Well, the dream was while it lasted .. all two-ish hours of it.
The bid for a perfect NCAA men’s tournament bracket disappeared for over 25 million people by mid-afternoon on Thursday, fueled by 12th-seeded High Point’s first-round stunner over fifth-seeded Wisconsin.
ESPN reported that just under 900,000 blemish-free brackets remained after the opening wave of games. That’s just over 3% of the total brackets entered.
TCU, a ninth-seed, nicked some brackets in the first game of the tournament by edging eighth-seed Ohio State. Nebraska, a fourth-seed, picked up its first-ever NCAA victory by racing past Troy.
The upsets also took a toll over at Yahoo, where 83% of the entries included a win by Wisconsin in the first round.
The odds of going 67 for 67 (or 63 for 63 if you don’t pick the First Four) in the men’s bracket are longer than one of those 3-pointers hoisted up by High Point’s Chase Johnston. Way longer.
The NCAA estimates the chances of ending the tournament with a zero in the loss column range anywhere from one in 9.2 quintillion (if you flip a coin for every game). The odds drop a little if you make educated guesses … all the way to one in 120 billion.
The NCAA’s own bracket challenge looked a lot like ESPN’s, with about 3.5% of entries still having a shot at perfection.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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