I do have to thank the four late games, because they were mostly blowouts. At least Kennesaw State made it interesting against Gonzaga, although to be fair, it never really felt like Gonzaga was in danger of losing. Under normal circumstances this would be really bad for the sleep deprived Lunatic – since it would mean that I fall asleep in the games.

But with trying to clean up the website, create an email list (which I am horrible at maintaining) and handicapping 16 games, the games not being very interesting allowed me to focus on the other pages of my website.

Then again, I am not sure why I am handicapping anything. So far, I am 20-20. If I had just bet the same amount for every game, I would be down $40 imaginary dollars to the Lunatic Casino. So, instead I am down $111, including the awesome pick of locking Georgia who was a 2.5 point favorite and watch St. Louis beat them by 25 in a game that really wasn’t that close.

But I will keep tiering the games at least through the first round before I get desperate and start betting big on everything.

As for the first day of results, we need to congratulate our 8 leaders. Bob Degenhardt, John Greene, Al Lester, Lochlan Middlebrook, Lowell Isaacs, Laura Hummel, Dave Evans and Matt Reilly – as these 8 all managed to go 15-1 on a day when TCU, VCU, Texas A&M, High Point, Texas and St. Louis all pulled off upsets according to the seed lines. They are chased closely by a large group of people – but since I think that it is amazing to go 14-2, they deserve their place in the blog! Congratulations to our entrants tied for 9th – Kevin Bostic, Jimmy Lee (both entries), Brent Peterson, Gregg Farber, June Flynn Degenhardt, Kevin Busby, Kathy Godwin, Will Richter, Tony Wilson, Joanna Crabbe, Ava Wiederman, Bernard Benson, David Ogle, Doug Brunner, Mike Wyatt, Ryan Hinton, Alex Simon, Tony Bisese (both entries), and Bob Degenhardt (2nd entry).

As for the Upset Pool, congratulations go to Dave Evans and Matt Reilly as they lead the upset pool with 88 points, giving them a 3 point lead over Lowell Isaacs. Bob Degenhardt is in 4th place just 5 points behind. Laura Hummel, Lochlan Middlebrook, Al Lester, John Greene, and Kevin Bostic are tied for 5th just 6 points behind. And Ryan Hinton rounds out the top 10 at 80 points.

Don’t despair if you had a few blemishes today. Friday will bring more games and more opportunities to make up ground on the leaders.