Somehow, nearly 14,000 people who filled out an NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket picked all 16 games played Thursday correctly.
An estimated 36 million brackets were submitted on major sites including the Men’s Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, USA Today and Sports Illustrated. Most were busted after the very first game, as more than 20 million picked Ohio State to defeat TCU — a prediction that quickly fell flat.
While a No. 9 seed beating a No. 8 is typically more of a toss-up than an upset, Thursday still delivered several stunning results. And yet, 14,000 people nailed them all.
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The biggest upset of the day came when No. 12 High Point beat No. 5 Wisconsin. Somewhat less surprising was No. 11 VCU defeating North Carolina, which was without top player Caleb Wilson.
Another upset: No. 11 Texas over No. 6 BYU.
The day nearly featured the rarest of upsets — a No. 16 over a No. 1. Duke trailed Siena for portions of the second half but rallied late for a 71-65 win.
Last year, about 36,000 perfect brackets remained after the first day of a tournament with few major surprises. In 2024, only 2,100 survived Day 1. How many will remain perfect after today? The tournament’s overall No. 1 seed, Arizona, faces Long Island University this afternoon.
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