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A deeper dive into the history of March Madness, and the impossibility of perfection
WRITTEN BY CONOR SWEENY
March Madness is every college basketball fan’s favorite time of the year. Or at least, it is for some.
“It gives me something to look forward to heading into march,” junior Jack Deleruyelle said. “No other sport has a tournament this big, and watching all the upsets is very enjoyable.”
Just like Deleruyelle, all fans watch as their brackets get ripped apart, as a supreme underdog defeats a higher seed. There has never been a perfect bracket that was verified by the NCAA. This tournament is the biggest tournament in all of college sports, there is no other like it. It is also a time for lots of sports betting.
The AGA estimates that nearly 68 million Americans will place a bet on March Madness, for a grand total of about 15.5 billion dollars bet. The tournament starts out with 68 teams, and 2 play in games to begin the tournament. The teams are put into a bracket ranging from a 1 seed to a 16 seed. Eventually, a champion is crowned.
To take a little dive into the history, the term “March Madness” was created in 1939 by an Illinois basketball high school official. The first tournament also was in 1939, however, March Madness wasn’t associated with the NCAA until 1982, when commentator Brent Musberger used it during coverage of the tournament. Ever since then, the term has stuck to the tournament, and that’s exactly what the tournament is: madness.
For the 84 years that the NCAA tournament has been going on, 36 different teams have taken home the title. Seven different programs have won back-to-back championships, the most recent being Florida in 2006-2007. Only one out of these seven has won back-to-back on separate occasions – UCLA. Those UCLA teams are some of the most historic in collegiate history. They were all coached by John Wooden, who won 10 titles in 12 years, including seven straight from 1967-1973.
To talk a little on brackets, as mentioned before, there has never been a verified perfect bracket. This sounds a little crazy, but a quick look shows otherwise. Mathematically speaking, the odds of perfection are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. That’s a bit of a steep number. In words, that’s 1 in 9.2 quintillion. The closest anyone has ever gotten to a perfect bracket happened in the 2019 NCAA tournament, when a man from Ohio correctly predicted all the way until the Sweet 16.
One thing that makes predicting a perfect bracket so hard, is the amount of upsets that goes into March Madness. In 2023 alone, we have seen a 16 seed and a 15 seed both win games. In the past 2 years, a 15 seed has won at least once as well.
So, next time you’re considering placing a heavy bet, just know that your odds are very low when it comes to March Madness. Your best plan of attack would be to not attack. Instead, you should sit back and watch the greatest tournament in all of collegiate athletics, and root for your favorite team.
