Illinois teen makes startling NCAA bracket run

Illinois teen makes startling NCAA bracket run

Published Mar. 27, 2010 12:19 a.m. ET

Nobody's perfect.

Suburban Chicago teenager Alex Herrmann was 48-for-48 through the first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, despite a string of upsets that wrecked millions of brackets.

Butler beat No. 1 seed Syracuse in the regional semifinals Thursday night, ending the 17-year-old Herrmann's run. It was the first miss in his bracket.

Herrmann, who is autistic, entered CBSsports.com's Bracket Manager competition. The bracket can be changed after games are completed, and some skeptics on the Internet have questioned Hermann's calls. Hermann's family told NBC-TV's Chicago affiliate the young man just picked the winners.

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``We don't really monitor the Bracket Manager product,'' CBSsports.com spokesman Alex Riethmiller said Friday. ``All we can say is that we can't confirm or deny the authenticity of the bracket because it can be altered.''

The family didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

Herrmann was believed to have the only perfect bracket through the first two rounds in Bracket Manager, one of four competitions offered by CBSsports.com.

ESPN.com reported no bracket among 4.78 million was perfect after two rounds of its Tournament Challenge.

``I'm kind of good at math and at stats I see on TV during the game,'' Herrmann said in an earlier TV interview.

The student at Glenbrook South High school chose Kansas State, Purdue, Kentucky and Tennessee to make the Final Four. His pick for a national champion? The Boilermakers.

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