You’re more likely to get struck by lightning twice than create the perfect March Madness bracket
Each spring, March Madness fans meticulously attempt to create the perfect bracket. They might obsess over every detail with hopes it could increase their odds — like putting their faith in an underdog or relying of the results of last year’s tournament. Maybe you create your bracket based on the team with the best-looking uniforms. Whatever your system is, your odds at creating the perfect March Madness bracket are extremely low.
The odds of creating a perfect March Madness bracket is 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to the NCAA.
Call me uninformed, but I didn’t know quintillion was an actual number until today. To put the size of a quintillion in perspective: there is an estimated 7.2 quintillion grains of sand on all of earth, per Axios. A quintillion is a billion billions or a million trillions. In other words, it’s a gigantic number.
So if you going for a perfect 63 out of 63, “may the odds be ever in your favor” (you need them to be).
Here are ten things with greater odds of happening than creating a perfect March Madness bracket.
1. Struck by lightning twice
They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but actually it does. And your chances of being in that place it strikes twice are more likely than creating the perfect March Madness bracket.
Your chances of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 15,300. But the odds of getting struck by lightning twice in your lifetime are at 1 in 9 million — slim, but still higher than the perfect bracket.
2. Finding a four-leaf clover
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day this week, the chances of finding a four-leaf clover are 1 in 5,076. By comparison, those odds seem high. It might be a good idea to go out and find a four-leaf clover before you finish your bracket — you could use the luck.
3. Getting eaten by a shark
The odds of getting attacked and killed by a shark are 1 in 3,747,067. Death by shark is rare — but that perfect bracket you dream of is rarer.
4. Getting drafted by the NBA
Why waste time betting on college basketball when you have better chances at going pro? High school basketball players have a 1 in 3,333 chance of getting drafted by the NBA. Female players have a 1 in 5,000 chance of being drafted by the WNBA.
5. Becoming president of the United States
Presidential dreams are big but not quite as big as your dreams of the perfect March Madness bracket. If you’re American, you’ve got a 1 in 32.6 million chance of becoming president of the United States! If you’ve got a law degree, are a military veteran or are over six feet tall, your chances are higher.
6. Getting hit by satellite debris
It might sound impossible, but you have a 1 in 21 trillion chance of getting hit by a piece of satellite debris falling from space. It might sound outlandish but — earth to reader — your perfect March Madness bracket dreams are more outlandish.
7. Date a supermodel
Why do we let all the basketball players date supermodels? You could be dating one too! The odds of dating a supermodel are 1 in 88,000.
8. Making a hole-in-one
Ever made a hole-in-one? Tiger Woods got a hole-in-one when he was six. But the chances of an amateur golfer making an ace are 1 in 12,500.
9. Achieving sainthood
Chances of joining the canon catalogue of saints are 1 in 20 million. Roughly 30% of all popes are saints, according to Pew Research Center, and only seven popes in the last 1,000 years have achieved sainthood. But there’s still a chance — and it’s actually a much greater chance than making the perfect March Madness bracket.
10. Winning an Academy Award
It took Leonardo DiCaprio decades to finally win the coveted golden Oscar statuette, but you’ve got a 1 in 11,150 chance of winning your own Oscar. You might need to become a movie star first — your chances at that are 1 in 1.19 million.
