won 21 of those 34 tournaments, including three of the last four with Duke (2015), North Carolina (2017) and Villanova (2018)
- Of the 68 championship game participants, a total of 34 — or 50 percent — were No. 1 seeds
There will be upsets for sure, but the safest bet to keep your bracket instact for the Final Four remains chalk.
Here's a seeding breakdown of the participants in the Sweet 16, Final Four and championship game in the expanded bracket era.
Print your NCAA Tournament bracket here
You can get an updated, printable NCAA Tournament bracket here to fill out before the tournament begins. Sporting News will continue to update the bracket as games are played.
Download a printable NCAA Tournament bracket (PDF) above.
NCAA Tournament 2019 bracket tips
Odds to make the championship game by seed
| No. 1: 50.0 (34 of 68) |
| No. 2: 17.7 (12 of 68) |
| No. 3: 14.7 (10 of 68) |
| No. 4: 4.4 (3 of 68) |
| No. 5: 4.4 (3 of 68) |
| No. 6: 2.9 (2 of 68) |
| No. 7: 1.5 (1 of 68) |
| No. 8: 4.4 (3 of 68) |
Bracket tip: Don’t pick a team lower than No. 8 to make the championship game. They might make the Final Four in rare instances, but 82.4 percent of the championship game participants – including all eight participants the last four years – were seeded No. 3 or higher.
Odds to make the Final Four by seed
| No. 1: 41.2 (56 of 136) |
| No. 2: 19.9 (27 of 136) |
| No. 3: 12.5 (17 of 136) |
| No. 4: 9.6 (13 of 136) |
| No. 5: 4.4 (6 of 136) |
| No. 6: 2.2 (3 of 136) |
| No. 7: 2.2 (3 of 136) |
| No. 8: 3.7 (5 of 136) |
| No. 9: 0.7 (1 of 136) |
| No. 10: 0.7 (1 of 136) |
| No. 11: 2.9 (4 of 136) |
Bracket tip: No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have accounted for 61 percent of the Final Four appearances since 1984-85, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a chance on a lower seed. There has been one Final Four team seeded No. 7 or lower each of the last four years in Michigan State (No. 7, 2015), Syracuse (No. 10, 2016), South Carolina (No. 7, 2017) and Loyola-Chicago (No. 11, 2018).
Odds to make the Sweet 16 by seed
| No. 1: 85.3 (116 out of 136) |
| No. 8: 9.6 (13 out of 136) |
| No. 9: 5.1 (7 out of 136) |
| No. 16: 0 (0 out of 136) |
| No. 2: 62.5 (85 out of 136) |
| No. 7: 19.8 (27 out of 136) |
| No. 10: 16.9 (23 out of 136) |
| No. 15 0.7 (1 out of 136) |
| No. 3: 51.4 (70 out of 136) |
| No. 6: 30.9 (42 out of 136) |
| No. 11: 16.2 (22 out of 136) |
| No. 14: 1.5 (2 out of 136) |
| No. 4: 47.1 (64 out of 136) |
| No. 5: 33.8 (46 out of 136) |
| No. 12: 14.7 (20 out of 136) |
| No. 13: 4.4 (6 out of 136) |
Bracket tip: Last year was as wild a year as could be and half of the Sweet 16 was seeded No. 5 or lower. Still, half of the chalk – seeds No. 1-4 – reached the second weekend. It does not hurt to have 10 or more chalk picks in the Sweet 16 in your bracket given the percentages.
