Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Against All Odds


Not the Phil Collins love song from the movie of the same name... but instead your odds on the NCAA Tourney this year as computed by DePaul math professor and NCAA tourney buff Jeffery Bergen.

(1) The number of ways to fill out a bracket once the "play in game" is out of the way.
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (I think that's Gazillion)

(2) If the tournament expands to 96 teams that number also expands to...
39,614,081,257,132,168,796,771,975,168

(3) It would be slightly easier to predict the winner of every game in a 96 team field than it is to win the state lottery four weeks in a row while buying one ticket a week.

(4) The number of ways to pick the teams that will make the final four.
65,536

(5) It is virtually impossible to pick all the first round games correctly.
The number of ways for the first round to turn out. 4,294,967,296

Good Luck!

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