86.2 Percent Of NCAA Tournament Brackets Are Busted After Two Games
OMAHA, NEBRASKA - MARCH 21: Kareem Rozier #32 and Fousseyni Drame #34 of the Duquesne Dukes react after defeating the Brigham Young Cougars during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at CHI Health Center on March 21, 2024 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Two games in and the NCAA Tournament has already produced one double-digit upset.
Duquesne, the 11th-seed in the East Region, knocked off sixth-seeded BYU 71-67 in Omaha this afternoon. The Dukes joined Michigan State, victors over Mississippi State, as early winners on day one of the Big Dance.
Already, perfect brackets are falling. According to the official NCAA March Madness X/Twitter account, only 13.8% of brackets in the Capital One March Madness Bracket Challenge are still unblemished.
That means 86.2% of entries have at least one loss. By the time today's games end, that number will increase by a lot.
To be clear, picking a perfect bracket is damn near impossible. Statistically, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 chance of getting every game right.
Among other things, you're more likely to get struck by lightning, log multiple holes-in-one, pitch a perfect game and give birth to quintuplets than you are to pick a perfect bracket. That doesn't mean we'll stop trying though.
And if your bracket is already busted, there's no reason to fret. The most important part of March is enjoying the madness, which is just getting started.
There are three games still being played and 11 more to come today, plus 16 more first-round contests tomorrow. Soak it all in, because it only comes once a year.
