Few brackets survived NCAA Tournament’s first day perfectly, as upset madness busted the picks of countless millions. Following a thrilling opening day of 16 games on Thursday, Yahoo Sports announced the last-minute news with all the shock value of an upset. With the 11th-seeded Drake’s upset win against No. 6 seed Missouri, a staggering 99.9% of brackets were officially busted. The day’s events resulted in the elimination of all but 1% of men’s brackets being still perfect.
ESPN reported a remarkable statistic: all picks were incorrect on 30 of its brackets, highlighting the improbability of perfect predictions. Still, ESPN’s bracket tracker calculated that 25,802 brackets were still perfect after the first day, from the more than 24 million entries. Meanwhile, the NCAA noted that only 0.0938% of over 34 million brackets stayed perfect, underscoring the difficulty of predicting every outcome in March Madness.
Approximately 6.6 million ESPN brackets exploded with joy after No. 12 seed McNeese upset No. 5 seed Clemson in a thrilling 69-67 final. Similar numbers were seen at CBS Sports where only 0.09% of the brackets were still unspoiled after Thursday’s games.
Creighton became ESPN’s first bracket buster of the day, as they began the day with a strong win over Louisville, 89-75. Their game was pivotal in determining the bracket’s outcomes for the day. With just the first match of the tournament defying most expectations, they changed the course of history for several individual predictions.
With 33 games on Thursday’s massive opening slate, it was always going to be a big day for flushing out the perfect brackets. The further the tournament goes, you’ll realize predicting every matchup perfectly is a monumental feat.