At this very critical point in the tournament, the people who have positioned them at the top of the standings are now in very good shape.   That is because, thanks to the upsets today by Connecticut and Kentucky, there really is not a lot of chances for scoring.

If I have looked correctly, only Clay Holloway picked Kentucky to the championship game, where he had them losing to UCLA.  But he is not within 120 points of the leaders, so while that scenario will jump him up in the standings, he will not be able to overtake the lead.

And that is better than Connecticut – which no one had to the championship.

So, that basically leaves three camps.  Those rooting for Florida to win.  Those rooting for Wisconsin to win.  And those rooting for continued chaos to reign supreme.

That brings us to our leaders…..

In the standard pool, our leader, Chris Franklin is hanging on by a thread at 840 points.  That is because while he is the leader, he also has no more way to score points – and there are several people close behind.  So, Chris definitely is in the third camp.

He is followed by Chuck Brugh (our 2007 upset pool co-champion), Kyle Kelly (our 2013 defending champion), and Amy Lancette.  Of course, in this group with two past champions, it makes sense that Amy is the one to watch – she is the top person who has Wisconsin winning it all, while Chuck and Kyle are joining Chris in the third camp of chaos

Then, we have Michael Strange only 20 points behind, Rob Bradley only 30 points behind, James Franklin only 40 points behind (and most importantly the top score with Florida winning), Emily Vittum only 50 points behind and Robert Shipp and Jerry Caldwell only 60 points behind.

Of additional noteworthiness, Ruoyu Fan and Steve Glass are only 70 back – and the top scores where they have Florida actually beating Wisconsin.  We only had 5 people picking Wisconsin, and only one of them (Hamer) had them beating Florida.  But if I have done the math right, Amy is far enough ahead that she will win if Wisconsin wins.

But that is not all – there are two more pools to go!!!!!!!!!!

In our upset pool, while it is not official, it looks like no one is going to catch Michelle Horgan at 279 points.  Sarah Manley is 14 points behind, Chuck Brugh is 21 points behind, Christy Lindvall is 24 points behind, and Justin Gorman and Amy Lancette are 30 points behind.

And finally, the second chance pool doesn’t appear to have anyone with all 4 Final Four.  While not official, it definitely looks from the leaders that despite only needing to pick two rounds correctly for just the winners, none of us could do it – guess that is why Warren Buffett was so comfortable to offer a billion dollars for a perfect bracket – we could even do it for the last 15 games.   But that doesn’t matter to our leaders.  Will Caldwell has a small lead at 520 points – having gotten 3 of the final 4 correct.   He is followed by John Woodburn, Edward Zhang, and Jess Atkinson who are only 40 points behind.

The Lunatic is no longer lurking.  He is in the tie for 126th place with his only ability to get points being for Florida wins.  While a Florida victory might make it less of a stomping, since many people have the Gators, it should still be a pretty solid stomping by the pool – good job by everyone!!!!

Good luck to all the leaders – and for everyone, enjoy the Final Four games – if this weekend is any indication, it should be a fanastic finish.