mmrules

March Madness
Tournament Rules
& Sign-up Information

Printable (pdf) documents

March Madness Rules

Calendar with due dates, preliminary round info, etc

Team Sign-up Form

3-Point / Slam Dunk Form

For our March Madness festivities to run smoothly, we equip team captains and contest competitors with explicit rules so that no misunderstandings or surprises will take away from the fun of our competitions. If there are any rules that you feel are unfair or unclear, please feel free to contact Mr. Gain for an explanation on any rule interpretation or reasoning. Over the years we have addressed issues and developed rules that we feel are put together with the best interest of the students in mind.

Rules for March Madness
so that ALL teams signed up may participate:

Due to time constraints and numbers of entries, we can only accommodate a maximum of 16 boys and 8 girls teams during the all-school March Madness assembly.

If we have more than 16 boys and/or 8 girls teams entered in a given division:

Based on a LOTTERY PICK, 8 boys and/or 4 girls teams
will have “automatic bids” for entry into the tournament.
This is done by random selection –
team names are pulled out of a hat.

The remaining teams will have to “qualify” by playing preliminary round games at a designated time, which will normally be a weekday evening after other sports are out of the fieldhouse. Based on the number of teams, some may have a BYE in the first round of preliminary games. The preliminaries (and the tournament itself) will be run as SINGLE ELIMINATION. If you lose, you are out of the competition. The games will be set up as fair as possible, so any team advancing to the next round will have no less recovery time than the other from its previous game whenever possible. Brackets will be seeded as is the case in the NCAA’s March Madness Tournament. Our Bulldog Selection Committee is made up of Physical Education Department.

RULES FOR ENTERING A TEAM:

• You can only sign up to play on ONE TEAM.
• A player who has unserved detention time will be ineligible until the time has been served
• You CANNOT switch teams. NO alterations will be made. If your team is eliminated in preliminary round competition, team members may NOT join a different team.
• Only TWO Bulldog ball players allowed on a team.
(Exception: If there are more than 2 Bulldog ball players on a team, no more than 2 can be playing together in the game at the same time – In other words, there must be a minimum of 3 non-Bulldog players playing at all times on every team.) If you break this rule, even for a brief timeframe, the game will be ruled a forfeit for your team.

RULES FOR THE GAMES THEMSELVES:

For preliminary, Sweet 16, and Elite 8 games-

Ų Games will be timed for 10 minutes.
Ų Teams will play5 on 5, half court
Ų Games begin by checking the ball on top above the top of the key. Court facilitators may flip a coin or use other means to determine who gets the ball to start. The ball MUST BE PASSED IN TO BEGIN whenever it is a dead ball situation and taken out on top!
Ų On a change of possession, YOU MUST TAKE BACK THE BALL BEHIND ANY PART OF THE 3 POINT LINE – EVEN IF YOU MAKE A STEAL OR REBOUND AN AIRBALL.
Ų Out of bounds are the baseline, sidelines, and half court.
Ų Call your own fouls – Check ball on top after – no free throws during the game, BUT THE COURT FACILITATOR MAY AWARD A POINT FOR A FLAGRANT FOUL IF NECESSARY.
Ų Substitutions may only occur when there is a dead ball being checked on top – let the court facilitator know if you are subbing in players.
Ų ALL baskets count as 1 point – no two or 3 pointers.
Ų The first team to 7 points wins (“straight-up” no win by 2)
Ų If 10 minutes ends, the team with the highest point total wins.
If there is a tie after 10 minutes, each team will pick ANY player to shoot free throws to determine the winner. So…If team 1’s player makes one, then team 2’s player needs to make his/her shot for the teams to shoot another round. If team 1’s player makes and team 2’s player misses, team 1 wins. If team 1’s player misses and team 2’s player makes it, team 2 wins. If team 1’s player misses and team 2’s player misses, the teams go another round. IF YOU GO ANOTHER ROUND, YOU NEED TO SELECT A NEW FREE THROW SHOOTER EACH NEW ROUND. You may only go back to a previous shooter if all of your players have shot a round (even if they never substituted in for the game itself!)
Ų WINNING TEAM COACHES NEED TO REPORT SCORES TO THE SCORER’S TABLE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE GAME SO WE CAN UPDATE BRACKETS– DON’T FORGET!
Ų The court facilitator has the option of removing players, ejecting players, adding or removing points for unsportsmanlike conduct or stalling, and making any other decisions that they feel are necessary. The court facilitators’ decisions are final and cannot be disputed. Remember, these people are volunteering their time so that you can have this experience. Please respect them and abide by the rules to the best of your ability!

For Final 4 & Championship Games –
SAME AS ABOVE WITH THE FOLLOWING ADJUSTMENTS:

Ų Boys Final 4 games will be full court & girls will be ½ court; both boys & girls championships will be full court
Ų Final 4 and championship games will have a 7 minute running clock
Ų In the championship game only, the clock will stop with the referee’s whistle, and free throws will be shot on every foul with 30 seconds or less remaining.
Ų Teams will play up to 11 points (no win by 2 – “straight up”)
Ų 2’s and 3’s will both be used to keep score.
Ų Any games that are run full court will have REFEREES to make calls

PLEASE SEE THE 3-POINT AND SLAM-DUNK PAGES FOR EXPLANATIONS FOR THOSE COMPETITIONS. Tryouts for both competitions occur on the same evening as the preliminary team bracketed rounds.