DETROIT, MI - Quicken Loans and Berkshire Hathaway are offering $1 billion in prize money for completing a perfect bracket in the NCAA men's basketball tournament this spring.

The tournament includes 68 teams playing single-elimination games. It starts March 18 and runs through April 7.

If you think it sounds like Quicken Loans and Berkshire Hathaway are giving the money away, consider this: There are more than 9 quintillion ways to fill out the bracket, according to DePaul University math professor Jeff Bergen.

Bergen estimated in 2012 that someone who knows college basketball, that is, someone who understands that 1-seed teams never lose to 16-seed teams, for example, has about a 1-in-128-billion shot at picking all of the games correctly.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever picked a perfect bracket, but there is always a first. And if that lucky person enters the Quicken Loans and Berkshire Hathaway promotion and wins, he or she would be paid in 40 annual installments of $25 million.

Even if the odds of getting the $1 billion are pretty astronomical, that is not say no one will get paid in the tournament challenge this year. The mortgage lender said it will also award $100,000 toward buying, refinancing or remodeling a home to the 20 most accurate brackets, imperfect as they may be.

And along with the bracket challenge, Quicken Loans is donating $1 million to non-profit organizations aimed at improving education for young people in Detroit and Cleveland.

Registration for the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket begins March 3.

"We've seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat," said Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quicken Loans. "It is our mission to create amazing experiences for our clients. This contest, with the possibility of creating a billionaire, definitely fits that bill."

More details on registering for the contest will be released in the days leading up to the March tournament. For the latest updates, check out the contest's official Facebook page.

David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.