The quest for the perfect NCAA Tournament bracket is similar to that mythical quest for the Holy Grail. People continue to do it even through the possibilities of getting all 67 (or 63 depending on the contest) games are extremely difficult. But that doesn’t stop us because every March, we fill them out again.

Due to unforeseen upsets, the number of perfect brackets decrease and that has happened again in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. According to ESPN, just 0.1% of 13 million brackets entered in its challenge remain perfect after Day 1:

To further explain, ESPN PR maven Josh Krulewitz compares that to last year.:

So the number of perfect brackets after Day 1 is actually ahead of this same time last year. So there’s still hope for the 14,525 who still have perfect brackets going into today’s action. But again, that number should go down once the dust settles after another sixteen games are played. Will someone reach that rarified air of achieving perfection with a perfect bracket? We’ll find out, but one thing is for sure, we won’t have 14,525 perfect brackets when Saturday rolls around.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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