For all those who follow the NBA, NCAA, or the TBT (The Basketball Tournament), it’s safe to say you are very familiar with a tournament bracket. But if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world because you’re about to know what this diagram is all about. What is a bracket in basketball, and how does it work?

A tournament bracket (or simply “bracket”) is a format that illustrates the sequence of games in an elimination tournament. It is called such because the visual diagram looks like a square bracket punctuation mark. Some may call this a “draw,” but it’s not entirely accurate since the term implies an element of chance. However, brackets are determined by seeding and not a “draw.”

How Do Basketball Brackets Work?

Now, it’s clear that a tournament bracket is a visual representation of how the participating teams are matched up in a tournament. But how does it exactly work?

The concept is straightforward. A tournament bracket matches an even number of teams against each other in multiple rounds of games until only one team remains. It has a minimum of four games to make sense, but many tournaments have more. The March Madness bracket style=”font-weight: 400;”>, for example, has 68 teams, while the TBT usually has 64. The more teams there are, the more rounds a bracket has.

There may be an initial round of play-in games when the tournament field is selected, and games begin. After the play-in games, the field of teams will be cut in half at the end of each tournament stage. Therefore, after each round of games played, the teams are halved until only one remains. The only team standing will have no loss and be crowned the champion.

The bracket format is most common in North American sports, particularly in big pro sports leagues and college sports. The tournament bracket is the most practical way to crown a champion since most sports leagues are made up of two conferences. The National Football League, the Major Baseball League, the National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League are examples. 

However, of the four major North American pro sports, only the NFL holds a single-elimination playoff bracket, culminating in the championship game called Super Bowl. The NHL, NBA, and MLB all play multiple-game series.

Types of Basketball Tournament Brackets

There are many types of tournament brackets, but here are some of the most common you can find, including the March Madness bracket and playoffs NBA standings.

• March Madness Bracket

The March Madness bracket is a grid that depicts all of the teams in the tournament and the path they must take to reach the Final Four and the championship game. As you can see in the bracket, there are five rounds to complete before both sides send one team to the National Championship game. The championship is the sixth and final round of the March Madness bracket.

• The Basketball Tournament Bracket

🚨 THE TBT 2022 BRACKET 🚨

Games tip-off July 16 live on @espn! pic.twitter.com/GBL0M1F5Bg

— TBT (@thetournament) June 22, 2022

The pictures above are the bracket in the 2022 TBT tournament. Teams are separated into eight areas, with the winners of each region meeting in Dayton, Ohio. Omaha, Rucker Park, Xavier, New Mexico, Wichita, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Dayton are 2022’s regions.

Because it is a winner-take-all competition, only the championship team earns the $1 million prize money, which is shared among the roster members or donated to charity.

• NBA Playoffs bracket

The picture above is an example of an NBA playoffs bracket made simpler. All the playoffs teams in the East and West are bundled up and culminate in the NBA Finals, where two teams, one from the East and one from the West, play a seven-game series to determine the champion.

• Eight-team Tournament Bracket

Of course, you can create your own bracket depending on the number of teams in your league. As noted above, leagues with even-numbered teams are more manageable to seed. The above picture is an example of an eight-team league bracket; one representative from each side of the tournament meets in the championship.

• Seven-Team Bracket

So, what if you can’t find one other team to make it an even-numbered league? This seven-team brack example shows you how. List the No. 1 seed as an automatic first-round bye, and proceed.

How Does Basketball Bracket Scoring Work?

Basketball tournament bracket scoring is common in March Madness because there is a game predicated on predicting how the entire tournament plays out. It’s safe to say it’s everybody’s pastime in America when Macrh rolls around. It could be a gambling game or one you play for fun with your friends, especially if they support other schools.

Again, the concept is really simple, and here are some ideas in case you want to go about your basketball bracket scoring game.

• If you dislike math and are just into simple arithmetic, you may assign one point to each round. For example, there are 32 first-round games in an NCAA tournament. Pick your teams accordingly, and whoever gets it right earns a point. Next, predict the winners of the 16-game Round 2, assign a point to each correct prediction, and proceed. The disadvantage of this ultra-simple scoring system is that the championship round is treated as a first-round game and apparently has almost no value at all.
• Another alternative scoring method is doubling the points as each round progresses. For example, all Round 1 games are scored 1 point. Round 2 games are now two points each, Round 3 four points, and the championship game at 32 points. This scoring system puts more premium on predicting the correct championship-winning team.
• Another way of scoring is by giving points to wild predictions. The idea is to award more points to someone who correctly guessed that the 40-seed beats the 20-seed. After all, it’s easy to fill out the Round 1 brackets with nothing but top seeds. A common points award is allocating double points for these predictions. However, be warned that the scoring system factoring in seedings is much more complicated than the others mentioned.

How Do You Determine a Bracket Winner?

Suppose you’re thinking of the ever-impossible task of predicting how an entire NCAA Tournament bracket plays out, then by all means. But you are warned: The NCAA said that a perfect, verifiable pick has never been done. 

Of course, if you’re riding along the wave of March Madness and decide to have some fun with your friends, no harm, no foul. If you want to win your bracket-predicting tournament with your friends, here are some tips:

• Be informed. Read articles about Cinderella teams and those that could pull off upsets, perhaps because of injuries to opponents, etc. Knowledge is always power, and even in games like this, it still is.
• Pull out the stats. Higher seeds always have a better chance, but how do you know if a team is better than its record suggests? The RPI, or Rating Percentage Index. It is a metric used to rate sports teams based on their wins and losses as well as their strength of schedule. That means if a squad plays better teams on their way to the tournament, they will probably do well.
• Start your way from the inside. Most bracket-picks experts suggest picking your champion first and working your way out. It never hurts if you try. And if it helps, 64% of the time, the champions are in one of the top 3 seeds.
• Have fun, but don’t overdo it. If you’re an underdog kind of guy, you’d probably pick one too many upsets, especially in the first rounds. The tip? Don’t go crazy. On average, there are only seven upsets at most in Round 1, so pick your underdogs accordingly.

Wrapping Things Up: What is a Bracket in Basketball?

If you’ve been around basketball long enough, you are probably familiar with how tournaments play out. They determine the seedings and place teams accordingly. To make this task more organized, most leagues use the bracket system.

What is a bracket in basketball? A tournament bracket is a format that illustrates the sequence of games in an elimination tournament. As each bracket round goes on, participating teams are cut in half. Most North American sports leagues, such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, use a tournament bracket to determine champions. However, the March Madness bracket used by the NCAA is the most popular, a single-elimination tournament featuring 64 teams.

We hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, be sure to check out our other basketball FAQ articles here.