99.999 percent of NCAA tourney brackets already busted

Five hours into the NCAA tourney, nearly 94 percent of Yahoo Sports brackets were busted. Within seven hours, 99 percent were toast. By the end of the night 99.999 percent were imperfect.

You can thank Yale, Arkansas Little Rock, Wichita State and Gonzaga for that.

Yale celebrates beating fifth-seeded Baylor. (AP) Or, on the flip side, you knew at least one 12 seed always advances, so you picked Yale and Little Rock for the upset, and you also picked a pair of 11 seeds to upset and, well, you’re now among the .00129 percent still standing after Day 1.

(Count Jordan Spieth among those who picked Yale, though don’t count Jordan Spieth among those who should be gloating over his bracket.)

Yale knocked off fifth-seeded Baylor in a 79-75 thriller, the first true upset of the 2016 tournament. Two hours later, Little Rock upset fifth-seeded Purdue 85-83 in double overtime. Eleventh seed Wichita State blew up Arizona by 10 and another 11 seed Gonzaga capped off the day with a 68-52 victory over Seton Hall.

Nearly 83 percent of Yahoo Sports users picked Baylor to win – 82.9 to be exact – while 88 percent had Purdue. Those two upsets accounted for the most carnage. Ironically, had Seton Hall won, fewer perfect brackets would still be standing.

While the Yale victory was no doubt an upset, Vegas had Baylor favored by only 5 points.

Really though, aspiring for perfection is a lesson in futility, considering only once in the 17 years Yahoo Sports has hosted a tourney challenge has anyone gotten through the first round unscathed. That would be the currently immortal Brad Binder.

A little more than 3,200 perfect brackets remain heading into Day 2. So Brad, if you’re reading, keep the champagne on ice for one more day.