We’re just a week away from the March Madness competition getting underway. Millions of Americans will watch the best college basketball teams in the country each vying for the National Championship, but that’s only one part of the fun. The other is the bracket, as fans try to predict the tournament. It’s very difficult. That didn’t stop this kid from beating it a few years ago.
Meet Sam Holtz. He was just 12 years old back in 2015, when he won ESPN’s March Madness Bracket Challenge. He beat almost 12 million other entries to take the crown. His secret? Don’t watch any basketball and just wing it.
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His reasoning for obscure picks ranged from him liking the UCLA campus when he visited it as a child, to getting bored of the same teams winning, to backing Michigan State because of their Italian-American head coach. Holtz said, “I’m kinda Italian too, so…”.
The chances of filling out a perfect NCAA tournament bracket is one in the quintillions. It is less than the combined odds of landing a hole-in-one, winning the Powerball and being struck by lightning multiple times. Holtz didn’t quite land the perfect bracket, but he came closest.
It’s possible, if unlikely, that 2024 is the year we finally get a perfect bracket. Sure, you can do all the research and devote your life to college basketball, in the hopes it’ll lead to the big prize. But you want our advice? Follow the Sam Holtz method: go with your gut and see where it gets you…
Like basketball? Check out that time we talked 3 pointers with NBA legend Ray Allen.
