How to run your 2026 March Madness pool: Play for prizes, make an NCAA Tournament game

The brackets are set, the buzz is building, and office printers across the country are warming up for their annual workout. With the 2026 NCAA Tournament fields now public for both men and women, commissioners everywhere have roughly 72 hours to transform casual fans into pool-participating zealots. CBS Sports has streamlined the process, offering free, customizable bracket games on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app that can be launched in minutes and scale from a handful of friends to an entire company.

Men’s first-round action tips Thursday; the women’s chase for the trophy begins Friday. Duke sits atop the men’s bracket as the No. 1 overall seed, while undefeated UConn heads the women’s draw—two programs sure to dominate pick percentages in every office pool. Commissioners can capitalize on that popularity by creating separate men’s and women’s pools or running a combined competition.

Setting up a men’s pool requires a single visit to the Create Men’s Bracket Pool page. Commissioners name the group, decide between an invite-only or open format, confirm scoring rules, and receive a shareable link. The workflow is identical for the women’s tournament, starting instead at the Create Women’s Bracket Pool page. Both versions support unlimited entries, real-time scoring updates, and mobile push notifications, eliminating the traditional spreadsheet headache.

Prize hunters can aim higher. The CBS Sports Bracket Challenge awards trips to the 2027 Final Fours in both divisions. Men’s entrants click Join Now after Sunday’s selection show, fill out a bracket, and lock it before Thursday’s opening tip. Women’s hopefuls follow the same path following the Monday-night reveal. Existing pool brackets can be imported into the national contest with one click, sparing players from duplicate data entry.

Duke enters as the men’s favorite after cruising through the ACC. Freshman star Cameron Boozer averages 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds and headlines a roster that reached last season’s Final Four. Houston, the South Region’s No. 2 seed, brings an eight-tournament streak and elite freshman Kingston Flemings (16.4 ppg) as a popular dark-horse pick.

On the women’s side, 34-0 UConn targets back-to-back titles behind the high-scoring duo of Sarah Strong (18.5 ppg) and Azzi Fudd (17.7 ppg). Vanderbilt, 24-3 and fifth in the AP poll, offers upset potential with sophomore Mikayla Blakes pouring in 25.9 points per night.