I have to tell you I was surprised. I was able to make it through Utah State’s upset of TCU (yes – I know Utah State was the 8 seed, but Vegas has the Horned Frogs as a 4.5 point favorite). Regardless, with it being a 8 vs 9 game that normally is a coin flip, seeing Utah State win 88-72 should be considered an upset.

I flipped over to the last game and was pleasantly surprised to see Grand Canyon leading Saint Mary’s 52-37. Then, my eyes shut. The next time they opened there was 1 minute left in the game and Grand Canyon was simply trying to run out the clock. After your typical three pointer by the team behind and a few free throws from the team in the lead, Grand Canyon was able to celebrate their first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament, beating the Gaels by 9. I smiled for the fact that the night ended with two 12 seeds winning, put the final winner of the first round into the database and went to sleep. I knew I had only 6 hours until Elizabeth, Katie and I had to head up to Alexandria for two rugby games (in what appears to be a significant amount of rain).

So you had to imagine my surprise as I wrote down the leaders. Thanks to the tie that I am in, there are only 5 entries who are beating the Lunatic. I must be still dreaming….

Congratulations to Debbe Evans, Sonny Mao, Ashley Peterson, Tom Forrest, and Earl McKnight – as the 5 of them managed to get 26 of 32 games right to take the lead at 260 points. This is really impressive if you think of the number of upsets. 11 teams according to seed won their games – Oakland (14), Yale (13), JMU (12), GCU (12), Oregon (11), NC State (11), Duquesne (11), Colorado (10), Texas A&M (9), Michigan State (9) and Northwestern (9).

Congratulations also to those tied with the Lunatic at 6th – Kennedy Urban, Joanna Crabbe, Tyler Crabbe, Sean Ellett, Scott Viera, Rob Nesbitt (both entries), Matt Richter, Carlie Reynolds, and my son Charlie – who are just 10 points behind for getting 25 of the games right. And we also have 28 more entries tied for 17th at 240 points.

In the upset pool, congratulations to Ashley Peterson who is in the lead with 141 points. Ashley is closely followed by Gus Woodburn (140), Tom Forrest (139), Sonny Mao (138) and Earl McKnight (137). We also have a 4 way tie for 6th with Debbe Evans, Sean Ellett, Tyler Crabbe and Jimmy Lee at 132 points.

For those of you who are behind, don’t despair – because while it is important to do well in the first round, it is more important to do well in the later rounds – 5 of the 16 leaders watched as all of those upsets took one of our Final Four teams (including the Lunatic), and as the upsets mount, the chances to move up grow.

And for those of you who picked Kentucky and Auburn to win it all, while this bracket might be a mess, you always get a second chance – those brackets will be out there after the weekend of games reduces the field from 32 to 16.

Good luck to everyone!!! Enjoy the games this weekend!!!!

Tom