No one has ever filled out a verifiably perfect NCAA Men’s Basketball bracket in the history of the modern NCAA tournament. Two, no one likely ever will, because the odds are infinitesimally small. But that doesn’t stop us from thinking we can be the first person to do it. Why is this such an impossible feat?
Let’s do the math. Since there are 64 teams in those brackets, the most basic calculation is the number of possible outcomes for 63 games picked randomly. That would be 2 (the number of potential winners for each game) to the 63rd power (the number of games in the bracket). More simply, that’s 2 times 2, 63 times, which is equal to roughly 9.2 quintillion. How much is 9.2 possible outcomes? If you filled out 1 billion random brackets every single second for 100 straight years, you would still be 6 quintillion brackets shy of 9.2 quintillion.
The late DePaul professor Jeff Bergen broke down the odds for someone making informed decisions for each game and came up with odds of 1 in 128 billion. Much better than 1 in 9 quintillion for sure, but still almost so low as to be negligible.
Here is a simpler answer to why getting a perfect bracket is impossible. Because perfection isn’t achievable by human beings. Perfection can only be achieved by God.
We may know this truth, but it is hard to admit this truth. Why are the statements above true? If I or you commit or do one wrong thing (sin) perfection is no longer an option for us. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (His requirement). But there is still hope for perfection.
Jesus came to earth as a man and lived a perfect life. That’s right, He never sinned, and He was perfect. And, for this reason, His death was the perfect payment for the sins of all human beings. It gets even better. His resurrection and victory over death made a way for me and you to find perfection before God through Him. Wow, God’s plan for perfection is a lot better than a perfect bracket!
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Working in His perfection,
Boomer
Dr. Boomer Brown, Ph.D., is the CEO of Doing Good at Work. Doing Good at Work is a 501(c) 3 organization that functions like a business. We desire to “Make People Better” because we know better people make better businesses and better businesses make a better world. Learn more: https://doinggoodatwork.com/