Lucky Bracket Success in March Madness

There’s an old saying about luck, and it seems to hold true for 14-year-old Otto Schellhammer, who somehow still has a perfect bracket for both the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments.

This eighth-grader from suburban Pittsburgh has managed to correctly predict all 48 outcomes in the girls’ bracket leading up to Friday’s Sweet 16 matchups.

Remarkably, he’s the only one among over 41 million participants in the seven major contests tracked by the NCAA, according to the Associated Press.

“People often say that about March Madness,” Shellhammer shared with AP. “But honestly, it was just pure luck. I don’t really know much about basketball.”

He added that while he occasionally hangs out with friends, he doesn’t catch many games.

Winning in a casual bracket pool is one thing, but getting 48 games right in a row? That’s another level entirely.

The odds of getting 48 consecutive guesses correct are about 1 in 281 trillion. Pretty staggering, isn’t it?

Mike Benzie, a senior director with the NCAA’s digital division, noted they monitored around 36 million entries from men and about 5.2 million from women throughout the major contests.

While the women’s tournament can be more unpredictable than the men’s, Shellhammer’s decision to include No. 10 seed Virginia in the Sweet 16 proved wise, especially as No. 6 seed Notre Dame also advanced.

On the second day of the Round of 32, there were initially 235 perfect brackets until the Cavaliers and Fighting Irish managed upsets.

“I watched my first March Madness game on Monday,” Shellhammer mentioned. “I thought, ‘Let’s check out the women’s bracket’ and saw Virginia beat Iowa, which was pretty cool.”

Despite his impressive streak, he’s still a bit shy of the ESPN record of 57 consecutive correct guesses for the women’s tournament, based on AP’s information.

To surpass that, he will need to achieve a flawless 8-0 record in the Sweet 16 and accurately predict the outcomes of the first two Elite Eight games on Sunday.

His mother, Amy, commented on the situation, saying, “I think it’s amusing. It’s exciting to see him get into women’s basketball, and he’s been following it closely.”

Still, reaching a perfect 63-0 will require considerable effort. The odds of doing that? Roughly 1 in 9.22 trillion, which is just mind-boggling.

He notably watched No. 3 seed TCU defeat No. 1 South Carolina in the Elite Eight, while Texas ended UConn’s undefeated season during the title match.

Looking back, he feels a bit of regret over some choices but acknowledges nothing can change now.

“TCU and South Carolina will bounce back for sure, but I might rethink my championship picks next time,” he remarked. “You never know when an upset will happen during March Madness.”