Let Warren Buffet’s old $1 billion offer for a perfect March Madness bracket remind you how impossible that is

Remember: A perfect bracket is impossible.

We haven’t heard in years if Warren Buffett is still offering his Berkshire Hathaway employees $1 billion or $1 million a year for life or whatever the reward is for filling out a perfect March Madness (and hey, his beloved Creighton is in it again this year!).

But here’s what we do know: this is your annual reminder that a perfect bracket is imposssible.

Oh, sure. It COULD happen. But you know the odds, right? If you choose with some knowledge, it’s 1 in 120 billion. Heck, getting even the first round perfect is ridiculously rare.

So don’t worry so much if your bracket gets busted by the time the first games are over on Thursday.

What should you pick for the total points in the March Madness 2024 final for your bracket tiebreaker? Here’s an answer

We did the math and we have an answer.

It’s the question you ask yourself every year when you’re filling out a March Madness bracket: what number should I pick for the final tiebreaker that’s usually the total points that will be scored in the final?

It’s tricky, because you obviously don’t know which teams will be in. Will it be a high-scoring affair or a defense-first kind of contest?

Without that knowledge, we have to revert to what we do know: we can look at past scoring totals, average them together and spit out a number that you can use.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

Let’s look at the past seven point totals from men’s March Madness finals:

2016: 151

2017: 136

2018: 141

2019: 162

2021: 156

2022: 141

2023: 135

That’s an average of 146. So maybe use a number around that one!

The 1 women’s team from 2023’s Elite Eight that didn’t make this year’s tournament

Only one women’s team from last year’s Elite Eight missed this year’s tournament.

The 2024 women’s NCAA tournament field is set, and there are plenty of returning teams from last year’s Elite Eight.

Seven teams in total returned to contend for a national title this year, including Iowa, LSU, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Louisville and Maryland.

However, one team didn’t make the cut and opted not to participate in the WBIT this season, and that’s Miami.

Our Mitchell Northam named Miami as one of the three major snubs on the women’s side this year, a team that made it to the Elite Eight as a nine-seed last March.

The team lost to LSU in that tournament, who went on to win the national title.

The 2024 NCAA women’s tournament printable bracket: Get in on March Madness fun

Get your bracket for the 2024 NCAA women’s tournament!

March Madness season is officially here!

We now know the full 68-team list that is headed to college basketball’s premier tournament, which means it’s time to fill out your March Madness brackets! The first round of the 2024 NCAA women’s tournament begins on March 22, so there’s not much longer until the action begins.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

If you’re looking to fill out a bracket of your own, here’s a printable blank one — courtesy USA TODAY — for you to use as you see fit! You can download the blank PDF file here.

SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness?

A reminder that the March Madness odds prove a perfect bracket is impossible

This is IMPOSSIBLE.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 13, 2023, but the math remains the same. It’s pretty much impossible to fill out a perfect bracket.

This is an annual reminder as you get ready for to fill out your March Madness brackets — you can do it with USA TODAY’s bracket game! — in the hopes of winning lots of money and respect, that a perfect bracket is impossible.

I don’t mean that figuratively. I mean it’s ALMOST literally impossible.

The odds of getting your bracket completely perfect are astronomical. Those who have done the math have figured out that to get every single game from first round to the final, you’d need to hit on one in 9 QUINTILLION (that’s 18 zeroes, friends) odds.

But that’s if you choose randomly, which we know some people do. If you use your knowledge to do it? It’s “only” one in 120 BILLION WITH A B:

THE BRACKETS ARE BACK: The USA TODAY Sports Bracket Challenge is back. $1 MILLION grand prize for a perfect bracket.

Those numbers are backed up by NCAA.com. So: Don’t feel so bad about things when your bracket immediately gets torched on Day 1.

SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness?

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Last 4 in, first 4 out for the 2024 men’s March Madness bracket: Good news for Virginia, bad news for Indiana State

Here are the first four in and last four out in the 2024 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

It happens every year in men’s March Madness bracket reveals: The selection committee unveils which teams were the last four in. You know, the ones who can breathe a sigh of relief.

But there are also the first four out, and they’re the teams that were *this close* to making it before falling just short.

It’s also a peek inside what the committee was thinking.

After the 2024 men’s March Madness bracket was revealed Sunday, we learned which teams were the last four in and the first four out.

The last four teams in the men’s 2024 tournament: Boise State, Colorado, Virginia and Colorado State.

The first four teams out of the men’s 2024 tournament: Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Pitt.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

The 2024 NCAA men’s tournament bracket: Get in on March Madness fun

Get your bracket for the 2024 NCAA men’s tournament!

Happy March Madness season, everyone!

Selection Sunday has officially come and gone, which means March Madness is set to begin in full in just a few days. We now know all of the 68 teams set to take the field ahead of the first round on March 21 and 22 so now it’s time to fill out those ever-important March Madness brackets!

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

If you’re looking to fill out one of your own, here’s a printable blank bracket — courtesy of USA TODAY — for you to use as you see fit! You can download the blank PDF file here.

SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness?

LeBron James scoring 40,000 points fell on same day in NBA history as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game

Okay, this is pretty cool.

March 2 has turned into a fortuitous day in NBA history.

On Saturday, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James amazingly became the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 points in their career.

As DraftKings noted on social media, March 2 is also the date of Wilt Chamberlain’s iconic 100-point game with the Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors).

It’s rather incredible that these two historic NBA achievements now share a birthday, as March 2 will now forever be enshrined in league history as one of the most important dates for two of its true icons.

If you’re an NBA fan and March 2 is your birthday, consider it a lucky day.

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Sports Betting 101: Understanding the basics

New to sports betting? Just need a quick refresher on how it works? BetFTW’s got you, dog. Don’t even trip.

Sports betting has exploded across America following the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. What was once limited, legally, to Nevada has taken root in states across the country as sportsbooks open up shop wherever legislation allows. Suddenly there’s a new angle to primetime NBA games and NFL Sundays beyond wins, losses, and playoff races.

That can be overwhelming if you’re new to the game. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with some basics that can offer betting insight beyond smiling and nodding when your friends bring up overs, unders and the spread. Let’s discuss the terms you need to know:

Term 1: Point spread

A number created for every betting matchup; the goal is to have an equal amount bet on each side

This is the bettor’s answer to “how many points would you have to spot this bad team in order for them to beat a better team?” Let’s say the favorite in an NFL game is favored to win by a touchdown; they’d have a -7 distinction on the betting line. Their opponent, the underdog, would be listed at +7.

Since whole numbers leave the possibility for ties, most spreads end in .5 even though there’s no way to score half a point in most sports. In our scenario, the favorite would be listed at -7.5. That means they’d have to win by at least eight points to cash that bet. Betting the underdog at +7.5 means they could still lose on the scoreboard but win at the sportsbook, but only if the final margin is fewer than eight points.

That’s called covering the spread. Great teams do it.

Term 2: Money line

The profit you’d return for betting on straight up wins and losses

Betting the money line is less common since the odds for the favorite are less profitable than the spread. The money line for each team is a three-digit number. For favorites, it tells you how much you’d need to bet in order to win $100. A -400 favorite means you’d have to plunk down $400 to make a $100 profit in victory — much worse odds, but you also don’t have to worry about the spread.

The number is different for the underdog; it’s an indicator of how much you’d win with a $100 bet. A +350 line means not many people think the underdog has a chance, but if they pull it off you’d pocket an extra $350 for your faith. Like in horseshoes and hand grenades, “close” doesn’t count; you’ve gotta win the game outright.

Term 3: Total (over/under)

Betting the amount of points scored

Another simple mechanism. The total is the projected total amount of points, goals, runs, etc., scored in a game. Bet the under if you think the final score will be less than that number. Bet the over if you think the final score will be more.

Both sides will have a money line attached, though they won’t vary nearly as wildly as the money lines for picking winners and losers. The over is the only bet you can cash before the game goes final if the score exceeding the total before the final whistle. The under is a little more low key, but a vital tool if you’re a believer in defense.

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Let’s just shut down the ‘Taylor Swift snubbed Celine Dion at the Grammys’ talk immediately

Stop it.

Hey, internet? Can we talk here?

Yeah, hi. We know you all like controversy, and particularly right now you like saying some wild things about Taylor Swift. So let’s take a second and shut down this “Taylor Swift totally snubbed Celine Dion at the 2024 Grammys” talk.

To recap: the legendary Dion surprised everyone by appearing on stage to present Album of the Year as she battles stiff-person syndrome, a neurological disorder that includes muscle spasms that affect everything from walking to singing.

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After she revealed that Swift won the award for Midnights, she excitedly hugged everyone on stage, but she didn’t appear to say much or anything to Dion, who gave her the Grammy.

Now: did you catch Swift giving her a standing ovation just minutes earlier?

Or what about the idea that Swift might have been nervous about hugging her given Dion’s diagnosis? And that they hugged later on in the night?

So let’s pump the brakes here, OK?