Both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament brackets were left with only a few perfect entries after upsets in the early rounds. The last perfect men’s bracket was eliminated when Yale upset Auburn, while the women’s bracket had four entries remaining after the first round. By Sunday, only three perfect brackets were left in the women’s tournament after Duke beat Ohio State and South Carolina beat North Carolina. Lack of early upsets had kept the perfect brackets alive until Saturday’s games started knocking them out rapidly.
In the women’s tournament, the field of perfect brackets was quickly reduced from a few hundred to just a handful after favorites like UConn, Iowa, and NC State all advanced in the early rounds. The number of perfect brackets dropped to 0.1% after Ole Miss, USC, and other teams secured wins, leaving only 102 perfect entries still standing. Wins by UCLA, West Virginia, and Gonzaga further decreased the number to just 57 perfect brackets, which all survived the first round. However, an upset in the second round left only four perfect brackets standing before South Carolina’s win knocked out another, leaving only two remaining.
The men’s perfect bracket pool had also been reduced to 0.1% after Oakland upset Kentucky in the biggest upset of the tournament. By Friday, the last perfect men’s bracket was eliminated when Yale defeated Auburn, ending the hopes of any perfect entries in the men’s tournament. The women’s bracket, on the other hand, had a slightly better chance of survival until Saturday’s games started eliminating the remaining perfect entries. Despite the odds, a few brackets managed to remain perfect after the first round, only to be rapidly dwindled down to just a few by the second round.
The close call of having any perfect brackets left in the women’s tournament was a topic of discussion on social media, with Yahoo Fantasy Sports tweeting about how 99.9% of the brackets had already been busted. The excitement of March Madness lies in the unpredictability and surprise upsets that can make or break a bracket, showing just how difficult it is to predict the outcomes of every game in the tournament. As the field of perfect brackets continued to shrink, basketball fans eagerly waited to see if any entries would be able to survive the remaining rounds and achieve the elusive perfect bracket status.
Despite the odds stacked against them, a few lucky entrants managed to keep their women’s tournament brackets perfect through the first round and into the second round. However, the excitement was short-lived as upsets in the later rounds quickly eliminated all but a few perfect entries. With unpredictable outcomes and underdog victories, March Madness continues to captivate fans and challenge bracket predictors each year. As the tournament progresses, the remaining perfect brackets will continue to face tough competition and tough odds to become the ultimate winners of the bracket challenge.
