How many perfect NCAA brackets remain?

WASHINGTON — If you still have a perfect March Madness bracket after Thursday, congratulations you’re part of a very exclusive club. 

After 16 games, there are only around 2,000 perfect brackets out of the more than 29 million entries in the four major online games. 

In 2023, there were only 787 perfect brackets after Thursday’s action – so technically things are in better shape this time around. 

Atlanta Falcons’ running back Bijan Robinson is one of the 0.00038% to still have a perfect bracket. 

While No. 14 Oakland’s 80-76 win over No. 3 Kentucky was the day’s biggest upset, the vast majority of brackets were busted just two games in. 

In the day’s first game, No. 9 Michigan State defeated No. 8 Mississippi State 66-51. Just 57.4% of all brackets remained intact after that game finished, according to the NCAA website. No. 11 seed Duquesne then delivered the first big upset with a stunning 71-67 win against No. 6 BYU on Thursday. After just three games, only 11.6 % of brackets remained perfect in that official game. 

Heading into the tournament, Duquesne was the least-picked No. 11 seed by Men’s Bracket Challenge Game users this year, according to the NCAA’s website.

Two more No. 11 seeds, Oregon and NC State, also advanced on Thursday. 

A record 22.6 million brackets were filled out on ESPN’s site, up 15% over last year. UConn is the favorite in the ESPN Tournament Challenge at 24.7%, followed by Houston at 13.6% and Purdue at 10.1%.

According to NCAA.com, if you were to simply guess or flip a coin for each matchup, the odds of a perfect NCAA bracket are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. 

However, NCAA.com also notes that the odds are more like 1 in 120.2 billion, if the person making the bracket takes into account info about which teams are better and tournament history. 

It’s believed that the closest anyone has gotten to a perfect bracket occurred just five years ago.

During the 2019 tournament, an Ohio man correctly guessed all the games going into the Sweet 16, according to NCAA.com. But his streak of 49 correct picks was ended when Purdue beat Tennessee 99-94 in overtime of the second game in the Sweet 16.

Last year, it took just 25 games for there to be no more perfect brackets – after No. 16 FDU stunned No. 1 Purdue. 

In 2022 and 2021, it took just 28 games for there to be no more perfect brackets.

  The Associated Press contributed to this report.