Do you find yourself looking at the “March Madness” bracket and thinking: “I don’t get it?” Does it ever seem as if the NCAA basketball tournament format is arbitrary, confusing, and just flat out doesn’t make sense? You aren’t alone. If you’re new to college basketball or just looking for a refresher before the March Madness 2025 betting odds come out, we offer this guide on how to make sense of the March Madness bracket.
BetNow is designed to be a place where you can, as the name implies, get a bet down now. That said, we also want it to be a resource, a place where you can not just bet but understand what those bets are. We want to offer betting options as well as betting resources, too.
The Regular Season and Conference Tournaments
The entire college basketball regular season leads up to the tournament. Everything that a team does during the season is taken into consideration when it comes to where they’re placed. Every win is scrutinized, as is every loss. With hundreds of teams to choose from, it’s a real challenge to get it down to 68 teams that get to play in the tournament.
The timeline is: every team plays their schedule. Then, depending on their record, they are placed into a conference tournament. These are single-elimination games. The teams with the better records play the teams with the weaker records. In many conferences, the teams with the best records get a bye through the first round or more.
Just about every conference has what’s called an “automatic bid.” This means that the team that wins the conference tournament is automatically placed into the NCAA tournament. Major conferences, such as the ACC, SEC, Big 10, and the like, get an automatic bid for their winner just as smaller conferences too.
That said, there are also many “at-large” bids. Since there aren’t 68 conferences, many teams have to be chosen for the tournament that did not win their conference tournament. The committee determines this. They release the bracket on “Selection Sunday.” This is the final Sunday before the tournament.
Selection Sunday
On Selection Sunday, the committee reveals the brackets. They are separated by East, West, Midwest, and South. Each region has sixteen teams. Note: the regions aren’t based on the locations of the schools that play in the regions. Instead, they’re named after the locations where the games are held (which are, almost inevitably, neutral sites).
Every single team in the tournament is ranked 1-16. Each of the regions has one of each number, 1 through 16. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, and so forth and so on.
The goal for the committee is to make a balanced tournament. One region is not meant to be more powerful (in this context, having a better team) than the rest.
The First Four and the First Two Rounds
You may have done some quick math while reading the last section and thought: “Wait, 16 times 4 is 64, it’s not 68. Where do you get 68?” The four lowest-seated teams with an automatic bid play each other, and the four lowest-seated at-large bids play each other. The winners of this “first four” tournament are then inserted into the rest of the tournament.
Typically, the First Four is played earlier in the week. The first round starts on that Thursday and then concludes on that Sunday. The teams that play on Thursday and win will play on Saturday. Those that win on Friday will play on Sunday. The tournament is single elimination. You lose once, that’s it. Your season is over. If you’re a senior/moving on, your college basketball career is over. This is the drama of the tournament. This is why it means so much – for many, this is the final time they will play a high level of basketball.
This first round is a great winnowing of the field. We go into Thursday with 64 teams. We come out of it on Sunday with just 16.
Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and One Shining Moment
The next weekend of the tournament follows a similar structure. Just this time, instead of 64 teams playing each other, it’s just the 16 remaining. They play on Thursday and Friday. The winners move on to the next round, which is also given the alliterative title of the “Elite Eight.” At this point, the teams are playing to win their respective region. The teams that do so will move to the next and final weekend of the tournament (as well as the final weekend of the season). This is called the “Final Four.”
The last four remaining teams, the teams that won their regions, then play each other. Note: they don’t “reseed” here. Instead, they play the region that was next to theirs in the bracket. The winners then move on to one final game, the championship game.
March Madness 2025 Betting Odds and So Much More at BetNow
That’s the tournament in a nutshell. We offer more ways to bet on the tournament than you may have previously thought possible. You can bet the brackets, you can bet the individual games, you can bet on all of it. If your bracket gets busted (which means all of your teams lose) early, we have some second chance options, too. Good luck to you in the tournament!
Hilbert Mayer
Sports Writer
Hilbert Mayer is a professional sports writer, betting analyst, and content strategist with over 15 years of experience in the sports industry. Before focusing on sports betting analysis and handicapping, Hilbert worked as a sports writer for various news outlets, covering everything from game recaps to in-depth matchup features. Today, he specializes in MLB, NFL, March Madness, and UFC betting, combining his journalistic background with deep statistical expertise and real-world betting insights. His proven track record, sharp reads, and ability to break down complex matchups make him a trusted voice among both casual bettors and seasoned sharps.
Published on: December 11, 2024
Last updated: March 31, 2025