It’s time to start making a bracket — or at least thinking about one.
Who will cut down the nets at the Final Four? What lower-seed will become this year’s Cinderella team? What teams were under-seeded, or perhaps over-seeded, and have a favorable first-round matchup? Where will the upsets fall during the Road to San Antonio and the Alamodome?
Those questions and then some will be answered in just two hours when the official NCAA Tournament bracket is unveiled at 6 p.m. ET on CBS during the Selection Sunday bracket reveal show.
Making selections for the NCAA Tournament is one of several great traditions that make March Madness one of the greatest postseason tournaments there are in sports.
The reason? Well, there are several ways to approach making those picks — either randomly by choosing the better mascot in a matchup or overanalyzing bracketology metrics — that make it a fun event for all involved. Then there is the fun of hoping to have that perfect bracket — or what later becomes the best bracket — in a bracket group.
The First Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament gets going on Tuesday, March 18 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, while the first set of first-round games take place on Thursday, March 20 at different arenas across the country.
Here’s what you need to know on the odds of having a perfect March Madness bracket and more:
Has anyone ever had a perfect March Madness bracket?
Per the NCAA’s website, the longest a March Madness bracket has gone perfect — at least verifiable — has been 49 consecutive games, which took place during the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
There was one user on ESPN’s Bracket Challenge last year that correctly picked 31 games before their bracket was busted, per the NCAA. The game that killed the hopes of having a perfect bracket was No. 8 Utah State defeating No. 9 TCU.
Round busted in parentheses
- 1. 2019: 49 (Sweet 16)
- 2. 2017: 39 (Second Round)
- 3. 2014: 36 (Second Round)
- 4. 2015: 34 (Second Round)
- 5. 2024: 30 (First Round)
What are the odds for a perfect March Madness bracket?
The odds of having a perfect March Madness bracket are practically nil.
But to expound on this, the NCAA says the odds of predicting all 63 NCAA Tournament games correctly are approximately 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, or 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
However, if you are an avid men’s college basketball fan, the NCAA says the odds are slightly improved to 1 in 120.2 billion for a perfect bracket.
What is the March Madness bracket deadline?
- March Madness bracket deadline: Thursday, March 20 at noon ET
Those who want to enter their name into the pool and hope to be the first to have a perfect March Madness bracket, you have to get that entry (or entries if you do multiple groups) in before the start of the first set of first first-round games on Thursday, March 20.
Click here to enter the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Bracket Challenge.