Our first day leader, Laura Carini went perfect on Thursday.  Friday was unkind, however.  Once her predicted upset of CSU Fullerton over Purdue went down to end her perfect bracket, she went 7-9 to fall to a tie for 75th place, 40 points out of the lead.

The Standard Pool leader is now Michael Cheung, he went 27-5.  There is a group of 6 – Christy Lindvall, Peyton Hinton, Bob Degenhardt, Michelle Miller, and Craig Mize, who are just 10 points behind them.  But Christy and Craig might be the real leaders from Round 1 – that is because neither of them had Virginia winning the South.   Picking Cincinnati and Tennessee looks all of a sudden much better than it might have before the tournament began.

Christy’s upset picks have also put her in the lead of the Upset Pool – with 145 points.  She is followed closely by Triona Weeks at 136, Michael Cheung at 133, Bob Degenhardt at 130, and Joe Chapman at 129.

For all of us Virginia fans, including myself, thankfully there is the Second Chance Pool.   Normally, I am not thinking about that after the first round, but after last night’s historic upset, I think all of us might need a second chance.