At this very critical time of the Stomp the Lunatic Pool, our leader is Tanmay Gautam. In this crazy tournament, he managed to get 3 of the 4 Final Four teams correct, only missing on Cinderella (like every single one of us did). That gives Tanmay 830 points and the lead with only 3 games remaining. Of course, those 3 games are worth so many points that the lead could change hands quickly, but Tanmay is in the wonderful position that if Michigan beats Kansas as he predicted, he will be the 2018 Stomp the Lunatic Champion.
Following Tanmay is Haden, just 30 points behind in 2nd place. Then, William England is in third at 780, Andrew Braslow is in fourth at 760, Stephen Harrell and Matt Richter are tied for fifth at 750, Jen Miller and Christy Lindvall are tied for 7th at 720, and Sam Luy and William England’s second picks round out the top 10 at 710 points.
In the Upset Pool, I don’t think anyone can catch Christy Lindvall. Christy correctly got both Loyola and Syracuse to the Sweet 16, and then correctly picked Michigan to the Final 4 (along with Kansas) – so she has 276 points. Triona Weeks is in second place with 259 points, Alex Simon is in third at 236 points, Edward Zhang is at 222 in fourth, and Andrew Braslow rounds out the top 5 at 221 points. The max points someone can get for Villanova or Kansas winning is 11 points, and so the only real movement is going to be due to Michigan – who can get 15 points for getting to the championship and an additional 18 points for the winning.
We have a three way tie for the lead in the Second Chance Pool, as Matt Richter, Dan Fischer and David Ogle are all at 480 points. But there are 7 people just 40 points behind, and 10 people just 80 points behind, so still lots of chances there.
The Lunatic looks like he will be well stomped. At 112th place and with only Villanova left to survive the horrible Lunatic Curse, he is unlikely to threaten the leaders (although I guess a Villanova win could at least move him up a little bit in the standings and make it a respectable showing..) But knowing the Lunatic Curse, it would be more likely that Kansas takes them out the way they did to Duke this afternoon.
I also have to give Sam Luy a lot of credit in potentially one of the oddest moments in Lunatic Pool history. Sam’s first bracket is in 9th place, but in the awkward place that he can not get any more points since he had the two teams he got correct (Michigan and Villanova) losing to the two teams he got wrong with Virginia and Duke. Still, Sam is guaranteed a prize. While he is likely going to get passed at the top of the leaderboard, his second picks have already been passed by everyone (well, except for Liying Gong and Hailey Peterson who entered for fun). Sam’s upset picks of Virginia beating Michigan State with Gonzaga and Butler joining them at the Final Four got eliminated quickly and only scored 270 points. I might have to go back and see, but I don’t remember a time when one of our leaders had their other picks in last place – but in a tournament of firsts, it seems only fitting. The normal line is Sam – you should not have challenged the Lunatic. But to be fair, the Lunatic is getting crushed so badly, it is really that you shouldn’t have challenged Tanmay and Christy (our Standard and Upset leaders).
If you are still hanging in reach of the leaders, good luck to all of you next weekend!!!! Otherwise, find a favorite team to root for, or simply get behind Cinderella (because if you were knocked out and not a Michigan, Villanova or Kansas fan, you have to love the idea that the Missouri Valley Champion could be the NCAA Champion). This tournament has given us a historic 16 seed beating a 1 seed and a 11 seed making the Final Four – so you have to believe that anything can happen in San Antonio. Should be lots of fun to watch!!!!