yahoo - 3/22/2026 2:36:27 PM - GMT (+2 )
Chances are, you no longer have a perfect bracket.
Well, scratch that: It's almost guaranteed you don't have a perfect bracket through three days of the 2026 Men's NCAA Tournament with half the field set for the Sweet 16 through Saturday, March 21.
REQUIRED READING: March Madness games today: Breaking down Sunday's men's NCAA Tournament matchups
Fans already faced impossibly long odds of creating a perfect bracket. So having upsets on Day 1 took out a massive chunk of brackets. However, the chalkiness of the ensuing games — with just one double-digit seed headed to the Sweet 16 — likely also eliminated a bunch of brackets.
Here's a look at how many perfect brackets remain in March Madness, with plenty more opportunities for upsets on the horizon:
Last updated 8 a.m. ET on March 22
As of 8 a.m. ET on March 22, four perfect brackets remain in either the ESPN or NCAA bracket challenges. The NCAA did not provide the full number of brackets entered, but ESPN did. Only two of the 26,029,409 remain.
The biggest culprit on Saturday was No. 11 Texas' upset win over No. 3 Gonzaga. Before the game, 120 perfect brackets remained. Following the Longhorns' win, we were down to 27.
The four remaining perfect bracketsHere they are. The four smartest (or luckiest) bracketologists (of more than 26 million) of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, according to the NCAA:
- "Cody underdog" on MBCG — Purdue, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, UCLA, Texas Tech
- "megs4525875" on MBCG — Purdue, Iowa State, Kansas, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, UConn, Alabama
- "christienter" on ESPN — Purdue, Iowa State, St. John's, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, UConn, Texas Tech
- "Mini-mi-2448's Picks 24" on ESPN — Purdue, Iowa State, Kansas, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, UCLA, Texas Tech
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How many brackets are still perfect in March Madness? Tracking brackets
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