Advertisement

March Madness: Man loses last remaining perfect bracket 'Center Road'

By Alex Butler
Purdue's Carsen Edwards (3) helped his squad knock off Tennessee on Thursday in the NCAA tournament, ruining Gregg Nigl's perfect bracket. Photo by Bryan Woolston/UPI
Purdue's Carsen Edwards (3) helped his squad knock off Tennessee on Thursday in the NCAA tournament, ruining Gregg Nigl's perfect bracket. Photo by Bryan Woolston/UPI | License Photo

March 29 (UPI) -- The last remaining perfect bracket for the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament is no more.

Gregg Nigl's "Center Road" bracket entry at NCAA.com had its first blemish Thursday, as the Purdue Boilermakers knocked off Tennessee to reach the Elite Eight. Nigl, 40, had predicted correctly on the first 49 games of the tournament before watching the No. 3 seed get by the No. 2 seed 99-94 Thursday in Louisville. The game went into overtime.

Advertisement

The odds of filling out a perfect bracket for the entire tournament are about 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

"I didn't think I'd go perfect," Nigl told NCAA March Madness. "I'm OK with that. I'm just so happy to be here. It's a dream come true to be here. ... It's awesome. It's a little bit of a relief too.

"It has been the wildest week of my life; I don't think anything like this will ever happen to me again, which I'm OK with."

The neuropsychologist is a Saginaw, Mich., native now living in Columbus, Ohio. He has Gonzaga beating Kentucky in the national championship, with the Duke Blue Devils and Virginia Cavaliers joining the Wildcats and Bulldogs in the Final Four.

Advertisement

He attended Michigan's 63-44 loss to Texas Tech on Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. Nigl also gave advice on predicting a great bracket.

"Don't overthink it. Go with your gut," said Nigl, who also incorrectly predicted Michigan would beat Texas Tech.

The NCAA tournament resumes with LSU facing Michigan State at 7:09 p.m. Friday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Latest Headlines