NC State’s incredible run through the men’s NCAA Tournament has been a Cinderella story for the ages.
The Wolfpack have won nine straight games dating back to the ACC Tournament. They also upset Marquette and Duke in the NCAA Tournament, busting many March Madness brackets.
But not everyone’s.
Earlier this week, the NCAA revealed that only 297 brackets in its bracket challenge had a perfect Final Four. While we don’t know how many brackets were submitted, an estimated 56.3 million Americans submitted a bracket in 2023, so the NCAA likely had tens of millions of submissions.
For reference, ESPN had over 22 million entries in its bracket challenge this year.
While some people have a perfect Final Four, there are no known perfect brackets.
Why Did Some People Pick NC State?
Everyone has a different method for picking their Final Four teams.
Some people spend hours pouring over KenPom.com, trying to find a statistical trend that will lead to a perfect bracket. For others, it comes down to mascots or team colors.
And then there’s 11-year-old Ashtyn Gold. Gold, a Raleigh, North Carolina resident, currently has the 109th-best bracket out of the 22.6 million submissions on ESPN, putting her in the 99th percentile. An NC State fan, she picked her beloved Wolfpack to win it all and trusted her gut with the rest of the picks.
“I watched them and I see who can handle the pressure, who can get at least far and who has won more games,” she told WRAL News.
She’s not the only Wolfpack fan benefitting from her team’s Cinderella run.
NC State grad Olivia Turner currently sits in fourth place out of three million bracket entries at CBS Sports. She correctly predicted every Final Four team, along with seven of the Elite Eight teams and 13 of the Sweet 16 teams.
“I just went through and picked some upsets,” she told WRAL News. “Upsets happen. But otherwise, I just looked at their stats.”
Which Final Four Had the Fewest Perfect Picks?
With the odds of a perfect bracket being 1 in 9.2 quintillion, it’s no surprise that the NCAA’s bracket challenge had fewer than 300 entries with a perfect Final Four.
But how does that stack up all time?
Surprisingly, that’s not the lowest number of correct picks. Last year, only six people in the NCAA’s contest correctly picked Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, UConn and Miami (FL) to be in the Final Four.
That Final Four featured a No. 4 seed (UConn), two No. 5 seeds (San Diego State and Miami) and a No. 9 seed (Florida Atlantic), the first time no top-three seeds made the Final Four.
Outside of 2023, there have been three other years where fewer than 100 brackets nailed the Final Four: 2014 (51), 2017 (46) and 2018 (54).
In 2014, No. 7 seed UConn and No. 8 seed Kentucky made Cinderella runs to the Final Four, along with No. 1 seed Florida and No. 2 seed Wisconsin. UConn ended up winning the championship, becoming the second-lowest seed to win it all.
Three years later, No.1 seed North Carolina, No. 3 seed Oregon, No. 1 seed Gonzaga and No. 7 seed South Carolina met up for a Final Four that almost no one saw coming. Gonzaga and South Carolina made their first Final Four, while Oregon made its first Final Four since the inaugural NCAA Tournament in 1939.
Upsets reigned supreme the following year as well, as only 54 people correctly predicted the Final Four. While the Final Four featured Villanova, Michigan and Kansas, it also featured Loyola-Chicago – the fourth No. 11 seed to make the Final Four.
On the other end of the spectrum, 13,705 people correctly picked the Final Four in 2015. That Final Four featured three No. 1 seeds (Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin) and a well-known No. 7 seed in Michigan State.
Photo by Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
