That's a lot of numbers, and it's easy to see why Paulos believes it's nearly impossible to pick a perfect bracket. Even if you were able to correctly predict the winner of every game in the first round, your chances of going on to pick the winner of every game in the second round would be just 1 in 256. And so on.
Of course, there are always a few lucky people who do manage to pick a perfect bracket. In 2019, for example, a man named Greg Rienzi correctly predicted the winner of every game in the tournament. But Rienzi's accomplishment was truly a fluke. The odds of someone picking a perfect bracket are so low that it's safe to say it will never happen again.
So, if you're thinking about trying to pick a perfect bracket this year, don't get your hopes up. The odds are simply not in your favor. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun trying. After all, the NCAA tournament is one of the most exciting sporting events of the year, and it's always fun to see who comes out on top.
