Congratulations to Michael Swinson – thanks to Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater, Michael has pulled off a feat last accomplished in 2009 by John Homan – a complete sweep of both the Standard and Upset Pools. Michael correctly picked Villanova to beat North Carolina in the championship – leading to a 50 point victory over Jason Lacks in the Standard Pool and a 13 point victory over Gregg Farber in the Upset Pool.
That also means congratulations to both Jason and Gregg – since Michael plays the pool for fun, they are the winners of the 1st place prizes in the pool.
John Bachmann also had a very successful pool this year, as not only did he finish behind Gregg in the Upset pool, but his 880 points was the winner of the Second Chance Pool. John only missed 3 of the 15 games in the last 4 rounds, two thanks to Syracuse and one thanks to Notre Dame’s last minute comeback against Wisconsin. This gave him an 80 point victory over Taylor Early.
Also want to give a special congratulations to Sharon Thornton. Sharon would have pulled into the lead had North Carolina to come back to win, but thanks to some great picks still finished in 4th place, just 100 points behind 3rd place finisher Tanmay Gautam. I have heard through the rumor mill that this was Sharon’s first ever basketball pool – so I think congratulations are due!!!!
Finally, congratulations to all our prize winners!!!!!
| STANDARD POOL | ||
| 1 | Michael Swinson (FUN) | 1290 |
| 2 | Jason Lacks | 1240 |
| 3 | Tanmay Gautam | 1200 |
| 4 | Sharon Thornton | 1100 |
| 5 | Patrick Sykes | 1040 |
| 6 tie | Tim Flanagan (FUN) | 1050 |
| 6 tie | Tanmay Gautam | 1050 |
| 8 tie | Michael Yuen (FUN) | 1030 |
| 8 tie | Jennie Bursch | 1030 |
| 10 tie | Audra Lifson | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Nathan Standley | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Andrew Braslow | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Joel Lander (FUN) | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Michael Wark | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Jim Carini | 1020 |
| 10 tie | Ann Hawkins | 1020 |
| LAST | Mary-Rian Bradley | 240 |
| UPSET POOL | ||
| 1 | Michael Swinson (FUN) | 291 |
| 2 | Gregg Farber | 278 |
| 3 | John Bachmann | 275 |
| 4 | Doug Crowe | 273 |
| 5 | Kelli Shonts | 269 |
| 6 | Rick Flynn | 267 |
| SECOND CHANCE POOL | ||
| 1 | John Bachmann | 880 |
| 2 | Taylor Early | 800 |
| 3 tie | Lowell Isaacs | 760 |
| 3 tie | Andrew Murphy | 760 |
| 3 tie | Dan Miller | 760 |
| 3 tie | Will Caldwell | 760 |
As for the Lunatic, after having his fun in the first week, the Lunatic Curse and the great basketball picks of the field stomped him all the way down to a tie for 104th place. He will cling to the fact that he finished 7th in the Upset Pool as some kind of consolation, but the truth is that this year, there were plenty of people who STOMPED THE LUNATIC!!!!
Thank you again to everyone for another great Stomp the Lunatic contest, and providing me my forum to rant and rave about my favorite sporting event, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I had a tremendous amount of fun – even if Purdue went out in the last round, and the Lunatic Curse waited until under a second to knock off my pick for the championship. How could you not enjoy watching all the upsets and amazing comebacks.
Congratulations one last time to Michael Swinson, the 2016 Stomp the Lunatic Champion!!!!! And congratulations again to the Villanova Wildcats, who provided us with one of the most memorable finishes to become the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion.