It’s estimated that over 40 million Americans will have participated in the guessing game that is the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Sixty-four teams enter, but only one is victorious. If you’re like me, you’re already out of the final four; your team was bounced out along the way, maybe even in the first round. So what does it take to pick the perfect bracket? Does it all come down to knowledge of the game and knowing which stats to pay attention to, or does it come down to luck?

The odds of picking a perfect bracket in this year’s March Madness is 9.2 quintillion to 1. That’s 9,200,000,000,000,000,000 to 1. That number is eerily comforting as I watch my name slowly drop on the total point’s sheet week after week. This is, in essence what makes the March Madness hoopla so appealing; it’s really a game of luck and chance more than skill and careful consideration. You may disagree but then I ask you, how is your bracket doing? For me, the hours I spent agonizing over my final picks were washed away with Scottie Reynolds layup with .5 seconds remaining on the clock. With Pittsburgh hopes and my shot at NCAA victory just a fading memory I now get to enjoy the remaining three games stress free, maybe winning isn’t everything?

The enjoyment of watching my friends criticize and hypothesize over the next week is a sweet reward courtesy of another botched bracket. Alas, another year of second guessing myself, for now I know what I should have done. Not to worry though; I have a good feeling about next year.