March Madness is almost here. With 68 teams competing for the men’s NCAA basketball championship and 64 for the women’s title, it can be hard to keep track of the latest news and the status of your bracket.
Luckily, there are plenty of apps to help you follow the tournament without leaving the safety of your couch — or your desk at work (we won’t tell). These apps can help you track your bracket, check out highlights and watch and listen to games live.
Here are our favorites.
1. NCAA March Madness Live
Platforms: iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, Microsoft
Price: Free
The NCAA’s own app for the tournament might be the only one you need. Not only can you watch every game live, the app also allows you to pick a bracket.
You’ll need a paid cable subscription to watch games broadcast on TBS, TNT and truTV, but games on CBS are free. The app also works with Google Cast, allowing users to cast video on the app to their televisions.
For radio lovers — or anyone trying to keep up with the action at work or in the car — live radio broadcasts are available for every game. The app also includes highlights, scores and stats.
Bracketologists can use the app to make tournament picks with their friends and enter the NCAA Bracket Challenge Sweepstakes, with prizes including a trip to next year’s Final Four.
2. ESPN Tournament Bracket Challenge
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
This bracket app is among the most popular, thanks in part to the chance at winning $10,000 and a trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational college basketball tournament. The app also lets you see how your bracket measures up against pro athletes, celebrities and ESPN hosts.
ESPN also has live scoring and gives users the ability to make up to 10 brackets. The app also includes a Women’s Tournament Challenge, but does not offer any prize money for the best bracket.
3. Yahoo Fantasy Sports
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
This tournament app also lets you pick your bracket, and has its own competition offering a $25,000 prize to the user who picks the best bracket (again, men’s tournament only. There’s no bracket competition for the women’s tournament). The Yahoo app also lets you manage your bracket and all your other Yahoo Fantasy Sports teams. Like the ESPN and NCAA apps, you can organize tournament groups for your office, school or family.
4. CBS Sports
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
CBS is one of the broadcasters covering the tournament, so it’s a good app to download if you want to watch live games and listen to streaming video.
The app also includes scores, stats and news. And yes, the CBS app also allows you to pick a bracket.
5. Thuuz Sports
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
You can’t possibly watch all the games, especially not in the first round of the tournament, when dozens of teams are playing at once. Thuuz can help you narrow down which games to follow.
Thuuz rates every game on a 100-point scale to let you know which match-up is best. The app also includes a television guide to let you know where to watch. You can set up alerts for your favorite teams as well.
6. TuneIn Radio
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
If you’re not down with the CBS Radio broadcast, TuneIn Radio gives you access to thousands of radio stations, including live local broadcasts for teams like Kansas, Maryland and Duke.
7. Bleacher Report’s Team Stream
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
This app gives real sports junkies instant alerts as news breaks. With plenty of news breaking during tournament time, this app can help you keep up on your favorite teams.
Team Stream also has scores, schedules and stats, as well as video highlights.
8. SeatGeek
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Nothing beats experiencing March Madness live and in-person. SeatGeek can help you find deals on tickets.
SeatGeek’s DealScore feature grades every ticket deal and lets you buy and sell tickets through its marketplace. While the men’s final is in Phoenix and the women’s final is in Dallas, the early rounds of both tournaments are all over the country, so it’s possible to catch a game near you.
Before you spend too much on tickets or bet big on your bracket, be sure you can afford it and that your credit is in a good place. You can get your free credit report summary on Credit.com. (It gives you two free credit scores, updated every 14 days, plus lets you track how you’re doing in five key areas that affect your scores.) And if you’re having a hard time managing your money, well, there are apps for that, too. Here are five of them that can help families on a tight budget.
Image: RapidEye
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