Has anyone ever had a perfect bracket?

No. No one has ever turned in a verifiable perfect bracket. The best proven run is 49 straight right picks, from 2019.

The closest anyone has come

In 2019, an Ohio man named Greg Nigl got famous.

He picked the first 49 games right, one after another.

NCAA.com tracks verifiable brackets across the big games.

No bracket had ever stayed perfect that long.

His run broke in the Sweet 16.

Most brackets bust in the first weekend.

One early upset is all it takes.

Read how often upsets happen.

The math, shown

A bracket picks 63 games.

Each game has 2 possible winners.

So the number of possible brackets is 2 times itself 63 times.

That is 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible brackets.

About 9.2 quintillion. A quintillion is a billion billions.

Flip a coin for every game, and your odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

Know basketball, and the odds get better, a little.

NCAA.com puts them near 1 in 120.2 billion.

Better, and still not going to happen.

You do not need perfect to win

Pools are won by good brackets, not perfect ones.

NCAA.com says pool winners average about 50 right picks.

That is 50 of 63 games.

A strong first weekend does most of the work.

So does keeping your champion alive late.

See how bracket scoring works.