NCAA: Ohio man owns world's only perfect March Madness bracket

The saying goes that nobody's perfect -- but one man and his bracket can say, for now, that he is the exception.

News 12 Staff

Mar 27, 2019, 10:48 PM

Updated 1,948 days ago

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NCAA: Ohio man owns world's only perfect March Madness bracket
The saying goes that nobody's perfect -- but one man and his bracket can say, for now, that he is the exception.
According to the NCAA, 40-year-old Ohio neuropsychologist Gregg Nigl stands alone as the only perfect March Madness bracket left on the planet. That means he has made all 48 picks thus far correct through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. NCAA.com says the longest streak of consecutive correct picks they had seen before in their bracket challenge was 39. 
No one has ever picked a perfect bracket, for understandable reasons: the odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to various studies.
Nigl's roads to perfection still has a long way to go, with 15 games remaining before the national champion is decided on April 8. 
In an interview with NCAA.com, Nigl did not even know his bracket was perfect until they called him. He told them he filled out four brackets this year, and has been doing it every year for at least the past decade.
The final 16 teams in this year's tournament only feature one program that is lower than a No. 5 seed (No. 12 Oregon). All four No. 1 seeds (Duke, Gonzaga, UNC, Virginia) are still in. 
The opening rounds saw only a few big upsets, namely No. 13 UC Irvine over No. 4 Kansas State and No. 12 seeds Murray State and Liberty over Marquette and Mississippi State. But those 'Cinderella' stories came to an end before the Sweet Sixteen.
For those who want to follow Nigl's bid for perfection, his Final Four is Gonzaga, Duke, Kentucky and Virginia, with Gonzaga beating Duke in the National Championship. The NCAA Tournament resumes Thursday night.
Nigl told NCAA.com that he does his research every year, but knows his success comes from pure chance too.


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