You may or may not be one of the millions participating in an NCAA March Madness bracket. Your picks may or may not be bringing you joy. When it comes to perfection, the longest verifiable streak of correct picks in an NCAA tournament bracket to start March Madness is 40. That was established in 2019 by an Ohio man who correctly predicted the entire tournament into the Sweet 16. NCAA.com sifted through more than three decades of online and paper brackets. There are an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets filled out every year. In 2016, the longest anyone went was 25 games. 2017 got closer to the record with 39 games picked to start the tournament. In 2018, 25 brackets were perfect through the 1st 28 games of the tournament, but UMBC's win in game 29 knocked all of them out. Will any 2023 brackets break any records? Definitely not mine.
NCAA Tournament memories: 15 years ago Ali Farokhmanesh hit the 3-pointer that helped UNI upset Kansas
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Updated: 1:14 PM CDT Mar 20, 2025
This is the time of year people usually start reaching out to Ali Farokhmanesh on social media.Video above: What is the record for the longest perfect NCAA Tournament bracket?The Northern Iowa fans who remember his back-to-back buzzer-beaters to beat UNLV and Kansas and usher the Panthers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament 15 years ago. The Missouri and Kansas State fans still thankful he helped take down the top-seeded Jayhawks. And yes, there will be Kansas fans still pained by the memory.“I mean, any time someone brings it up to me or somebody randomly tweets at me, or something along those lines, it brings me back,” Farokhmanesh said in 2020. “And honestly, normally this time of the year is when I start thinking about that — thinking about when I was playing.”For Farohkmanesh, it is not necessarily the 3-pointer in the final minute that took down Kansas in the second round of the 2010 tournament that jumps to the forefront of his mind. It’s the shot he hit two days earlier, a 3 from well beyond the arc in the final seconds, that gave the Panthers a 69-66 victory over the Runnin’ Rebels.“That one gets completely passed up,” said Farokhmanesh, now an assistant at Colorado State. “Magnitude-wise Kansas was bigger, but the UNLV game, that was crazy too, because it was back and forth and we got lucky enough to have the last possession, and it was crazy because they were double-teaming us. I was pretty deep and let it fly.”The Kansas shot got Farohkmanesh the cover of Sports Illustrated, with a headline of "Divine Madness." But the Panthers' run ended in their next game, a 59-52 loss to Michigan State in the Sweet 16.
This is the time of year people usually start reaching out to Ali Farokhmanesh on social media.
Video above: What is the record for the longest perfect NCAA Tournament bracket?
The Northern Iowa fans who remember his back-to-back buzzer-beaters to beat UNLV and Kansas and usher the Panthers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament 15 years ago. The Missouri and Kansas State fans still thankful he helped take down the top-seeded Jayhawks. And yes, there will be Kansas fans still pained by the memory.
“I mean, any time someone brings it up to me or somebody randomly tweets at me, or something along those lines, it brings me back,” Farokhmanesh said in 2020. “And honestly, normally this time of the year is when I start thinking about that — thinking about when I was playing.”
For Farohkmanesh, it is not necessarily the 3-pointer in the final minute that took down Kansas in the second round of the 2010 tournament that jumps to the forefront of his mind. It’s the shot he hit two days earlier, a 3 from well beyond the arc in the final seconds, that gave the Panthers a 69-66 victory over the Runnin’ Rebels.
“That one gets completely passed up,” said Farokhmanesh, now an assistant at Colorado State. “Magnitude-wise Kansas was bigger, but the UNLV game, that was crazy too, because it was back and forth and we got lucky enough to have the last possession, and it was crazy because they were double-teaming us. I was pretty deep and let it fly.”
The Kansas shot got Farohkmanesh the cover of Sports Illustrated, with a headline of "Divine Madness." But the Panthers' run ended in their next game, a 59-52 loss to Michigan State in the Sweet 16.
Greg Nelson
Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh (5) buries an open 3-pointer to give the ninth-seeded Panthers a four-point lead with 35 seconds to play March 20, 2010, against No. 1 seed Kansas. UNI won the Round of 32 game, 69-67.
Ronald Martinez
Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh (5) celebrates after hitting an open 3-pointer to give the ninth-seeded Panthers a four-point lead with 35 seconds to play March 20, 2010, against No. 1 seed Kansas. UNI won the Round of 32 game, 69-67.
