This is a critical time to be high in the standings – for while each game is worth a lot of points, there are only 3 games left in the tournament. However, if you still have Duke, UNC, Kansas and Villanova into the championship game, the 120 points for a semi-final victory can move you up in the standings very quickly.

A ton of credit at this point has to go to Ann Hawkins – she is dominating with her picks. Not only is she winning both the standard and upset pools, but she also has her second chance picks in a tie for 2nd place. It has been a very impressive job of picking the games.

In the Standard Pool, Ann’s 890 points are ahead of 2nd place Edward Zhang by 30 points. Steve Manley is in 3rd place at 790 points, followed closely by Jen Miller in 4th at 780 points, John Howarth in 5th at 770 points, and Edward Zhang’s 2nd picks at 760 points. We have a tie for 7th place at 730 points between Richard Urban and Adrian Young. Rounding out the Top 10 is our three way tie for 9th at 720 points between Red Shepley, Dan Miller, and Keith Dudley.

In the Upset Pool, Ann leads with 301 points. This is extremely impressive, considering that no one has scored 300 points in the upset pool since 2013. Tanmay Gautam’s 282 points would be crushing people in most years, but right now, it is all alone in 2nd. John Howarth is in 3rd at 277 points, Gregg Farber, our 2021 Upset Pool champion, is in 4th at 255 points, and Viviemme is in 5th at 248 points.

Andrew Picciano is making the best out of his second chance – as he is leading the second chance pool with 520 points. There is a four way tie for second place between Ann, Noah Franklin, Dan Miller, and Jim Carini.

There is one prize that is unofficially locked (nothing is official until the final standings come out). Kristian Schmidt’s upset picks of Texas Tech, Tennessee, Iowa and Indiana only ended up getting 290 points and are locked in last place in the money pool. As is tradition, Kristian, you should not have challenged the Lunatic this year. But truthfully, with the Lunatic’s picks being in a tie for 74th, the more accurate statement is you should not have challenged Ann Hawkins this year. However, if I remember from the comments, Kristian is probably still happy as the Cyclones made it to the Sweet 16 this year, which is amazing for a team that only won 2 games the year before.