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Here's a look at the average score of the March Madness final, with fans competing in NCAA basketball tournament bracket pools across the country
Let’s be honest: you know why you’re here. Every year, in the days leading up to the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament , millions of people across the country with wildly varying levels of ball knowledge fill out brackets to try to determine who will make the Final Four and be crowned the national champion. Oftentimes, there’s a tiebreaker for those bracket competitions: Seeing who comes the closest to picking the combined number of points scored in the national championship game.
REQUIRED READING: March Madness expert picks: Bracket predictions for 2026 NCAA Tournament While you could always just guess — which is mostly what filling a bracket’s all about, right? — why not make a potential March Madness bracket-winning prediction with a little more knowledge? Here’s a closer look at the average score of national championship games: Average score of March Madness final Since 2016, the average combined point total from NCAA men’s basketball championship games is 142.
4 points. That time marker is a notable one. Ahead of the 2015-16 season, the NCAA cut the shot clock down from 35 seconds to 30, a rule that’s still in place today.
So while championship games before that could provide some helpful guidance, it’s most useful to work only with title games that have come under the same time constraints as today, with more possessions and a generally faster pace of play. During that nine-season stretch, the highest-scoring championship game came in 2019, when Virginia and Texas Tech combined for 162 points in the Cavaliers’ 85-77 victory, though that game went into overtime. Since 2009, it’s the only title game that has required overtime.