Odds behind a March madness bracket
One billion dollars is the reward for a perfect March Madness bracket. How hard could it be?
April 3, 2023
Every year in March, the NCAA hosts their division 1 basketball tournament consisting of 68 of the best college teams in the country. This tournament is commonly known as March Madness. Famous billionaire Warren Buffet has offered one billion dollars to anyone who can correctly predict every game of the tournament. While this may seem like a huge amount of money, there are reasons that it’s highly likely to never be claimed.
In nearly 50 years of recorded brackets, there have been no recorded NCAA-verified brackets that have been one hundred percent accurate. The longest verifiably recorded streak was 49 games predicted correctly out of 67. Last year, it took 28 games to knock out every publically verified bracket.
The odds of predicting a perfect bracket are around 1 in 9.2 quintillions. A quintillion is essentially a million million millions, or in simpler terms a million trillions. To put that into perspective, the estimated odds of winning the Powerball are one in 292 million.
Many people have mixed feelings about if a perfect bracket will ever happen. Math teacher Steve Foley said, “No because there are so many different variables that affect every game. Between teams being injured, lack of experience, it’s nearly impossible [to predict correctly who will win every game]. I think you have a better chance of winning the lottery than being struck by lightning.”
Brady Kapolczynski, however, believes that a perfect bracket is on the way. “Yes, I believe my bracket will be right because I’m that guy.” It’s safe to say that March Madness has reached New Ulm High School.