Furman guard Mike Bothwell, right, gets emotional after their win against Virginia during the second half of a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Orlando, Fla. Furman beat Virginia 68-67. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
NCAA Tournament brackets were busted early Thursday. No. 13 seed Furman beat fourth-seeded Virginia and No. 15 Princeton defeated second-seeded Arizona. The NCAA March Madness Twitter account posted that only .065% of brackets remained perfect as the first round was still being played. In ESPN’s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained. Just more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
From No. 13 seed Furman beating fourth-seeded Virginia to No. 15 Princeton defeating second-seeded Arizona, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account posted midway through the first round that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN’s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained — and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick at CBS Sports, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.
