Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Constructing a perfect NCAA bracket is about as close to impossible as a task can get.
According to Mike Benzie of NCAA.com, the closest anyone has gotten in the last decade occurred in 2019, when an Ohio man picked the first 49 games correctly.
No one got nearly that close this season, as every bracket had at least one blemish before the first round ended Friday.
Here's a look at how the bracket entrants fared this year before the dream of perfection died.
Friday's Results
No. 8 Utah State's 88-72 win over No. 9 TCU knocked the last remaining perfect bracket from the ranks of the unbeaten:
No. 12 James Madison's 72-61 upset win over No. 5 Wisconsin left just one perfect bracket remaining.
Heading into the final quartet of games on Friday evening, only seven perfect brackets were left:
Only 11 perfect brackets remained after No. 13 seed Yale took down No. 4 seed Auburn 78-76 thanks to John Poulakidas' career-high 28 points. Over 90 percent of brackets had the SEC champion Tigers taking down the Bulldogs.
No. 11 New Mexico was a trendy upset pick, but No. 6 Clemson took care of business with an emphatic 77-56 win. After that one, just over 300 perfect brackets remained.
No. 2 Marquette's win over No. 15 Western Kentucky dropped the number of perfect brackets remaining to just 0.0011 percent and most notably busted the perfect bracket of Atlanta Falcons star Bijan Robinson.
The first two games on Friday managed to cut the number of perfect brackets almost in half to just over 1,000 remaining from where things stood at the end of Thursday.
At the start of the day, the number of perfect brackets was 0.0038 percent out of more than 25 million entries. Northwestern's overtime victory over Florida Atlantic and Baylor's dominant win over Colgate dropped that number to 0.00195 percent.
NCAA March Madness @MarchMadnessMBBThis number is getting incredibly small 😅<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NUMensBball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NUMensBball</a> <a href="https://t.co/bwier94l3g">pic.twitter.com/bwier94l3g</a>
The Wildcats needed a Brooks Barnhizer layup with nine seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 58 and force overtime. They steamrolled the Owls 19-7 in the overtime period.
Baylor shot 16-of-30 from three-point range in a 92-67 win over Colgate. The Bears, who are a No. 3 seed for the second straight season, will look to avoid another second-round upset on Sunday after they lost to No. 6 Creighton last year.
Thursday's Results
After the first day of games, less than one percent of brackets (approximately 2,100) were perfect:
Robinson's bracket was perfect after day one:
The biggest upset of the opening day belonged to No. 14 Oakland, which took home its first Round of 64 win in program history with an 80-76 victory over No. 3 Kentucky. Less than one percent of brackets managed to stay perfect after the Golden Grizzlies' surprising win:
We got closer to zero percent after No. 2 Iowa State took down No. 15 San Diego State, which played in last year's national championship game, 82-65, and No. 5 Gonzaga's 84-65 win over No. 12 McNeese State pretty much dealt the final blow:
A ton of brackets fell from the ranks of the unbeaten when No. 11 seed Duquesne defeated No. 6 seed BYU 71-67.
A bunch more added a blemish when No. 11 Oregon crushed No. 6 South Carolina 87-73 behind 40 points from Jermaine Couisnard.
People needing Dayton to keep a perfect bracket alive were assuredly concerned after the Flyers fell behind 56-39 with just over seven minutes left, but a scintillating 24-4 run to close the game launched the Flyers into the second round. That left just over two percent of brackets with a perfect record.
No. 7 Texas was a trendy pick to be upset by No. 10 Colorado, but the Longhorns earned a 56-44 win to drive down the number of perfect brackets to under two percent:
Fans need to go 63-for-63 to achieve a perfect bracket. Benzie previously reported that there's a one-in-9.2 quintillion chance of that happening. One would have a far better chance of winning the Mega Millions (one in 302.6 million).
Granted, it's easy enough to get a majority of the first-round games right, with top seeds facing heavy underdogs. But the point here is to be perfect, and in any given year, a tournament favorite can bow out before the first weekend. That happened to Purdue and Arizona last year and Kentucky the season prior.
Ultimately, perfection is a Herculean task, and fans should simply embrace the madness of March.
Sign up to Play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge.
