LITTLE ROCK, Ark — March Madness is upon us and it’s the time of year some see as the best time of all. What are your chances of creating the perfect NCAA March Madness bracket, though?
"The chances of filling out a perfect bracket is 1 in 9.1 quintillion, you should know that one quintillion is a billion of a billion,” University of Arkansas at Little Rock statistics professor Dr. Hassan Elsalloukh said.
With those odds it makes sense why no one has ever created a perfect NCAA bracket.
Some advice from Dr. Hassan Elsalloukh and Hayden Balgavy, THV11’s bracket “guru, agree on, is the more research you put into your decision the better the outcome.
"Building the bracket takes a lot of scientific work, takes a lot of research, takes a lot of let’s just say homework,” Hayden said. “I really try to be methodical, take on region at a time, you focus on one region, one team one matchup at a time.”
March Madness starts with 68 teams for the first round. As teams knock each other out it dwindles down to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four and then the National Championship.
You have to start at the beginning, though for Hayden, that’s an easy choice.
"You think I'm picking against the hogs? I'm not picking against the hogs,” Balgavy explained. “We're going Arkansas at the number four seed to take on New Mexico State.”
If brackets could start with your Sweet 16 or Elite 8 picks, the chances of being right would be way more attainable.
"If we start at the sweet 16 the chances are a lot better, its 1 in 32,768,” Dr. Elsalloukh said. “If we start at the Elite 8 the chances are 1 in 128.”
Although that's not how the game is played, Hayden told us his Sweet 16 picks are what really matter.
"I want to get as many sweet 16 teams right as possible, if I don't get the national champion right, that's fine that’s hard to do," Hayden said.
At the end of the day March Madness is a numbers game, the more matchups that win on your brackets the more points you get.
So picking the winner doesn't have to be your goal, but if you can get some victories along the way you're doing it right.
Your chance to fill out a bracket ends Thursday morning.