Opening Round: How the 76-Team Bracket Works

What Is the Opening Round?

The NCAA tournament's play-in games — which previously ran as four matchups — have expanded into a full Opening Round of 12 games played on Tuesday and Wednesday before the main bracket tips off on Thursday. These games involve teams competing for the final spots in the Round of 64 field, typically featuring matchups between the lowest seeds and bubble teams from each region.

At BracketForge, we use the term Opening Round as the consistent label for these pre-bracket games in both the men's and women's NCAA tournaments. It's a more accurate description of what these games are: the opening act of a 76-team tournament, not an afterthought.

How the 76-Team Format Works

The expanded 76-team tournament is structured in two phases:

• Opening Round (Tuesday–Wednesday): 12 games across four regions. Three Opening Round games per region, featuring 16-seeds and 11-seeds competing for the right to advance. Winners advance to face 1-seeds and 6-seeds in the Round of 64.
• Main bracket (Thursday onward): The familiar 64-team bracket, starting with the Round of 64. If your pool is in Standard mode, this is where your picks begin. If your pool is in Full Tournament mode, Opening Round winners slot into the bracket automatically based on your Opening Round picks.

This produces a total of 75 games: 12 Opening Round games plus the 63-game main bracket. Standard pools score 63 picks; Full Tournament pools score all 75.

Standard vs. Full Tournament Pools

BracketForge supports two pool formats, and the Opening Round is the key difference between them:

Standard (64-team) pools work exactly as classic bracket pools always have. Opening Round games are played, winners are automatically seeded into the Round of 64 field, and participants never pick Opening Round games. Your bracket starts on Thursday with 63 picks and a maximum possible score of 192 points.

Full Tournament (76-team) pools include all 12 Opening Round games as scored picks. Participants submit Opening Round picks before Tuesday's games — on top of their 63-game main bracket. Opening Round correct picks score 1 point each (the same as Round of 64), adding up to 12 extra points and a maximum possible score of 204. If your Opening Round pick is wrong, your main bracket is unaffected — the actual Opening Round winner advances regardless of what you predicted.

The pool format is set by the commissioner when creating the pool. It cannot be changed after the pool opens, so commissioners should communicate the format clearly when sharing their invite link.

Two Deadlines in Full Tournament Mode

Full Tournament pools have two separate submission deadlines — one for Opening Round picks and one for the main bracket:

• Opening Round lock: Before the first Opening Round game tips off on Tuesday. Miss this deadline and your Opening Round picks default to empty.
• Main bracket lock: Before the first Round of 64 game on Thursday. This is the deadline most participants are familiar with.

BracketForge displays both deadlines prominently in Full Tournament pools and sends reminders for both. Standard pool participants only have one deadline to worry about.

Opening Round Strategy Tips

If your pool is in Full Tournament mode, here are a few things to keep in mind when picking Opening Round games:

• Lower seeds are the bigger betting challenge. Opening Round matchups between 16-seeds and between 11-seeds are notoriously unpredictable. Research team stats, but accept that variance is high.
• Your Opening Round pick cascades into Round of 64. If you correctly pick an 11-seed to win the Opening Round, your main bracket correctly shows that 11-seed in the Round of 64 slot. If you then correctly pick them to beat a 6-seed, you score both picks.
• Seed bonuses apply. If your pool uses seed bonuses, correctly picking a 16-seed to win an Opening Round game earns a significant bonus. These picks are high-risk but potentially high-reward under seed-bonus scoring.

For more on pool scoring configurations and how they affect strategy, read how NCAA tournament scoring works and our bracket pool scoring strategies guide.