And our defending champion, Edward Zhang, has taken the first round lead. Edward managed to get 27 of the 32 games correct to be tied for the lead with Will Campbell.
There is a 7 way tie for 3rd as all these great prognosticators got 26 games right – Gabbi Ams, William Craft, Matt Di Dio, Patty Carini, Rusty Ahles, Matthew Reilly and Cooper Bradley. And the tight leaderboard has 21 more entries just 20 points behind at 250 pts.
In the Upset pool, Will Caldwell is all alone is first place with 135 points. Just 4 points behind is Edward, Matthew Reilly, Cooper Ams and David Caldwell at 131 points. Closely behind is William Craft (128), Gabbi Ams (127) and Brian Betz (126).
On the other side. 71 of us (including the Crazed Lunatic’s Dream picks) have already ripped up our brackets and are patiently waiting for Sunday night for the Second Chance brackets to become available thanks to Purdue, Arizona, Virginia and a few upset picks lost in the first round.
I also apologize in advance to all of you rooting for Alabama. Considering the Lunatic curse brutally ended my fun in the first couple days, those should realize that my sane picks have Alabama, and so you all are probably only on borrowed time. Since I have Texas and Gonzaga as my other Final 4 teams, those supporters probably should have some concern as well.
There are 189 people who are currently stomping the Lunatic. There are the 176 of you who got 22 games or more correct. And there are the more important 13 amazing athletes from Fairleigh Dickinson who have stomped so deeply on the Lunatic’s heart that this was close to being worse then when COVID wiped out the entire tournament.
That being said, you all should be thrilled. It is kind of crazy that there are 63 entries within 40 points of the leaders. Getting 24 of 32 games right is a really strong start and 40 points can be made up in a hurry in the later rounds. It is a wide open contest where many of you still have tons of hope.
But the Lunatic can tell you – hope can be a blessing and a curse. Here are my prayers for all of you that your hope will last much longer than mine did because I know the pain from when that hope is no longer there. I am sure that a weekend of watching Katie play rugby, some excellent 2nd round games and Taylor Swift break-up songs will cheer me up.