Men’s College Basketball: No Perfect Brackets Remain Despite Over 36 Million Attempts

There are 32 teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, often referred to as March Madness, for the chaotic unpredictability of these games. As such, viewers are encouraged to submit a complete bracket of the tournament, with a perfect prediction bringing in $1 billion USD.

Yet, the odds are still heavily in favor of major sports media and betting companies that incentivize brackets. ESPN, CBS, and Yahoo all have bracket predictions for users to fill out, with Kalshi putting up the 10-figure prize for a perfect bracket.

With 63 games and a simplistic view of random guesses per game, the odds are 1 in 9.22 quintillion of guessing all the games right. According to the NCAA, with expert knowledge, the odds drop to 1 in 120.2 billion.

As per the Washington Times, with these improved odds, the chances of completing a perfect bracket are similar to picking one of the 100-400 million stars in the Milky Way.

Mathematically, it should come as no surprise that the last bracket was busted before the Sweet 16. It lasted 44 games, a game more than the highest last year and five off the record 49 in 2019.

The second round ends on Sunday, with the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four to follow. College basketball remains an exciting sport to watch in March, and March Madness will continue into April, as the tournament heats up.