How Many Perfect March Madness Brackets Are Left?

March Madness is in full swing, and it's a doozie. There are always upsets, but Thursday (March 21) brought one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. The 14 Golden Grizzlies took out the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats in a shocking victory, 80-76. Kentucky were favorites to get to at least the Elite Eight, so you can imagine how many brackets are busted. I'm from Michigan, so I'm happy for Oakland, but it didn't help my bracket. So, how many perfect March Madness brackets are left? You're going to be shocked by the numbers.

The odds of filling out a perfect NCAA bracket are about 1 in 9223372036854775808, according to the NCAA. What's more, according to Mike Benzie of NCAA.com, the closest anyone has ever been to having a perfect bracket in the last decade happened in 2019, when an Ohio man picked the first 49 games correctly. That's pretty impressive. So, what about this year? According to the NCAA, Oakland's upset meant that out of millions of brackets, only 2,178 perfect brackets remained last night. That number went down even more after a late-night loss from NC State, who became the third No. 11 seed to beat a No. 6 seed. While that wasn't a huge upset, it was big enough to kill a few more brackets.

So, how many perfect March Madness brackets are left? As of last night, according to the NCAA, NC State's meant that less than 200 perfect brackets were left. One reportedly comes from Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. He tweeted out his bracket, which was still impressively perfect as of 10:18 p.m. EST Thursday. The actual number of perfect brackets left is pretty mind-blowing. According to the NCAA, after the NC State upset, only 0.0038% of remaining brackets in the country are perfect March Madness brackets. Chances are there will be more upsets this weekend, too. That's so wild. I guess that's why they call it March Madness. My parents are still beating me in my bracket pool, for what it's worth.

We're into March, and it's official championship time in the 2024 men's college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?

The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There's no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.

Before we get into the rankings, let's learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.

What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don't bet the house or first born on your bracket. That's so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I'm back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there's time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.

Let's get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.

Marquette has performed consistently well all season, and they have been falling around the No. 10 mark when ranked against the other NCAA teams. When their defense is weak, their offense is strong, and you can flip that, too. Now, if they can get both going at once, we'll have something extra special.

I remember the Coach K era of the Duke Blue Devils, so it's definitely not the same watching Duke without him in action. But, they're still a solid team with legacy. They're especially strong this year.

The Creighton Bluejays have some star players in Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. What's even better is that these players seem to be getting better as the season progresses. That's especially true of the latter.

The Iowa State Cyclones have been strong all season, and they're not letting up now. They also have a star player in Demarion Watson, who kind of broke out of nowhere later in the season.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels aren't quite at the level of Purdue, UConn and Houston, meaning they aren't a No. 1 seed, they're close. They have great stats and when they shine, they really shine. They could surprise everyone in the tourney.

The Tennessee Volunteers are having a great season, and star player Jonas Aidoo is largely to thank. But, Aidoo has fallen a bit short lately. Hopefully he's just resting up for a big tourney season.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the big teams to beat in 2024. They've been dominating both in offense and defense. There's no question that the Cats should be contenders for the Final Four.

The Houston Cougars will be a No. 1 seed, and they've earned it. They have an incredible record and are very difficult to trip up. Will they go all the way? Time will tell. But, their most recent wins were all close, so there's that.

The UConn Huskies have a solid coach in Dan Hurley, and he's really helped shape this team into champions. The Huskies have a legacy, and he's carrying that forward. They could absolutely go all the way this year.

Okay, so Purdue has some weaknesses. But, I follow the Big Ten closely (since Michigan State is in there), and they just always seem to pull off a win. The Boilermakers could really make this their year. Fletcher Loyer and Zach Edey are some of their stars.