Different basketball leagues have their own set of rules and regulations. Some basketball leagues choose double elimination tournaments and some only use single elimination tournaments. Other leagues choose to play the best out of three and some only require one loss and your out. Learning what rules are based on what kind of basketball tournament, will help with your understanding when watching a game on TV or playing in a tournament yourself.
Single Elimination Tournament rules
One of the most well-known single elimination tournaments is the NCAA "March Madness" bracket. This is the annual tournament for the NCAA basketball colleges. Only 64 teams are allowed a spot in the tournament and they play until they either lose or win it all. Once a team loses one game, they are out until next season. It does not matter if it is the first game or the championship, a loss means you are out. This variation of tournament play typically is only used for brackets that have a large amount of teams participating.
Best of Series
The National Basketball Association (NBA) uses a best of series. A best of series means that there is a required amount of games you must win against a single team in order to advance. The NBA uses a best of seven series in their tournament playoffs. The first team to win four games against the opposing the advances to the next round and has to win all over again. This means that if a team can lose their first three games and come back to win the next four and advance to the next round. the winning team is the one that can outlast their opponent for the most games. The best of series is typically only used in the NBA.
Double Elimination Rules
A double elimination tournament is much like single elimination tournament with one exception; you have to lose twice to be out. So there is a huge bracket set up for the original teams, and there is a couple of smaller brackets set up below the big bracket. When a team loses, they go down to the smaller brackets and play another losing team. This forces a team out of the tournament early, since each team will have one loss already before playing each other. In some circumstances, the championship game may consists of a team with one loss, and a team with no losses. If this happens, the team with one loss must be the other team twice in order to win the championship. This type of tournament is popular in recreational leagues and youth leagues.
Consolation Bracket Rules (2 game minimum)
A consolation bracket is set up similar to a double elimination bracket. The difference is that when a team wins, they continue to move to the right, and when a team loses, they move to the left. The losing teams only continue playing if they lose the first game. If a team wins the first game, then loses the second game, they are out of the tournament. If a team loses the first game, they play other teams that lost the first game, and the team that wins all their games against the original losing teams is declared the consolation winner. The teams that won the first game and continue to win are declared the champions. This style of bracket is very popular among high school and youth tournaments. It allows for teams to get a minimum of two games played.
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