Take control of March Madness with these sporty Android apps
The field of 68 teams will soon be announced, and the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will officially be underway. For many sports fans this is considered the best time of the year. There will be games happening at all hours of the day, buzzer beaters, massive upsets, and tons of excitement. We’ve got a list of essential apps that will help you get the most out of this year’s March Madness.
Brackets
What makes March Madness so exciting? It’s a tournament filled with schools you wouldn’t normally care about, until you fill out a bracket. Suddenly you’re cheering for a school called “Robert Morris” like you’re an alumni. Filling out a bracket and entering it in pools at work or in online challenges is what makes this tournament so fun. We’ve got a few apps that can fill your bracket needs.
Back in the day joining an office pool meant printing out a dozen brackets and keeping track of winners and losers by hand. ESPN Tournament Challenge makes it much easier. Simply create a group and invite your friends. ESPN will automatically keep track of the brackets and show you who’s winning. It’s also a great place to read news and updates from the tourney. [FREE]
Bracket Tracker is great if you’re just looking for a simple way to fill out and track your bracket. You can create multiple brackets, for both men and women, and keep track of wins and losses. It’s a nice alternative to keeping a folded up bracket in your pocket all day. [FREE]
Scores & News
You might not be interested in filling out brackets, but you still want to keep up with news and scores.. We’ve got a few apps that will help you stay on top of all the happenings from this year’s tournament.
Thuuz is one app that every sports fan should have in their arsenal. It uses an algorithm to rate all live and upcoming games for level of enthusiasm. It will also send alerts when a live game is particularly exciting. This year they used their algorithm to determine that the 2013 Sweet 16 game between Michigan and Kansas was the most exciting tournament game from the last few years. Thuuz is indispensable during March Madness. [FREE]
When watching an NCAA sporting event you can’t for wrong with the official NCAA Sports app. With this app you can get live scores and updates, breaking news, custom alerts for your favorite teams, and a special hub for your favorite team. When you want NCAA go to the NCAA. [FREE]
The ESPN App gives you up-to-the-minute scores and news with loads of video highlights from the “worldwide leader in sports.” You know ESPN is going to cover every single inch of March Madness goodness. Check out the “NOW” views for real-time updates while the tournament action is hot and heavy. [ESPN]
If you’re not a fan of the “Mothership,” a.k.a ESPN, you can use my personal favorite sports app: theScore. With the score you get news and scores without all the extra fluff. You can also set up favorite teams and sports to get custom alerts. It’s simple, fast, customizable, and easy to use. [FREE]
One of the main TV networks to broadcast NCAA Tournament games is CBS, so you know they have a good app for coverage. Follow live action with GameTrackers, scoreboards, stats, and more. Plus you can set up scoring, team news, and breaking news alerts to keep you on top of all the action. [FREE]
Watching Live
The most important thing to do during March Madness is, of course, watch as many basketball games as humanly possible. In order to do this you’ll need much more than just a television. Use these apps to watch games while you’re at work, on the train, in the bathroom, sitting in a waiting room, or any other possible moment of free time.
Far and away the best app for watching live tournament games is the official March Madness app. Log in with your TV provider to enjoy unlimited access to live streaming video of all 67 games of the 2014 NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. If you don’t have cable a temporary preview period is available for live game streaming before login is required. [FREE]
If you don’t have cable, but still want to watch as many games as you can, consider trying Sling TV. You can get 7 for free and then it’s $20 for a full month. SImply cancel your subscription after March Madness is over. With Sling you’ll get TBS and TNT, which leaves just CBS (free OTA), and truTV. The service is not free, but it’s not a bad price for one month of basketball. [FREE]