The NCAA Bracket Challenge for March Madness’s 85th Anniversary was available to the public following March 17, 2024, also known as “Selection Sunday.”
“[Selection Sunday] is when the Selection Committee reveals the full NCAA tournament bracket, including all teams and all seeds,” said NCAA writer Daniel Wilco.
Participants in the challenge can fill out a bracket choosing which college will win each of the 67 games. The goal is to guess the winner of every game in the tournament and the score of the National Championship.
Although there is a possibility of guessing the winner of every game, also known as a “Perfect Bracket,” it is very unlikely as there is a one in 9.2 quintillion chance of guessing every game correctly. For reference, the numerical expression is 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
“If you filled out one billion random brackets every single second for 100 straight years, you would still be six quintillion brackets shy of 9.2 quintillion,” said Wilco.
If a winner did happen to emerge, $1 million is awarded to the victor by USA Today.
According to Forbes, over 56 million Americans filled out a March Madness bracket in 2023, and this number is likely to increase.
Participating in the challenge also allows the participant to cheer for a team that they believe will win the tournament, even if their team lost earlier in the tournament, or was not selected.
“The March Madness bracket challenge is an exciting way to test my luck against others,” said freshman Levi Pearson. “It sparks my attention toward the NCAA tournament because it gives me a reason to root for a team in each of the 67 games.”
A person who does not know college basketball can also still win, as winning comes down to more luck than skill.
On the official NCAA website, people can join groups and compete with their friends or other participants in the challenge for money, or even for bragging rights.
According to NCAA March Madness, two groups in the March Madness Bracket Challenge have over 120,000 members, which are Capital One and Bleacher Report.
