Download Your 2023 NCAA Basketball Dream Team Now! Guaranteed to Thrill Both Fans and Pros!

Nicknames-only March Madness printable bracket PDF for free: Make your picks based on mascots originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The 2026 NCAA Tournament is finally here which means its time for everyone's favorite March tradition: filling out a bracket.

One of the many wonderful things about March Madness is that you don't have to be an expert to participate. In fact, the NCAA tournament often features so many shocking upsets and Cinderella stories that many professionals who analyze college basketball for a living end up with busted brackets by end of the first day. Sometimes, the tournament is so unpredictable that bracket picks based on mascots, team colors or flipping a coin could result in a better bracket than an "expert" who spent hours memorizing rosters, listening to podcasts and analyzing matchups from every possible angle.

Case in point? When my now eight-year-old daughter was a baby, she filled out her first bracket my choosing one of two cheese puffs dangled in front of her for every matchup. Naturally, she beat me.

If you're looking to make your March Madness picks this year solely based on school nicknames (as my daughter did), you came to the right place. We did the work for you: replacing every university name on the bracket with their nickname so you can spend less time Googling and more time filling in your picks. This year's tournament features a three-way tie between Wildcats, Tigers and Panthers for most common nickname.