National & International News

Nation's Last Known Perfect Bracket Busted By Syracuse Loss

By Eyder Peralta

Published March 23, 2014 at 9:43 AM EDT

Syracuse's Trevor Cooney (No. 10) shoots between Dayton's Devon Scott (second from left) and Dyshawn Pierre (right) as Khari Price (left) watches during the first half of a third-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday.

Then there were none.

We told you about how some stunning upsets in the men's NCAA basketball tournament ended the billion-dollar dreams of those who entered Warren Buffet and Quicken Loans' "Billion $ Bracket Challenge."

We also told you about Brad Binder, 23, of Buffalo Grove, Ill., who up until Saturday afternoon had the last known perfect bracket in the country.

It meant that Binder turned wizard and predicted that No. 3 Duke would fall to No. 14 Mercer very early in the tournament. Binder also predicted that No. 11 Tennessee would beat No. 6 UMass. Despite his knack for predicting the surprising future, Binder did not enter the Quicken challenge, which meant he got lots of media attention that sounded a lot like this headline from the Huffington Post: "The Last Guy With A Perfect Bracket Blew His Chance To Win $1 Billion"

But late on Day 2 of the tournament, No. 11 Dayton sent No. 3 Syracuse packing.

That was the end for Binder. And he had this to say on Twitter:

And that was the closest I've ever come to not winning a billion dollars
— Brad Binder (@Brad_Binder_) March 23, 2014