Trump Jokes About Backdating March Madness Brackets After Missing Deadline

President Donald Trump may have missed the buzzer on filling out a March Madness bracket, but that didn’t stop him from tossing around the idea of sneakily backdating one anyway.

While chatting with reporters outside the White House on Friday, Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump if he had taken part in the NCAA Tournament's annual bracket frenzy. In a moment of candid humor, Trump admitted, "I didn't. I should have. Have there been upsets? A couple, right?"

He then quipped, "I can give you one but maybe backdated," sparking laughter. The backdating would certainly give him a chance to skip the chaos that has already shattered millions of brackets worldwide.

Speaking of chaos, by Friday's early first-round games, the NCAA reported that the number of perfect brackets had plummeted to a near-impossible 0.0044% out of 34 million submissions. In other words, almost everyone’s dreams of bracket glory were already toast.

ESPN’s tracker showed only 1,098 perfect brackets remaining out of 24 million entries after Ole Miss pulled off a 71-64 win against North Carolina. Yahoo Sports wasn’t faring much better, with just 81 perfect brackets left in its Men’s Bracket Mayhem pool. CBS Sports reported similar carnage, with its perfect bracket percentage dropping to 0.005% after the Ole Miss victory.

Clemson’s 69-67 loss to McNeese State further crushed spirits, wiping out 6.6 million ESPN brackets and leaving over 85% of Yahoo entries in shambles. And then there was Creighton. Their stunning 89-75 win over Louisville in Thursday’s first game demolished over 13 million picks on ESPN, earning them the title of top bracket buster.

To put it in perspective, ESPN revealed that 30 brackets had every single pick wrong. Ouch.

For those who still have a sliver of hope, the tournament rolls on, but it’s safe to say that Trump’s idea of backdating a bracket might actually be the winning strategy at this point.