Auburn Takes Top Seed
The 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is officially set. Auburn lands the No. 1 overall seed and will lead the South region. The other top seeds include Duke in the East, Houston in the Midwest, and Florida in the West.
Tournament action begins this week as teams prepare for the first round of play.
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X and Uber Eats Launch Perfect Bracket Challenge — Grand Prize: Trip to Mars
As millions of fans gear up to fill out their brackets, a new challenge is turning heads. The X Bracket Challenge Delivered by Uber Eats opened Sunday following the official tournament selection. Participants can submit their picks until Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, just before the first round tips off.
The grand prize? A trip to Mars—literally. X and Uber Eats have partnered with SpaceX’s Starlink to offer a future journey aboard a SpaceX Starship as one prize option for anyone who pulls off a perfect bracket.
Other Prize Options Include $250K and Space Experiences
Since the odds of a perfect bracket are slim, the prize list offers alternatives. The winner could opt for a $250,000 cash payout, a free year of residential Starlink service (with kit purchase), a day of astronaut-style training, the opportunity to send a personal item into orbit on a Falcon 9 launch, or VIP access to watch a Starship launch.
If no perfect bracket is picked, a $100,000 runner-up prize will be awarded. Four additional fantasy game winners will each receive $10,000.
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Odds of a Perfect Bracket: 1 in 9.2 Quintillion
The challenge is high-stakes because it’s nearly impossible. The NCAA reports the odds of picking a perfect bracket by pure chance are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Even someone with deep basketball knowledge only improves those odds to about 1 in 120.2 billion.
The bracket consists of 63 games: 32 in the first round, 16 in the second, 8 in the Sweet 16, 4 in the Elite 8, 2 in the Final Four, and the championship.
Big Dreams, Low Odds
Still, the challenge reflects the wild spirit of March Madness. “We’re not just hosting a bracket challenge; we’re redefining how fans connect, compete, and dream big,” said Andrew Musk, lead product engineer. “With live leaderboards, fantasy games, and a trip to Mars on the line, this is the ultimate playground for our global community.”
The scale of the challenge mirrors a past offer from billionaire Warren Buffett, who once promised $1 billion for a perfect bracket. No one claimed the prize, and the offer was later scaled back for Berkshire Hathaway employees only.
As the tournament begins and the brackets roll in, millions will once again test their luck—despite the astronomical odds.
