Average total points in March Madness final: How to score your 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket tiebreaker based on history
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Average total points in March Madness final: How to score your 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket tiebreaker based on history originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The ides of March have come and go. The drama remains, tethered to the hardwood, where 68 of the nation's finest sides joust for glory -- and a chance to hoist one of sport's grandest prizes.
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March Madness is back in 2026. This year's iteration is caked in all the pomp and circumstance of its predecessors. There will be upsets. There will be game-winners. There will be tears.
And there will be brackets, too. Millions of disciples will fill out theses to determine, attempting to predict just how the tournament field shakes up. Many bracket challenges will be decided not my the number of upsets one selects -- at least not entirely -- but by the final score of the championship game.
So, how does one decide just what score to scribble to finish off their brackets? The Sporting News fills you in.
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Average total points in March Madness final games
The three-point line was introduced in 1987. The addition of an additional apparatus spurred on scoring, helping create the game we've come embrace in recent years.
The NCAA tournament final has taken on a similar disposition to its regular season counterparts. Scores fluctuate year-by-year. But generally, title games tend to feature score lines that fall between 70 and 80 points apiece.
The average total score of NCAA men's basketball title games since 1987 is 145.3. Teams can't score a percentage of a point, so we'll round that total up to 146.
Average college basketball game score
March Madness contests can prove more tense than their regular season counterparts. But scores tend to fall within the range of 145 to 150 points, meaning the average NCAA tournament finale is right in line with a regular season contest -- at least as far as the final score is concerned.
There are, of course, extenuating factors that could change that mark. Teams playing in the NCAA final are rarely average, often boasting offenses and defenses far better than their adversaries. Still, you should be cautiously optimistic that the final score of the final game of the Division I calendar sits between 140 and 150 points. Perhaps you can even err on the side of caution given the game's testiness, siding for a score on the lower end of that spectrum. The caginess of the affair can blot attacking endeavor, after all.
List of NCAA Tournament championship scores
YearFinal ScoreTotal Points2025Florida 65, Houston 631282024UConn 75, Purdue 601352023UConn 76, San Diego State 591352022Kansas 72, UNC 691412021Baylor 86, Gonzaga 701462020No tournament (COVID)N/A2019Virginia 85, Texas Tech 77 (OT)1622018Villanova 79, Michigan 621412017UNC 71, Gonzaga 651362016Villanova 77, UNC 741512015Duke 68, Wisconsin 631312014UConn 60, Kentucky 541142013Louisville 82, Michigan 761582012Kentucky 67, Kansas 591262011UConn 53, Butler 41942010Duke 61, Butler 591202009UNC 89, Michigan State 721612008Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT)1432007Florida 84, Ohio State 751592006Florida 73, UCLA 571402005UNC 75, Illinois 701452004UConn 82, Georgia Tech 731552003Syracuse 81, Kansas 781592002Maryland 64, Indiana 521062001Duke 82, Arizona 721542000Michigan State 89, Florida 761651999UConn 77, Duke 741511998Kentucky 78, Utah 691471997Arizona 84, Louisville 79 (OT)1631996Kentucky 76, Syracuse 671431995UCLA 89, Arkansas 781671994Arkansas 76, Duke 721481993UNC 77, Michigan 711481992Duke 71, Michigan 511221991Duke 72, Kansas 651371990UNLV 103, Duke 731861989Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79 (OT)1591988Kansas 83, Oklahoma 79 1621987Indiana 74, Syracuse 73144HISTORY OF UPSETS BY SEED:
16 vs. 1 | 15 vs. 2 | 14 vs. 3 | 13 vs. 4 | 12 vs. 5
Who will win March Madness 2026?
Here are the latest college basketball betting odds on which school will win the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament as of March 11, according to BetMGM.
TeamOddsDuke+320Michigan+325Arizona+475Florida+675Houston+1000UConn+1300Illinois+1800Iowa State+2200Kansas+3500Michigan State+4000Purdue+5000Gonzaga+5500Arkansas+6600Virginia+6600Alabama+8000Nebraska+8000Louisville+9000St. John's+10000Tennessee+10000Vanderbilt+10000Missouri+6600Purdue+8000Marquette+8000St. Mary's+10000Mississippi State+10000UCLA+10000Michigan+10000Ole Miss+10000Louisville+10000Creighton+15000Oregon+15000Memphis+15000March Madness bracket predictions
Everyone has an opinion on who will hoist the trophy come the end of the 2026 NCAA tournament. Here are our experts' Final Four picks. Click the links to see their full bracket predictions for 2026 March Madness: