Last perfect NCAA brackets bust when Maryland beats UConn
Last perfect brackets bust as Maryland beats UConn
Maryland's win against UConn busted the last perfect brackets.
March Madness took us from eight perfect brackets to three and then finally to zero in just a few minutes.
A quick run of finals in the Ohio-Virginia and Maryland-UConn game delivered the ending blows to the remaining perfect brackets in the 2021 NCAA tournament. We were tracking perfect brackets in the major online games: , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
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There were still eight perfect brackets as the Virginia-Ohio, UConn-Maryland and Oklahoma-Missouri games remained in action. But No. 13 Ohio upset No. 4 Virginia to bring the number down to three. No. 10 Maryland then knocked out No. 7 UConn — and also the last three brackets.
In 2019, Gregg Nigl started 49-for-49, not losing until Purdue beat Tennessee in the second game in the Sweet 16. This year, perfect brackets lasted through 28 games, including the no-contest Oregon-VCU game due to COVID-19 protocols.
Here's a complete rundown from Saturday, looking at how each game eliminated perfect brackets:
- After Friday: 121 perfect brackets
- After Colorado-Georgetown: 72
- After Florida State-UNCG: 56
- After Kansas-Eastern Washington: 50
- After LSU-St. Bonaventure: 23
- After Michigan-Texas Southern: 22
- After Creighton-UCSB: 18
- After Alabama-Iona: 18 (no change)
- After USC-Drake: 12
- After Oregon-VCU no contest: 8
- After Iowa-Grand Canyon: 8 (no change)
- After Ohio-Virginia: 3
- After Maryland-UConn: 0
Only 3 perfect brackets remain after Ohio upsets Virginia
Ohio upset Virginia in the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
No. 13 Ohio's win against No. 4 Virginia took out five of the final eight perfect brackets — a significant blow for starting with such a small number.
The Bobcats' upset of Virginia, the 2019 national champions, comes one day after double-digit seeds delivered a handful of wins in No. 15 Oral Roberts, No. 13 North Texas, No. 12 Oregon State and more.
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With No. 7 UConn vs. No. 10 Maryland and No. 8 Oklahoma vs. No. 9 Missouri still happening now, we're getting into danger zone for remaining brackets. The last three have the same picks combo in those two games:
- "" on ESPN: UConn and Missouri
- "" on ESPN: UConn and Missouri
- "" on ESPN: UConn and Missouri
Iowa's win keeps perfect brackets total at 8
Iowa beat Grand Canyon in the first round on Saturday.
No. 2 Iowa's 86-74 win against No. 15 Grand Canyon kept all eight perfect brackets good for another game.
All eight picked the Hawkeyes to advance. The only other remaining Saturday game that has the same unanimous selection is Gonzaga against Norfolk State.
But the number won't be eight by the time that Gonzaga game will come into play, as the picks are scattered in the other games. In the next game on the schedule, for example, six of the eight have UConn defeating Maryland.
We'll be tracking the last eight across the major online games, along with other bracket news. We monitor the , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
There are only 8 perfect brackets remaining
There are only eight perfect brackets left after the Oregon-VCU game was declared a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols. Oregon will advance to the second round.
The news brought down the numbers of perfect brackets from 12 to eight. players who selected Oregon against VCU will be awarded the point and a correct pick.
Read the NCAA's full statement here about the Oregon-VCU game:
“The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has declared the VCU-Oregon game scheduled for Saturday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols. This decision was made in consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department. As a result, Oregon will advance to the next round of the tournament. The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU’s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate. Because of privacy issues we cannot provide further details.”
Just 12 perfect brackets remain after USC's win
USC beat Drake in the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
We're down to a dozen. With No. 6 USC taking out No. 11 Drake 72-56, only 12 perfect brackets are left.
Six of the 18 brackets that were flawless thought the Bulldogs would upset USC. So our tracker has gone down from 121 after Friday to 12 halfway through Saturday's games.
Here's a rundown of the changes that happened today:
- Going into Saturday: 72 perfect brackets
- After Colorado-Georgetown: 56 brackets
- After Florida State-UNCG: 56 brackets
- After Kansas-Eastern Washington: 50 brackets
- After LSU-St. Bonaventure: 23 brackets
- After Michigan-Texas Southern: 22 brackets
- After Creighton-UCSB: 18 brackets
- After Alabama-Iona: 18 brackets (no change)
- After USC-Drake: 12 brackets
We will be monitoring all remaining perfect brackets across our , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
All 18 perfect brackets hold as Alabama tops Iona
Alabama advanced to the second round by beating Iona.
Thanks to No. 2 Alabama beating No. 15 Iona 68-55, the last 18 brackets are all still in the hunt for perfection.
If the Gaels, had won, they would have taken out the final perfect brackets as they marched into the second round and a second win by a No. 15 seed in as many days. But the Tide pulled away to win in the second half after Iona got to within a point around the midway point in the second half.
We started the day with 121 perfect brackets. We're down to 18 across the major online games (, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated) through seven Saturday games.
There are 18 perfect brackets after Creighton beats UCSB
Creighton beat UCSB in the 2021 NCAA tournament on Saturday.
Creighton's thrilling win against UCSB protected most of the remaining perfect brackets.
Eighteen of the last 22 perfect brackets had the Bluejays winning, so Creighton's 63-62 triumph keeps a majority still in contention. Still, four had the Gauchos making the 12-over-5 upset, so they drop off the list.
We'll be tracking perfect brackets the rest of the day — and possibly beyond — in the major online games. These are the Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated. .
Perfect bracket counter drops to 22 after Michigan's win
Michigan beat Texas Southern on Saturday.
Michigan vs. Texas Southern was a No. 1 vs. No. 16 game, but the Wolverines' 82-66 win did take out one perfect bracket.
We're down to 22 still perfect through 21 games, meaning there are still 11 more games to go on Saturday. The number will fall more thanks to tricky picking matchups of (7) UConn vs. (10) Maryland, (8) Oklahoma vs. (9) Missouri and (7) Oregon vs. (10) VCU — and that's not counting potential shockers.
LSU's win cuts perfect brackets down to 23
LSU topped St. Bonaventure in a No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on Saturday.
With (8) LSU and (9) St. Bonaventure close on the seed list, the game proved to be tough to pick for what were the 50 remaining perfect brackets.
LSU's 15-point win took away 27 contenders, meaning there are only 23 perfect brackets through 20 games in the 2021 NCAA tournament. We're tracking players in the five major online games: , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
There are still 12 more games on Friday. Bracket perfection bragging rights is ever more exclusive.
We're down to 50 perfect bracket after Kansas rallies to win
Kansas advanced by defeating Eastern Washington on Saturday
We're now at 50.
After trailing by 10 in the second half, No. 3 Kansas surged ahead and beat No. 14 Eastern Washington on Saturday to eliminate only six more perfect brackets to leave the total at 50 remaining through 19 games.
The Eagles were trying to follow No. 15 Oral Roberts, No. 13 North Texas and No. 12 Oregon State in pulling off another tournament shocker. But the Jayhawks scored 55 points in the second half to win 93-84.
The 50 remaining perfect brackets are in the major online games of our , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
Only 56 brackets remain perfect after Florida State tops UNCG
Florida State beat UNCG on Saturday.
Saturday is only two games in, but perfect brackets continue to fall.
After Colorado's rout of Georgetown took the counter from 121 to 72, No. 4 Florida State's win against No. 13 UNC Greensboro lowered the number further to 56 among the five major online games. These are in our , ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated.
Though Friday did major damage across the country with surprising upsets from No. 15 Oral Roberts, No. 13 North Texas and No. 12 Oregon State, the first two completed Saturday games have knocked out more than half of the 121 that were left going into the day.
72 perfect brackets remain after Colorado routs Georgetown
Colorado beat Georgetown in the 2021 NCAA tournament on Saturday.
The most popular Cinderella pick in the Bracket Challenge Game is done. So are more perfect brackets.
Colorado's 96-73 rout of Georgetown left 72 total perfect brackets across the five major online games: Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo and Sports Illustrated. There were 121 perfect brackets after Friday's 16 games. .
Georgetown was a No. 12 seed, but the Hoyas' impressive run in the Big East tournament made them a popular Cinderella pick in brackets. A little more than 14 percent of BCG users had the Hoyas make the Sweet 16 — the highest mark among teams seeded No. 8 or lower.
But No. 5 Colorado led by 24 at the half and ended the game with 16 3-pointers to pick up its first NCAA tournament win since 2012. The Buffaloes' No. 5 seed is the best in program history.
Three significant Friday upsets eliminated most of about 20 million perfect brackets across those five online games: No. 15 Oral Roberts over No. 2 Ohio State, No. 13 North Texas beating No. 4 Purdue and No. 12 Oregon State defeating No. 5 Tennessee.
Get ready for Saturday's NCAA tournament action
Welcome to Day 3 of March Madness. Only 121 perfect brackets remain after the first day of Round of 64 games and there are 16 more games scheduled for Saturday. We'll be monitoring the brackets in our , plus those on CBS, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Yahoo.
Here's what went down yesterday and what you need to know for Saturday:
- .
- No. 15 seed Oral Roberts knocked off No. 2 Ohio State, which was the fifth-most popular national champion pick on the Bracket Challenge Game at roughly 3.3 percent. More than 81 percent of brackets picked the Buckeyes to reach the Sweet 16 and more than 22 percent of bracket entries selected Ohio State to make the Final Four.
- No. 5 seed Colorado faces No. 12 seed Georgetown in the first game of Saturday at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS. The No. 12 seed Hoyas reached the Sweet 16 in 14.03 percent of BCG brackets — the top mark for any team seeded No. 8 or lower.
- Two No. 1 seeds – Gonzaga and Michigan – play today. The Bulldogs face No. 16 seed Norfolk State at 9:20 p.m. ET on TBS and the Wolverines will take on No. 16 seed Texas Southern at 3 p.m. ET on CBS.
Only 121 perfect brackets remain after wild Friday
No. 13 North Texas basketball upset No. 4 Purdue in the 2021 NCAA tournament on Friday.
March Madness is back and almost busted everyone's brackets in one day.
Only 121 perfect brackets remain after Friday's 16 games across five bracket games. This is from our own Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, Yahoo, CBS and Sports Illustrated. BCG users can check their brackets here.
Three games severely broke brackets:
- No. 15 Oral Roberts' 75-72 overtime win against No. 2 Ohio State took BCG from 33.7 percent of perfect brackets to less than 1 percent. There were still more than 100,000 brackets nationally.
- Later, No. 12 Oregon State's 70-56 upset of No. 5 Tennessee took the total to around 20,000 perfect brackets.
- In the third stunner, No. 13 North Texas shocked No. 4 Purdue in overtime, 78-69. That brought the world to a little over 1,000 perfect brackets.
But Friday wasn't done with us yet — and most remaining perfect brackets.
Two more wins by double digit seeds No. 10 Rutgers and No. 11 Syracuse pushed the number down to 233 after just 14 games. That then shrank to 121 after wins by No. 5 Villanova and No. 3 West Virginia.
We'll continue to follow remaining perfect brackets and live coverage for the rest of the 2021 NCAA tournament. There are 16 games set for Saturday — how many brackets will remain?
North Texas' upset win against Purdue leaves a little over 1,000 perfect brackets
There are a little more than 1,000 perfect brackets left after the third double-digit upset of the day took down a large bunch of brackets.
In the latest shocker, No. 13 North Texas beat No. 4 Purdue 78-69 in overtime, which took us to just over 1,000 perfect brackets across all five games. This is in our and on ESPN, Yahoo, CBS and Sports Illustrated.
The Mean Green's upset follows earlier wins by No. 15 Oral Roberts against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 12 Oregon State against No. 5 Tennessee.
The win is the Mean Green's first in NCAA tournament history. They were 0-3 in three prior trips.