What’s the farthest a perfect bracket has gone? This question has intrigued college basketball fans for years, as they strive to predict the outcome of the NCAA tournament with pinpoint accuracy. A perfect bracket involves selecting the winner of every game in the tournament, from the first round to the championship game. Achieving such a feat is no easy task, but there have been remarkable instances where brackets have come incredibly close to perfection.
The concept of a perfect bracket gained national attention in 1999, when the National Championship Challenge was introduced by the website ESPN.com. This contest invited users to fill out their own brackets and track their performance against others. The allure of winning a large cash prize only added to the excitement, making the perfect bracket a coveted goal for many.
In the early years of the contest, the closest anyone came to a perfect bracket was in 2003, when one lucky participant filled out a bracket that correctly predicted 29 of the 32 games. This impressive feat was short-lived, as the final game of the tournament saw the bracket fall short of perfection.
The quest for a perfect bracket reached new heights in 2014, when a user named Zach Johnson came within a single game of achieving the elusive goal. Johnson’s bracket correctly predicted 60 of the 61 games, including all the games in the Final Four. This incredible run made Johnson a national sensation, and his bracket became the talk of the town.
However, the closest anyone has come to a perfect bracket since then was in 2018, when a user named Steve Pincus filled out a bracket that correctly predicted 59 of the 61 games. Pincus’ bracket was a testament to the difficulty of predicting the outcome of college basketball games, as he had to rely on a combination of luck and skill to come so close.
The allure of the perfect bracket continues to captivate fans each year, as they eagerly await the release of the tournament brackets and try their hand at predicting the games. While achieving a perfect bracket remains a daunting challenge, the pursuit of this goal has sparked countless discussions and debates among fans, adding to the excitement of the NCAA tournament.
In conclusion, the farthest a perfect bracket has gone is 60 games out of 61, a remarkable feat that showcases the unpredictable nature of college basketball. As the tournament continues to evolve, the quest for a perfect bracket will undoubtedly remain a captivating and challenging endeavor for fans across the nation.
