Jim O’Donnell: In search of grace — and the perfect NCAA bracket
THE GREATEST CERTAINTY IN AMERICAN SPORTS makes its annual popout beginning right around dusk Sunday.
And that's that no one on planet Earth or its neighbors will pick a perfect 67-for-67 NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket.
From ncaa.com to espn.com to merci-blahblah.com, there is universal acknowledgment that the possibility is less than the White Sox finishing 162-0.
Learned mathematicians and other fig'ger filberts have stated that the odds of an NCAA El Perfecto happening merely via 67 coin flips are approximately 9.2 quintillion-to-1.
Some go a speculative step further and claim that a person with good knowledge of the current college game and picking match-by-match has a chance of hitting 67 straight at 120 billion-to-1.
Not exactly like chasing a Chris Block-Mickey Goldfine exacta down at Hawthorne Race Course.
ACCORDING TO THE NCAA, the greatest record run ever toward a perfect bracket in any of its sanctioned free pools came in 2019.
That's when a fellow named Gregg Nigl — a neuropsychologist from Columbus, Ohio — whipped through the first weekend of the tournament (no play-ins) at 48-0.
Nigl freely admitted that he was at best a casual basketball fan whose biggest prejudices were a loathing for success by hometown Ohio State and a deep love for Michigan.
WHATEVER, FOR THE SWEET SIXTEEN, Nigl and 9-year-old son Kaiden were flown to Anaheim with room, car and Sweet Sixteen tickets comped.
He hit No. 49 — Virginia over Oregon — and then had it all come tumbling down when Purdue outlasted Tennessee in overtime.
In the end, he fanned on three of the eight Sweet Sixteen games and had only one pick make it to the Final Four.
But for a few shining moments, Nigl was “The Man.”
GAUGING THE FRESH TOURNAMENT remains a laptop science requiring all the inner resolve of Bill Belichick checking out a dance at a community college.
Two years ago, in the pages of the Daily Herald Sports, this off-centric insouciant put forth a learned formula that blew to pieces like a bridge disaster.
The essential core was a Final Four consisting of: two No. 1 seeds, one choice from the 10 remaining Nos. 1-through-3 seeds and a final pick from the vast netherland of No. 5-through-No. 12 seeds.
A No. 4 seed, based on the previous seven tourneys, was for some reason a ghost number.
AS STUDENTS WILL RECALL, the 2023 Final Four resulted in the first in which no Nos. 1, 2 or 3 seeds were still alive.
Danny Hurley and Connecticut — a 4 — beat No. 5 San Diego State for the title. Miami (Fla.) and Florida Atlantic, both No. 5s, rounded out the closing quartet.
LAST SPRING, HURLEY'S UCONN REPEATED, defeating fellow No. 1 Zach Edey and Purdue. Alabama wasn't ghosted as a No. 4 and No. 11 North Carolina State completed that Final Four.
So, ultimate guidelines?
Stay in a state of sanctifying grace.
And good luck, pal.
STREET-BEATIN':
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Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.