The 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, known as March Madness, opened with the first 16 first-round games on March 19. A string of upsets quickly eliminated most perfect brackets submitted by fans.

The NCAA reported on March 20 that approximately 14,000 perfect brackets out of more than 36 million entered across major online sports platforms survived the opening session. That figure represents about 0.039% of total entries.

The 68-team single-elimination event features four regions, with the first round consisting of 32 games over two days at 16 sites nationwide.^[1]

Games on Thursday were played at venues including the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon; Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina; and Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Upsets contributed to the sharp decline, similar to past tournaments where early results drastically reduce perfect brackets. In 2023, 36,375 perfect brackets remained after Day 1.^[2] The modern low came in 2021, with only 123 perfect after the first day.^[3]

Sources

1. NCAA, "2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament", accessed October 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_NCAA_Division_I_men%27s_basketball_tournament
2. NCAA.com, "36,375 perfect brackets remain after Day 1 of 2023 NCAA tournament", March 17, 2023, https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2023-03-17/36375-perfect-brackets-remain-after-day-1-2023-ncaa-tournament
3. NCAA.com, "123 perfect NCAA brackets remain after Day 1 of 2021 March Madness", March 19, 2021, https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-03-19/123-perfect-ncaa-brackets-remain-after-day-1-2021-march-madness