The NCAA reported on Friday that roughly 14,000 perfect brackets remain in its March Madness Bracket Challenge from more than 36 million submissions across major online platforms after the first 16 games of the men's Division I basketball tournament first round.
The figure represents a sharp drop following several upsets on March 19, 2026, leaving just 0.039% of entries intact through Thursday's action.
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament consists of 68 teams competing in a single-elimination format, with four play-in games determining the final 64-team bracket.[1]
Perfect brackets typically diminish rapidly after the opening games. In 2021, only 121 survived the first day from millions of entries, the lowest in recent memory.[2] In 2023, 696 perfect brackets remained after Day 1 out of more than 40 million.[3]
The Bracket Challenge aggregates public entries from partners including ESPN, Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports, providing daily updates on perfect brackets during the tournament.[4]
Sources
- NCAA; "NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament"; Accessed October 2024; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_men%27s_basketball_tournament
- NCAA; "2021 NCAA tournament: How many perfect brackets remain? Day 1"; March 18, 2021; https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-03-18/2021-ncaa-tournament-how-many-perfect-brackets-remain-day-1
- NCAA; "2023 NCAA tournament: How many perfect brackets remain? Day 1"; March 16, 2023; https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2023-03-16/2023-ncaa-tournament-how-many-perfect-brackets-remain-day-1-march-madness
- NCAA; "NCAA.com Bracket Challenge - Men's Basketball"; Accessed October 2024; https://www.ncaa.com/bracketchallenge/mens-basketball
