What is the longest any March Madness bracket has stayed perfect?
Mar 21, 2025
(WHTM) — It's time for March Madness, as millions nationwide fill out their brackets and choose who they think could win the NCAA tournament. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are insurmountable, but many may wonder how long a recorded bracket has stayed perfect.
According to the NCAA,
the longest verifiable streak of correct picks in an NCAA tournament bracket is the first 49 games. The NCAA says in 2019, Gregg Nigl, a neuropsychologist from Columbus, Ohio, correctly predicted the entire NCAA tournament into the Sweet 16.
What are the odds of getting a perfect NCAA March Madness bracket?
Nigl's bracket finally busted when third-ranked Purdue beat second-ranked Tennessee in an overtime thriller, 99-94 in the second game in the Sweet 16. Nigl's bracket became the first verified bracket to pick through the Round of 32 correctly, per the NCAA.
Nigl was reportedly a huge fan of Michigan and the Big Ten conference (except for Ohio State, respectively), and picked Gonzaga to go all the way. ESPN said Nigl also knew a friend who lived near the UC-Irvine campus, so he went with the 13-seed Anteaters to upset Big 12 champ Kansas State in the first round.
In an unfortunate — or maybe fortunate, if you believe in jinxes — Nigl became sick as games started. He even called off of work and tried to watch the games at home, only to be too sick to tune in, ESPN reported.
Who invented the March Madness bracket?
A day later, Nigl checked his brackets and saw his predictions come to life, as Gonzaga won by almost 40, the Big Ten went 7-1, and UC Irvine upset Kansas State in the first round. Nigl would later realize that he made the greatest recorded NCAA bracket to date.
Speaking with the Today Show before his bracket busted, Nigl said his secret was “watching a lot of Big 10 basketball” and ESPN’s “Bracketology,” as well as “a lot of luck.”
The odds of predicting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, per ESPN and the NCAA. Unless you have some basketball knowledge, then your odds may rise to 1 in 120.2 billion. ...read more read less
