All,
Sixteen teams have survived the opening week of the 2026 NCAA Tournament - and only four of them come from outside the top 4 seeds of each region. The most notable of those was #9 seed Iowa who took down the defending national champion, #1 seed Florida. The Hawkeyes had returned to the field for the first time in over 25 years, and started out strong, cruising to a 12 point lead. But with two minutes remaining, the Gators had flipped the tables and led by 3. Iowa cut it to one with jump shot at the 1 minute mark but then committed a potentially costly foul on the ensuing possession. Florida made 1 of 2 free throws to hold a 2 point lead with just 8 seconds remaining. With just 4 ticks left on the clock, Alvaro Folguerias hit a go-ahead 3 pointer from the corner, and the Hawkeyes held on for the win. The other thrilling finish of the day came as St. John's also squandered leads (8 points at halftme, 4 points with 89 seconds remaining) to let Kansas tie their ballgame. After an exchange of points, the Red Storm held the ball with 13 seconds remaining, when Dylan Darling drove to the hoop and sank a layup at the buzzer - sending the Johnies back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
In the Pool of 42, Lorenzo "Q" Quiogue acted much like his Star Trek namesake by exercising his omnipotence to sit atop the standings, laughing down at the rest of the field below him.* Kim Huang, despite her disappointment at not being able to select an all Ivy Pool of 42 entry, sits in second place, followed by Michael Miniaci. Seven different teams are represented in the top 3, so, as the thresholds continue to rise in the coming rounds, it may prove difficult to hold onto those positions. 
At the bottom of the pool, Luke Schreiber appears to have executed his strategy to perfection...ish. He is the current low scorer and all of his teams have been eliminated. Unfortunately for him, that combination triggers our 2026 "repechage team". He is assigned whatever available team defeated his last team - in this case, the Houston Cougars. So starting with the next round, he will continue to earn points, making it difficult to hang on to that last place position. The six players behind him, each have a different single team remaining, led by Jaklyn Limoges followed by perennial bottom-feeder Daddy Kyle and Brian Redington. 
Sunday's high scorer, and winner of the $20 L'Etape award,  was Corwin Rhyan, whose 440.85 points just edged out Kevin Payne's 440.5. Meanwhile, Max Deckner finds himself in 87th place, good enough for the Switzerland Award and $20 back in his pocket.
Through 4 days of action, the Jim Craig bonus (blocks) has yielded the highest average points per entrant with 359 followed by Marta (women's tournament) with 329. The lowest contributing bonuses are Denilson (bench points) with 203 and Comaneci (perfect from the floor or FT line) with 214. Bonus #'s 71 and 78 have each "come out" 6 times, while 62 has yet to find its way to the scoreboard. Incidentally, 79 has happened 5 times, but no entrant selected that number.
Ten entrants still have 4 teams remaining, while 137 have 2+. Three entrants saw their last team eliminated, though, as mentioned previously, one of those now gets the repechage team. Perhaps the others will be next.
With Thursday's games, our base threshold goes up to 67. The "special" thresholds are as follows - note, there is currently a tie for 5th from last, so there are two entries with a 66 threshold:


Lorenzo Quiogue: 72
Kim Huang: 71
Michael Miniaci: 70
Jakub Stosik: 69
Patrick Steines: 68

Red Rampage BTP John: 66
Tara Rogers: 66
Brian Redington 2: 65
Purple Tolerance Daddy Kyle: 64
Jaklyn Limoges: 63
Luke Schreiber: 62 (repechage not subject to threshold - can only score positive points)
Current scores are below with complete standings attached.


Name TOTAL
POINTS
Lorenzo Quiogue 1530.1
Kim Huang 1364
Michael Miniaci 1334.4
Jakub Stosik 1318.1
Patrick Steines 1310.4
Tom Melton 1309
Ben Nemser 1309
Joan Ganton 1304
Steve Savas 1253.7
Shubhro Biswas 1250.25
Justin Pasquale 1237.3
Bob Hopper 2 1231.35
Eric Eckenrode 1227.4
Brian Ganton 1221.25
Sarah Ganton 1220
Ethan Deckner 1220
Katie Schreiber 1214
Sean Garahan 1207
Leo Dorfman 1201.6
Greg Nilles 1201
Mark Sanicki 1193
Matthew McTague 1193
Meri Schreiber 1190.6
Michael Deckner 1180.6
Ryan Flynn 1176.5
Zac Favreau Smith 1175.5
Josh Deckner 1173.8
Bridget Heffernan 1164.2
Kurt Thiemann 1163.75
Ben Tobin 1161
Will Sargisson 1159
Brian Leamy 1159
Mario DePollo 1153.8
Michael Boyan 1151.2
Adam Hudnut-Beumler 1142
Jomo Thorne 1140.7
Neal Griffin 1129
Omar Azar 1127.8
TJ Cilvick 1123.75
Eileen Rosa 1116.5
Ean Steinberger 1115
Josh Meyer 1113.5
Kerri Luftman 1108
Victoria Keisler 1107.8
Philip G DePaul 1104.5
Brian Bharwani 1101.4
Bob Hopper 1 1098.75
Kaitlyn Pierpont 1096.1
Michael Patti 1093.6
Natalie Luftman 1092
David Luftman 1089
Kathleen Cahill 1086.8
Mike Bopp 1083.2
Daniela Randazzo 1081.9
Uncle Jack McDonald 1079.4
Mark Gruber 1072.5
Patrick Appello 1071.2
Michael Pinbell 1071.1
Juliana Jackson 1070.8
Wills Kable 1070.15
Kelly C Hirano 1068.3
Mavis Mai 1067.6
Giuseppe Randazzo 1066.25
John Englert 1061.7
Tom Groth 1060.65
Andrea Pellicciari 1057.6
Daniel Sumner 1056.25
Vincent Hubner 1055.6
Ryan Heffernan 1055.4
Jack Schreiber 1052.15
Connor Gentile-DePaul 1051.5
Caroline Schreiber 1042.75
Patrick Keisler 1036.6
Dean Macchi 1036.6
Rhonda Veugen 1035.5
Dominic Sembello 1030.4
Jack Toomey 1030.2
Brian Pierpont 1027.5
Bobby Robertson 1027.25
Lainie Gussman 1025.25
DAVID MILLER 1024
Nick Hurt 1018
Brian Redington 1 1017.9
Brian Redington 1017.9
Julia Ford 1017.35
Mary Ellen DePaul 1017.25
Max Deckner 1017.05
Antonio Ayala 1015.3
Molly Farrell 1014
Kevin Park 1008
Michael Pinbell 1002.75
Jillian DePaul 1000.8
Mike Negley 997.3
Noah Balanoff 992.4
Paul Schreiber 990.6
Jim McCarthy 988.5
Ed Li 987.8
Bob Wagner 981
Chris Pierpont 979.4
Patrick Steines 2 970
Dave Pettit 967.7
Donald DeCaro 967.5
Eamon Redington 962.45
Kevin Payne 960.75
Larry Kriz 959
Michael Schreiber 956.25
Aunt Cathy McDonald 951.7
Emma Gibbons 946
Lauren Schreiber 932.5
Sam Schreiber 930.6
Jeremy Schreiber 924.9
Charles Santanna 922.1
Lynn Delaney 922
Bob Corcoran 919.6
Molly Wagner 917.2
Noah Balanoff 911.7
Team Thom 909.9
Kerry Farrell 909.2
PAUL THIEMANN 907.5
Killer B's 905
Eric Fishman 895
Matt Solow 890.7
Sean Farrell 885.15
Matthew Schreiber 874.5
Mike Heffernan 874.5
Stu Nemser 871.3
Nabeel Azar 869.8
Corwin Rhyan 869.75
Michael Schoendorf 863.75
Jay Rosenberg 856.5
Ray Lacho 855
Thomas Daly 851.5
Salina McLaughlin 850.5
Mike Vogel 848.7
Ben Benoit 848.6
David Marchisin 847.4
Jacob Schreiber 840.4
Steph Dowd 829.1
jason gaddy 821
Ryan Gibbons 818.75
Tony Miniaci 818
Bill Lynch 814.7
Monica Heffernan 808
Brian Thiemann 802.05
Sidney Schreiber 784.2
Bill Scarpinato 771.75
Mckenzie Maier 770
Tyler Cross 768.25
Jaclyn Farrell 757.15
Robert Cappuzzo 744.55
Pacifist Admiral Tom 733
Kelly G Hirano 729.6
Lisa Ito 728.5
Jason Schreiber 727
Lauren Gentile 721
Matt Henrikson 714
Tina Nugteren 713
JJ Phillips 703
Maryellen Groth 684.6
Denis McCarthy 661.1
Derek Landel 658
Massimo Randazzo 643.3
Seany Farrell 637.65
RANDY RUTHERFORD 631.8
Mark Rothstein 626
DAVID MILLER 615.85
Christopher Davis 613
Catherine Bopp 597.7
Philip R. DePaul 591.55
Andrew Limoges 576
Alisha Schreiber 564
Tara Rogers 555
Red Rampage BTP John 555
Brian Redington 2 535.6
Purple Tolerance Daddy Kyle 508
Jaklyn Limoges 460.25
Luke Schreiber 335
Thanks,
-j

* International spy James Bond's famous gadget man using his tools to get him to the top - or famed Avenue denizens pulling the strings to get him to the top were other rejected Q references in play here