MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Is your March Madness bracket still intact? If you haven't yet, chances are high, very high, extremely high, that you will miss at least one game, if not a lot more, in the coming weeks.
In fact, you have a better chance of becoming an instant millionaire.
The odds tell us the chance of winning Saturday's $320 million Powerball Jackpot is roughly 175 million to one.
We asked Rhodes College math professor Michael Sheard to explain.
He says if someone were to pick their bracket by deciding the winner by a coin flip, the odds of a perfect bracket are roughly one in 9.2 quintillion.
"A one on top, and a nine followed by approximately 18 zeros," Sheard said, as he did the math on a classroom whiteboard.
"So that's your probability, you have one chance of being right, and nine quintillion that is, chances of being wrong."
"Much better chance of winning the lottery," he says. "So are you going to get them all right? I'd say no."
Sheard says if you know something about the teams, your odds do improve, but not drastically.
He is quick to add though, to win your office pool, you don't have to be perfect, you just have to be better than everyone else.
As with that Powerball ticket for Saturday, or $5 to enter an office pool, it isn't always about winning.
"What you are really buying is a chance to dream a little bit," he said.
