Apex second-graders' NCAA bracket finishes 5th out of 23 million

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- Now that March Madness is behind us, how did your bracket fare?

Probably not as well as a second-grade class in Wake County that made its own Cinderella story, finishing fifth out of 23 million brackets on ESPN's bracket leaderboard.

"It started out in the millions. Then we were getting up into like the thousands. And then, like, last week, I was like messaging the families. I was like, y'all ... if you're keeping track, our bracket is one of the best in the country," said second-grade teacher Matt Falcone.

It was a slam dunk for Falcone's second-grade students at Olive Chapel Elementary School in Apex.

Falcone, who is in his second year of teaching at the school, is a 2021 NC State graduate. He's a huge Wolfpack basketball fan and had an amazing March Madness run with his team making it to the Final Four. Falcone says the bracket win made the run even more incredible.

So, this year he had his class of 18 students help fill in a bracket. How did they decide who would win? It came down to a show of hands.

"I said, do you think like, for example, for NC State and Texas Tech, I said, 'do you think NC State's going to win or do you think Texas Tech is going to win?' And luckily, they all raise their hands for NC State," Falcone said. "And that was the thing that I was like super excited about, because, like, they were supporting NC State.

"I guess they learned a little bit about some probability because I told myself, I said, there's millions of people who fill up this bracket a year. I was like, if we finish in like the top, like 10 million. That's still better than half the country," he added. "So, fifth, even better literally, it was the year first or second, or anything above that. But fifth, I will gladly take fifth in a heartbeat."

Falcone's students and parents also couldn't believe their bracket. ABC11 caught up with one student, Mason, and his dad, Noah Toppe, on Wednesday.

"Extremely exciting," Toppe said. "I came in 4 millionth place, which is nowhere close to fifth place out of 23 million. So, No. 1, you know, are you smarter than a second grader? No. And then No. 2, it's really cool that Mr. Falcone is a big sports fan and NC State fan."

Mason said the class deserved some ice cream for their amazing feat.

Though they didn't win any prize for fifth place, Falcone said his class won huge bragging rights and a pizza party is in order when students return to school April 22.

"We'll be able to flex our bracket to everybody in the school," Falcone said. "We'll say our bracket was fifth in the country. What about yours?"