Most March Madness brackets bust before sundown on Day 1
Arizona players sit on the bench in the final seconds of a first-round college basketball game against Princeton in the men's NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, March 16, 2023. Princeton won 59-55. Credit: AP/Randall Benton
From No. 13 seed Furman beating fourth-seeded Virginia to No. 15 Princeton defeating second-seeded Arizona, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account posted midway through the first round that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN's Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained — and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick at CBS Sports, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.