Axios reveals mind-blowing odds of picking perfect bracket

March Madness logo. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Axios reveals mind-blowing odds of picking a perfect March Madness bracket

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 3/15/23

Most people know that the odds of picking a perfect March Madness bracket are absurdly low. Axios sports editor Kendall Baker recently put into perspective just how unlikely the feat would be.

Those odds improve to a slightly more "reasonable" 1 in 120.2 billion if you "know a little something about basketball," the NCAA says. https://t.co/Hd9j7t4URX
— Axios (@axios) March 15, 2023

Baker adds that the chances of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime are also significantly higher than nailing all 63 picks for the college basketball tournament, at 1 in 15,300, per the National Weather Service.

The editor also reported that since the NCAA began "tracking online brackets" in 2016, "the closest anyone has come to perfection was in 2019, when an Ohio neuropsychologist nailed the first 49 picks before flaming out in the Sweet 16."

The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament officially got underway with a pair of play-in games on Tuesday night and will have two more on Wednesday. The women's showcase has two "First Four" contests on Wednesday and two on Thursday.

The madness truly gets underway around noon ET on Thursday, when the first round of the men's tournament begins, with the round of 64 tipping off in the women's tournament on Friday.

By Saturday, there are sure to already be thousands of brackets busted.

More must-reads: