On Sunday, the last perfect women’s bracket in Yahoo’s bracket contest was revealed as trisdyn’s Rad Bracket. This entry correctly predicted the outcomes of all the women’s NCAA basketball tournament games leading up to that point, with the only remaining game being the national championship between South Carolina and Iowa. A second entry had also picked all the games correctly but failed to enter a tiebreaker final score for the national championship pick. The lack of early upsets in the tournament allowed the perfect brackets to survive until the second round.
The field of perfect women’s brackets was significantly reduced after the first round, with only 57 entries remaining after the initial games. Despite the second round starting with no upsets, No. 7 Duke’s victory over No. 2 Ohio State spoiled most of the perfect brackets. As the games progressed, the number of perfect brackets continued to dwindle, with South Carolina, Colorado, and Oregon State each eliminating a portion of the remaining entries. Ultimately, trisdyn’s Rad Bracket emerged as the sole perfect women’s bracket heading into the later stages of the tournament.
In contrast to the women’s bracket, the last perfect men’s bracket was eliminated early in the tournament. No. 13 seed Yale’s upset of fourth-seeded Auburn on Friday dashed the hopes of the final remaining perfect entry. The men’s bracket pool had already been reduced to just 0.1% of entries after No. 14 seed Oakland stunned No. 3 seed Kentucky in a major upset on Thursday. These early upsets in the men’s tournament drastically decreased the number of perfect brackets early on in the competition.
The progression of both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments highlighted the unpredictability and excitement of March Madness. While the women’s bracket saw a longer lifespan for perfect entries, thanks to a lack of early upsets, Duke’s upset victory over Ohio State significantly reduced the number of remaining perfect brackets. The final perfect bracket, trisdyn’s Rad Bracket, remained the only entry standing as the tournament entered the later rounds, with the national championship game between South Carolina and Iowa determining its fate.
The intense competition and high stakes of the NCAA basketball tournaments kept fans on the edge of their seats as perfect brackets were eliminated one by one. While the women’s bracket contest saw a more gradual decline in perfect entries, the men’s bracket experienced swift eliminations after early upsets. The surprise outcomes and underdog victories showcased the unpredictable nature of college basketball and added to the excitement of March Madness for both participants and spectators alike. As the tournaments progressed, the quest for the perfect bracket came to an end for most, leaving only one entry standing in each competition as a testament to the difficulty of predicting the outcome of every game.
