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March Madness fans took an early hit in this year’s tournament as nearly 36 million brackets were busted on Thursday following a string of early upsets in the first round.
The NCAA reported Friday that of the more than 36 million brackets filled out across major online sports platforms, roughly 14,000 perfect brackets remain through the first 16 games of the men’s tournament.
High Point Panthers fans watch before a game against the Wisconsin Badgers in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on March 19, 2026. (Soobum Im/Getty Images)
At the very least, that’s around 35,986,000 busted brackets.
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The biggest bracket buster was No. 9 seed TCU’s narrow 66-64 victory over No. 8 seed Ohio State, which left just 14.5 million perfect brackets intact. Nebraska’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win over Troy, which was a brutal 76-47 beatdown, eliminated another 2.5 million brackets.
But it was the upsets that brought that figure down to over 14,000.
Siena Saints fans watch during the first half of a game against the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, on March 19, 2026. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
High Point’s improbable 83-82 win over No. 5 Wisconsin as the No. 12 seed did the most damage, bringing down the total number of flawless predictions to just 2.3 million, and that figure was cut in half again when Louisville survived USF, 83-79.
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As the day went on, that number dipped below the million mark. But TCU’s historic comeback victory over UNC left a little more than 300,000 perfect brackets.
Saint Louis’ dominant win over Georgia and Gonzaga’s expected victory over Kennesaw State rounded out the day for just over 14,000 brackets intact, leaving only 0.039% of the original brackets flawless.
Nebraska Cornhuskers fans react during the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in a game against the Troy Trojans at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on March 19, 2026. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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According to the NCAA, last year’s figure after the first day was 36,000. The lowest in recent memory was in 2021 when only 121 perfect brackets remained.
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