It’s been a crazy opening day in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, with the perfect bracket counter routinely tumbling as the games got going. Nearly 85% of all perfect brackets at ESPN were taken out after the first two games, which saw Michigan State and Duquesne take out higher seeds. Now, only 20,283 brackets remain perfect on the platform after the No. 14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies upset the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats Thursday evening.
That’s just .09% of all brackets submitted on ESPN. And we haven’t even completed the first day of games. According to the NCAA.com March Madness challenge, only 2,178 perfect brackets remain of those submitted on the platform. That’s .06% of all brackets.
No. 1 seeds UConn and Houston predictably hold the most liability when it comes to the remaining brackets, but Tennessee and Marquette also have sizable chunks of liability in the pool. The Huskies and Cougars hope to avoid Purdue’s fate from a year ago, while both Tennessee and Marquette look to build on strong regular season campaigns.
Kentucky appeared to be a trendy pick after seemingly being overlooked in the region, but John Calipari has underachieved considerably in this last few seasons. He’s attempted to tweak his approach to the roster with the transfer portal changes and NIL legislation, but hasn’t seemed to get the right fit. It’s possible he has coached his last game at Kentucky, although the administration has been patient with him. We’ll see if the fans are as forgiving.