Nearly 36 million March Madness brackets busted on day one as upsets wreak havoc

March Madness fans took an aboriginal deed successful this year’s tourney arsenic astir 36 cardinal brackets were busted connected Thursday pursuing a drawstring of aboriginal upsets successful the archetypal round. 

The NCAA reported Friday that of the much than 36 cardinal brackets filled retired crossed large online sports platforms, astir 14,000 cleanable brackets stay done the archetypal 16 games of the men’s tournament. 

High Point Panthers fans ticker earlier a crippled against the Wisconsin Badgers successful the archetypal circular of the NCAA men's hoops tourney astatine the Moda Center successful Portland, Oregon, connected March 19, 2026. (Soobum Im/Getty Images)

At the precise least, that’s astir 35,986,000 busted brackets. 

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The biggest bracket buster was No. 9 effect TCU’s constrictive 66-64 triumph implicit No. 8 effect Ohio State, which near conscionable 14.5 cardinal cleanable brackets intact. Nebraska’s first-ever NCAA Tournament triumph implicit Troy, which was a brutal 76-47 beatdown, eliminated different 2.5 cardinal brackets.

 But it was the upsets that brought that fig down to implicit 14,000. 

Siena Saints fans ticker during the archetypal fractional of a crippled against the Duke Blue Devils successful the archetypal circular of the NCAA men's hoops tourney astatine Bon Secours Wellness Arena successful Greenville, South Carolina, connected March 19, 2026. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

High Point’s improbable 83-82 triumph implicit No. 5 Wisconsin arsenic the No. 12 effect did the astir damage, bringing down the full fig of flawless predictions to conscionable 2.3 million, and that fig was chopped successful fractional again erstwhile Louisville survived USF, 83-79. 

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As the time went on, that fig dipped beneath the cardinal mark. But TCU’s historical comeback triumph implicit UNC near a small much than 300,000 cleanable brackets. 

Saint Louis’ ascendant triumph implicit Georgia and Gonzaga’s expected triumph implicit Kennesaw State rounded retired the time for conscionable implicit 14,000 brackets intact, leaving lone 0.039% of the archetypal brackets flawless.

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans respond during the archetypal circular of the NCAA men's hoops tourney successful a crippled against the Troy Trojans astatine Paycom Center successful Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, connected March 19, 2026. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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According to the NCAA, past year's fig aft the archetypal time was 36,000. The lowest successful caller representation was successful 2021 erstwhile lone 121 cleanable brackets remained. 

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