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You know it's going to happen on that first day of the 2026 NCAA tournament: As soon as a game goes final that you picked the wrong side of in your bracket, you're going to feel that sting.
There goes perfection. And while you know that a perfect bracket is impossible, you still start to doubt yourself. Then, you lose more games and it gets worse.
Here's what I'm going to suggest you do: Bookmark this post and come back to it a few times. This is a look at the mathematical probabilities of a perfect bracket and other near-impossible shots at getting every single pick right.
Per the NCAA, the odds of an absolutely perfect bracket are ... 1 in 9.2 quintillion, which can be written out as 1 in 9,200,000,000,000,000,000.
So, yeah: As Warren Buffett knows, that's not happening.
DePaul University math professor Jeff Bergen did some work and figured out it could be this: 1 in 128 billion.
Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly factored in what the average college basketball fan could do using knowledge to make picks: 1 in 2.4 trillion.
Good luck!
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Odds of a perfect March Madness bracket: What are they?
Continue reading...
There goes perfection. And while you know that a perfect bracket is impossible, you still start to doubt yourself. Then, you lose more games and it gets worse.
Here's what I'm going to suggest you do: Bookmark this post and come back to it a few times. This is a look at the mathematical probabilities of a perfect bracket and other near-impossible shots at getting every single pick right.
Per the NCAA, the odds of an absolutely perfect bracket are ... 1 in 9.2 quintillion, which can be written out as 1 in 9,200,000,000,000,000,000.
So, yeah: As Warren Buffett knows, that's not happening.
DePaul University math professor Jeff Bergen did some work and figured out it could be this: 1 in 128 billion.
Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly factored in what the average college basketball fan could do using knowledge to make picks: 1 in 2.4 trillion.
Good luck!
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Odds of a perfect March Madness bracket: What are they?
Continue reading...
