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NBA Finals Bracket

printable nba finals bracketIt’s not common for a college sport to be the one that is a trendsetter compared with its professional counterpart. In the sport of basketball though, college basketball frequently draws a larger gambling interest during the winter, especially thanks to March Madness. Pro basketball fans didn’t want to miss out on the fun, so during the NBA playoffs, they have created NBA Finals bracket contests. These are more similar in structure to NFL bracket contests than college basketball due to the number of teams involved.

Entering an NBA Finals Bracket Contest

Typically when entering a NBA Finals bracket contest, you will have to pick the winners of each round of the playoffs. The Eastern and Western Conferences each have eight teams that qualify for the playoffs. This means there will be three rounds in an NBA Finals bracket contest before having to pick the NBA champion. When filling out a bracket for a NBA Finals bracket, each contestant will have to pick the winner of 15 playoff competitions. Most bracket contests require a tie breaker just in case multiple entries tie for first. Typically this is predicting how many games the championship series will last, and possibly the total points scored in the last game of the Finals.

Scoring a NBA Finals bracket contest is not nearly as complicated as some of the scoring systems used in the college equivalent of this bracket contest. Typically the winners picked in the first round are worth one point, winners in the second round worth two points, third round worth three and finals worth four. Some bracket contests will multiply those points by two or four to put a stronger emphasis on picking the winners in the last round. Whatever bracket contest that you enter for the NBA, the key is to avoid your finalists being knocked out early.

Download: nba-finals-bracket

College World Series Bracket

college world series bracket printable Each year the CWS determines the NCAA Division I baseball champion, but the College World Series bracket is one that has foiled many sports enthusiasts. This is likely because the College World Series bracket has just eight teams, but two double-elimination brackets. This sets it apart and can make it challenging to predict so here are some key tips.

Pick the Standouts

Always pick a team that has at least a few well-known individual players. Teamwork is always important but when it comes to baseball, but let’s face it, a team needs a few standouts to hit those home runs. Also be careful of teams that seem like they are on fire heading into the playoffs. It is often that these teams actually do not fare too well.

Ignore the College World Series Bracket Advice

Sportscasters are constantly doling out advice about your College World Series bracket, but be careful not to simply follow everything they say. While some of what they say is valid, take it with a grain of salt. This is especially important if you are in a College World Series bracket pool because others will likely listen to all the sportscasters.

College World Series Bracket: Choose an Upset

In terms of your College World Series bracket there are usually very few teams who would truly be an “upset”. However, it is generally clear which teams have a slight advantage over others. Be sure to always choose at least one of these teams filling out your bracket because chances are they will win at least once during the series.

Look at the Statistics

While we all know that statistics are not the most reliable tool on the planet, they are still worth a look when filling out your bracket. Check out teams’ past performances and compare them to past CWS statistics to make the best predictions.

Download: college-world-series-bracket

NCAA Baseball Bracket

If you enjoy baseball, the NCAA baseball bracket is a tournament that you cannot miss. Also known as the College World Series, the NCAA baseball bracket is a multi-formatted tournament made up of 64 teams.

NCAA Baseball Bracket Participants

A total of 64 NCAA baseball teams qualify for the tournament. Of these 64 teams, 28 are conference champions that acquire automatic berths and 36 teams that acquire “at-large” berths. A special selection committee of university administrators and coaches select the “at-large” berths in the NCAA baseball bracket by interpreting data available from the regular season.ncaa-baseball-bracket

Building the NCAA Baseball Bracket

Prior to the teams being selected for the tournament, universities of higher ranked teams send the NCAA an application to host the regional tournaments (first round). Of the applications received, 16 teams will be selected to host a regional tournament. The selection committee then takes the remaining 48 teams and places them in a regional bracket by considering factors such as rank, record, and locality to a hosting university. By the end of the bracket selection there will be 4 teams at each of the 16 regional sites.

Format of the Tournament

The Regionals or first round of the NCAA baseball bracket is played in a double-elimination format. These games pair the seeds 1v4 and 2v3 together. After the first set of games, the winners advance to play each other and losers play each other thus eliminating one team. This continues until there is one team remaining in each regional.

The Super Regionals or second round is a best-of-three series that matches up the 16 Regional winners into eight series. After this round is completed, eight teams will remain and head to Omaha for the College World Series.

The College World Series in Omaha is a double-elimination bracket played with eight teams. The format remains the same as the Regional format until there are two teams left in the NCAA baseball bracket. These final two teams will then play a best-of-three series for the national championship.

Download: NCAA Baseball Bracket

NCAA Basketball Bracket

One of, if not the most exciting, playoff formats in sports is the NCAA basketball bracket. Also known as March Madness, the NCAA basketball bracket is a single-elimination tournament made up of 68 teams.

NCAA Basketball Bracket Participants

The 68 qualifying NCAA basketball teams in the tournament are constructed from 31 conference champions that receive automatic bids and 37 teams that receive “at-large” bids. The “at-large” bids selected for the NCAA basketball bracket are determined by a selection committee that reviews and analyzes the resumes of all potentially qualifying teams. After the 37 “at-large” teams have been selected, the selection committee then seeds the teams from 1-68.

BracketsThe 2013  NCAA Basketball Bracket

Brackets are broken down into four regions (example: South, Midwest, East, etc.). The teams are divided into regions by taking the first four seeds (1-4) as ranked by the selection committee and placing each of them in a region as the #1 seed. The next four seeds (5-8) are then added as a #2 seed to each region. This continues for each seed until the there are four automatic bids and four “at-large” bids remaining.

NCAA Basketball Bracket Format

The newest addition to the NCAA basketball bracket is the First Four games. These games pit the remaining four automatic bid teams against each other and the four “at-large” bid teams against each other. The winners of these games earn the right to play in the second round of the tournament.

The second round of the tournament features the remaining 64 teams. In this round, the seeds competing are laid out in traditional fashion of 1v16, 2v15, 3v14, etc. The 32 winners of the second round will then compete in the third round. This format continues through the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four round until the NCAA basketball bracket reaches the last two teams and compete for a national championship.

Download: March Madness 2013

March Madness 2013

Everyone interested in basketball knows there is nothing quite like March Madness. With each passing day we are closer to March Madness 2013. This event takes place once a year at the end of the basketball season. People who have a favorite team have a special excitement inside as their team makes it all the way and works up the bracket. Then, if the team makes the Final Four, this definitely brings on some more madness from the excited fans.

March Madness 2013 will be a part of the history that started in 1939. However, when it was first created it described the Illinois State High School tournament opposed to the present NCAA tournament. This year March Madness 2013 begins on March 19. It finishes on April 8. When you see the fans yelling and cheering for the team they want to win, you can quickly understand why the month of March brings some madness in the world of basketball.

March Madness 2013: The Big DanceMarch Madness 2013 bracket

Some basketball enthusiasts have waited an entire year for March Madness 2013 to roll around. This is when the fans begin making their predictions. This can be a lot of fun when you make the prediction of which team will win the tournament. Other fans find it exciting to choose the Final Four. Many of these fans also bet on their predictions. The bets are particularly big in casinos offering sporting events betting. However, bets are also made among friends, co-workers and so forth. If you are placing a bet you will definitely want to know more about the odds and lines for March Madness 2013.

You can check a number of internet sites to see the full schedule. This will assure you of not missing any of the important games you want to see. If you have the money and the desire, you might be one of the lucky fans to get close to the action by purchasing tickets to March Madness 2013.

Download: March Madness 2013

2019 March Madness Bracket

March Madness is a basketball tournament featuring 68 teams competing for a national title. Many of those teams have very little chance to win a single game, let alone the entire tournament. That is what makes a March Madness bracket contest so popular though. When one of those underdogs gets hot and wins a couple of games, casual fans around the country start rooting for them. Another part of March Madness bracket appeal that draws casual fans to the sport of basketball are the March Madness brackets. These are contests where fans compete to pick the winners of at least 55 games. Those that pick the most correctly frequently win prizes or money.

Participating in a March Madness Bracket Pool

Who wins these brackets may surprise you. It is not always the basketball experts among the group of competitors. There are many that have been won by people that haven’t watched a single college basketball game all season.

This is another reason why a March Madness bracket pool is so popular.  The chance for anyone to win these competitions, frequently for a low price, brings even the casual gambler to enter a March Madness bracket pool.

How a March Madness bracket competition typically works is that predicting the first round games correctly are each worth one point. The points for each correct prediction increases throughout the March Madness bracket tournament up to picking the champion.

The competitor scoring the most points wins the bracket tournament contest. Frequently there are awards for second and third place too.

If you have a chance to enter one of these tournaments, take your time to do a little research. Watch the shows with the predictions from the experts. Don’t be afraid to pick a few upsets though, it’s rare anyone every wins these brackets without a few lucky picks along the way.

NASCAR Schedule

Few sports organizations are more synonymous with the United States than NASCAR. The NASCAR schedule in 2013 begins with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 24th. Stops on the NASCAR 2013 schedule include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Texas, Kansas, Charlotte, Michigan and many more. The Chase for the Sprint Cup and the NASCAR 2013 schedule will wrap up at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, November 17th.

NASCAR Schedule: History of the Cup Series

Bill France St. created the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in February 1948. The first NASCAR “Strictly Stock” race was won by Jim Roper at Charlotte Speedway in 1949. Roper won after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified for illegally altering his car.

What is now known as the Sprint Cup Series was originally called the Strictly Stock Series in ’49. The name was changed to “Grand National” in 1950 before becoming the “Winston Cup Series” in 1971. The new name lasted until 2003 when the sponsoring rights were purchased by NEXTEL, who later merged with Sprint, changing the name to the “Sprint Cup Series” in 2008.

The first series championship was won by Red Byron in ’49. Byron had two wins and four top-10 finishes. Sports legends Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are tied for the most series championships with seven apiece. Petty captured the first of his titles in 1964, with his last coming in 1979. Earnhardt’s first was in 1980, with his last coming in 1994.

Earnhardt died after a crash on the final lap at the Daytona 500 in 2001. In the wake of his death, NASCAR mandated that all drivers wear a Head and Neck Support Device. NASCAR also made significant changes to cars in an effort to improve driver safety later in the decade.

Jimmie Johnson won five consecutive titles from 2006-10 and sits alone in second place on the all-time list. Jeff Gordon is in third with four titles. At age 28, Brad Keselowski won his first Sprint Cup Series championship in 2012.

In terms of popularity, only the NFL gets better TV ratings in terms of sports in America. NASCAR races are also televised in more than 150 countries around the world. However, ratings dropped 33% between 2005 and 2010.

Download: 2014 NASCAR Schedule

Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft

Preparation is always the focal point when any new baseball season approaches. While big leaguers gear up for the upcoming campaign in Spring Training, fantasy baseball players start preparations with the scouting process. Some players continue to dwell on past lost seasons and wonder where it all went wrong. A number of small things can mean the difference between a championship and a last place finish. Every season begins with a fantasy draft, and participating in a fantasy baseball mock draft could help give you the edge you lacked in previous seasons.

These drafts can benefit players in so many ways. They can also be the difference between hoisting a championship trophy or being forced to pick up a tab. Whether it’s online or in person, fantasy players of all levels should participate in at least one mock draft.

Preparing for a Fantasy Baseball Mock Draftscreenshot of the fantasy baseball mock draft sheet

A mock draft is meant to simulate what will transpire during your league’s live draft. Whether it’s rotisserie, head-to-head, AL-only, NL-only or any variation of fantasy baseball, you will be sure to find a mock draft to fit your needs.

While participating in a mock draft, there are few key things to keep track of. While it’s very important to keep tabs on who you are drafting and where you are selecting, it’s equally as important to monitor what the other drafters or doing. By doing so, you will have a much better game plan heading in to your actual draft.

Based on the knowledge level of the participants in the mock draft, you can put together a cheat sheet that determines where you think certain players will go on the actual draft day. The cheat sheet can then alert you as to when you may be overvaluing a player, or where you know you are likely getting a steal.

Mock drafts can also help you get accustomed to how the draft process works if you are participating in a fantasy baseball league for the first time.

A fantasy baseball draft sheet can help you during a mock draft, live draft or help you craft the ultimate cheat sheet. These sheets will work for all fantasy baseball formats.

Download: Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Sheet

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