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CU Mathematician On Brackets: 'You Won't Make A Perfect Prediction'

By Stan Bush

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - Here's a safe bet – you're 2018 NCAA Tourney Bracket isn't perfect.

NCAA Basketball Tournament - First Four - Dayton
Prince Ali of the UCLA Bruins and Jaylen Adams of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies battle for the ball during the second half of the First Four game in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 13, 2018 in Dayton, Ohio. (credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

In fact, no one's is.

According to Dr. Mark Ablowitz, a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder, the odds of guessing a perfect NCAA bracket are 9.2 quintillion to 1.

Don't know what that number looks like? Here you go:

9,200,000,000,000,000,000 to 1

You have better odds of winning Powerball. You have better odds of winning Mega Millions. You have better odds of being struck by lightning. You might even have better odds of holding the winning tickets to both lotteries while being struck by lightning in the middle of a sunny day.

"If you ask me is there a mathematical theory for this? I wish," said Dr. Ablowitz. "You're not going to make a perfect prediction because of the randomness."

odds
Mark Ablowitz (credit: CBS)

Ablowitz says picking the tourney correctly, removing the human element of the game, is like guessing coin flips 67 times in a row.

No one has ever picked a perfect bracket in a verified pool, according to the NCAA. The closest anyone has gotten was picking the first 39 of the 67 tournament games correctly in 2017.

Stan Bush is a general assignment reporter at CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 10. Read his bio and follow him on Twitter @StanBushTV.

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