When do March Madness brackets open? When do they close? Everything to know

Two of the most highly-anticipated college sports tournaments are days away: the men's and women's college basketball tournaments, better known as March Madness.

March Madness gathers 68 men's and women's teams for single-elimination stakes, with only six games separating each team from eternal glory. The breakout stars, the Cinderella stories, the potential to witness the first-ever perfect bracket, all of it combines to make a mouth-watering format that keeps fans on the edge of their seats.

One of the tournament's highlights is taking the chance of completing the first-ever perfect NCAA March Madness bracket. So, when can you officially fill out your bracket? When's the March Madness bracket deadline? Here's what you need to know.

March Madness brackets officially open March 16.

When does the men's March Madness bracket come out?

The men's March Madness bracket is revealed Sunday, March 16. The 68 teams that get in (as well as some bubble hopefuls that won't) learn their paths in the NCAA men's basketball tournament at 6 p.m. ET.

When does the women's March Madness bracket come out?

The 68-team bracket for the NCAA women's basketball tournament is also announced Sunday, March 16. The women's announcement show tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Selection Sunday is March 16.

When do March Madness brackets open?

Brackets open after all teams in the NCAA tournament have been set. March Madness teams will be announced on Selection Sunday, which is March 16.

When do March Madness brackets close?

Entries (and any changes to a bracket) must be finalized before the first rounds tip off Thursday, March 20, for the men and Friday, March 21, for the women.

All brackets lock at tip-off and cannot be changed, according to ESPN.

How to fill out a March Madness bracket

You can download, print and fill out your bracket by hand, or you can submit your bracket virtually through NCAA.com’s Official Bracket Challenge. Just select who you think will win each game, all the way through the championship games.

According to the athletic governing body's website, here are a few tips for a successful bracket:

Do your best to win about 50 games.
Upsets are inevitable.
Don't stress about the early rounds and picking those first-round upsets.
Watch your last eight and then the final four picks.

Remember, your goal is to accumulate as many points as possible. If you make a bracket on ESPN for the tournament challenge but aren't sure who to pick, there are a few autofill bracket options. You can choose to have the higher seed in each matchup automatically picked, have a random winner selected for each game or have ESPN generate a bracket using its Basketball Power Index.

You can also start a bracket and let a computer fill in the rest, either making random selections or using the smart bracket system to pick.

Has anyone ever had a perfect March Madness bracket?

No, and it is nearly impossible to fill out a perfect bracket, especially with all of the underdog and Cinderella stories to come from the tournament each year.

No person has completed a 100% correct March Madness bracket since the results have been tracked and verified by the NCAA. The closest anyone came to a perfect bracket was in 2019 when an Ohio man correctly selected the first 49 picks. His lucky streak ended after the Sweet 16, which is the longest streak since the NCAA began tracking brackets online in 2016.

According to the NCAA, the odds of predicting all 63 games correctly are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (or approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion).

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: March Madness: When do brackets open? When do they close?

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When do March Madness brackets open? When do they close? Everything to know

When does the men's March Madness bracket come out?

When does the women's March Madness bracket come out?

When do March Madness brackets open?

When do March Madness brackets close?

How to fill out a March Madness bracket

Has anyone ever had a perfect March Madness bracket?

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