More than half of March Madness brackets ruined in opening game as NCAA Tournament starts with a thriller
Millions of basketball fans saw their hopes of a perfect bracket dashed after the very first game of March Madness.
On Thursday afternoon, No 9 TCU edged out No 8 Ohio State in a nail-biting curtain raiser of the NCAA Tournament.
Fans have created 26.5million brackets in ESPN’s annual challenge and, in the wake of TCU’s 66-64 win, the network revealed that 60 percent had Ohio State to advance.
That equates to nearly 16m brackets. According to research by Action Network, Americans will wager a combined $5.3billion on March Madness brackets, with the chance of a perfect run one in 9.2 quintillion.
To put that into perspective, per the NCAA, every year is made up of 31.6m seconds, meaning 9.2 quintillion seconds equates to 292bn years.
In Greenville, South Carolina, the Buckeyes were undone with 4.3 seconds to go, when Xavier Edmonds scored the game-winning basket for TCU. The Horned Frogs will now take on Siena or Duke – the overall No 1 seed – in the round of 32.
Millions of fans saw their hopes of a perfect bracket dashed after TCU beat Ohio State
Xavier Edmonds scored the game-winning layup for TCU with 4.3 seconds to go on Thursday
Edmonds converted a layup to beat the shot clock as TCU held off a tremendous second-half rally by Ohio State to secure a 66-64 win.
The Buckeyes had a chance to steal the game at the death, only for Bruce Thornton’s half-court heave at the buzzer to hit all backboard.
Ohio State’s standout senior leaned forward and put his hands on his knees in dismay as TCU began the celebrations.
Micah Robinson scored 18 points for TCU, Edmonds finished with 16 and David Punch had 16 points and 13 rebounds. The Horned Frogs (23-11) will be back on the court on Saturday.
John Mobley. Jr. scored 15 points to lead Ohio State (21-13), which was making its first March Madness appearance since 2022.
TCU built a 15-point halftime lead and appeared in control, only to miss 18 of its first 22 shots to start the second half and fall behind 55-50 with seven minutes left.
The Horned Frogs rallied for a 64-61 advantage on a 3 by Robinson with 56 seconds left. Thornton hit a tying 3 with 33 seconds left before TCU called timeout to set up a final play in the halfcourt.
