All,
The 2026 NCAA Tournament resumed last night with four Sweet 16 games. The two late games were done while it was still early with Arizona blowing out Arkansas in a high scoring affair, and Illinois blowing out Houston in a low scoring affair. But that was ok - because most people were still recovering from the first two games anyway. In the West Region semi-final, 11th seed Texas and 2nd seed Purdue duked it out in a game that featured 17 lead changes. With just 12 seconds remaining and trailing by 3, the Long Horns' Dailyn Swain drove to the basket for a layup and was fouled - tying the game on the subsequent free throw. The Boilermaker's Braden Smith tried to mimic the feat with his own driving layup in the waning seconds. His attempt bounced off, but teammate Trey Kylo-Renn seemingly used a Force push* to will the ball back into the rim and secure the win. The other early game ended as a 6 point Iowa victory over Nebraska - but the issue was still in doubt right up until the Hawkeyes scored a power play (field) goal on a Cornhusker defense with just 4 men on the floor. The strategy may have worked for Coach Norman Dale, but last night, Nebraska could have used another guy. The win (combined with Texas' loss) makes Iowa the worst seeded team remaining in the tournament (9). They will look to continue their improbable run with an Elite 8 matchup against Illinois.
In the Pool of 42, Lorenzo "It's pronounced 'CO-HOG'" Quiogue became the first entrant to hold on to the top spot for a second day. Arizona's 109 point spectacle gave him a lot to work with. Screaming up the rankings, though, was Ben Nemser, whose 268 points on the day vaulted him into second place, just 75 points off the Iron Throne. Former leader Joan Ganton sits in third, followed by Sean Garahan, who also road the Wildcats up the rankings. 
At the bottom of the pool, Luke Schreiber was saddled with a repechage team in Houston as he was in last place after Day 4, with no teams remaining. Lucky for him, the Cougars barely passed the half century mark, putting up a meager 55 points (with no fast breaks and minimal dunking). Unluckily for him - he again sits in last place and again has no teams remaining, and therefore again gets assigned a repechage team - this time Illinois. With the players above him (Tara Rogers, Jaklyn Limoges) still with active teams - perhaps he can just move with the tide and stay in that bottom position despite all of the extra help.
Our high scorer for the day was the aforementioned Sean Garahan whose 281 points were enough to win him the 5th L'Etape award and $20 for winning the stage. Meanwhile, Michael Patti takes home today's $20 Switzerland prize for sitting directly in the middle of the standings. Side note - Kevin Payne impressively has 4 teams still remaining - and equally impressively sits all the way down in 86th place - just missing the chance to recoup his investment.
Base tresholds remain at 67 for tonight's Sweet 16 games. Alternate thresholds are listed below:


Lorenzo Quiogue: 72
Ben Nemser: 71
Joan Ganton: 70
Sean Garahan: 69
Kim Huang: 68

Andrew Limoges: 66
Red Rampage BTP John: 65
Jaklyn Limoges: 64
Tara Rogers: 63
Luke Schreiber: 62
Current scores are below, with complete standings attached.


Name TOTAL
POINTS
Lorenzo Quiogue 1651.8
Ben Nemser 1576.5
Joan Ganton 1495
Sean Garahan 1488
Kim Huang 1478
Patrick Steines 1457.4
Jakub Stosik 1444.4
Eric Eckenrode 1425.15
Tom Melton 1417
Ethan Deckner 1396.5
Michael Miniaci 1392.6
Mario DePollo 1389.4
Steve Savas 1388.6
TJ Cilvick 1357.25
Natalie Luftman 1356.5
Brian Leamy 1351
Adam Hudnut-Beumler 1326
Zac Favreau Smith 1314.75
Justin Pasquale 1310.4
Andrea Pellicciari 1308.5
Leo Dorfman 1308.3
Bob Hopper 1 1304
Greg Nilles 1302
Jomo Thorne 1292.4
Patrick Appello 1289.3
Kurt Thiemann 1282
Mark Sanicki 1259.2
Connor Gentile-DePaul 1257
Michael Boyan 1252.8
Mike Negley 1252.2
Brian Redington 1 1248.3
Brian Redington 1248.3
Bridget Heffernan 1248.2
Max Deckner 1244.3
Victoria Keisler 1231.8
Omar Azar 1230.8
Ean Steinberger 1227.25
Mike Bopp 1225.6
Josh Meyer 1223.25
Katie Schreiber 1222.4
Brian Ganton 1221.25
Shubhro Biswas 1218.25
Wills Kable 1217.7
Kelly C Hirano 1213.5
Kerri Luftman 1212.75
Tom Groth 1208.2
Uncle Jack McDonald 1201.8
Rhonda Veugen 1201.75
Eileen Rosa 1197
Mavis Mai 1196.4
David Luftman 1193
Vincent Hubner 1192
Meri Schreiber 1190.6
Brian Bharwani 1190.4
Ryan Flynn 1186.5
Sarah Ganton 1185.7
Michael Deckner 1180.6
Bob Hopper 2 1178.85
Antonio Ayala 1176.4
Matthew McTague 1175
DAVID MILLER 1174
Jack Schreiber 1166.5
Charles Santanna 1164.5
Jeremy Schreiber 1158.7
Jack Toomey 1156.6
Michael Pinbell 1151.5
Kevin Park 1144
Ben Tobin 1144
John Englert 1143.6
Patrick Keisler 1141
Dominic Sembello 1140.8
Nick Hurt 1140
Neal Griffin 1139
Josh Deckner 1138.8
Mary Ellen DePaul 1133.75
Will Sargisson 1131
Jim McCarthy 1124.5
Ed Li 1119.6
Bob Wagner 1111
Matt Solow 1107.3
Kaitlyn Pierpont 1104.5
Ray Lacho 1103
Eamon Redington 1102.3
Molly Farrell 1097.5
Chris Pierpont 1088.6
Kevin Payne 1080.25
Michael Patti 1077
Michael Pinbell 1071.1
Juliana Jackson 1070.8
Philip G DePaul 1070.75
Emma Gibbons 1070.25
Kathleen Cahill 1068.3
Dave Pettit 1067.05
Donald DeCaro 1065.5
Jillian DePaul 1063.2
Daniel Sumner 1056.25
Daniela Randazzo 1052.1
Sam Schreiber 1046.6
Caroline Schreiber 1042.75
Mark Gruber 1042
Dean Macchi 1036.6
Giuseppe Randazzo 1034.25
Ryan Heffernan 1031
Brian Pierpont 1027.5
PAUL THIEMANN 1026.5
Jay Rosenberg 1021.75
Thomas Daly 1008
Noah Balanoff 1002.4
Brian Thiemann 1000.3
Kerry Farrell 997.9
Molly Wagner 997.8
Bobby Robertson 992.75
Lainie Gussman 991.25
Paul Schreiber 990.6
Corwin Rhyan 968.05
Lisa Ito 966.15
Julia Ford 965.85
Mike Vogel 964.3
Aunt Cathy McDonald 961.7
Larry Kriz 959
Michael Schreiber 956.25
Stu Nemser 954.1
Matthew Schreiber 943
Patrick Steines 2 942
Bob Corcoran 929.6
Monica Heffernan 917
Team Thom 909.9
Lauren Schreiber 908.75
Killer B's 905
Steph Dowd 902.35
Lynn Delaney 893
Noah Balanoff 889.3
jason gaddy 886
Sean Farrell 885.15
Mike Heffernan 874.5
Bill Lynch 872.9
Michael Schoendorf 863.75
Salina McLaughlin 860.5
Nabeel Azar 852.4
Eric Fishman 850
Bill Scarpinato 848.75
Ben Benoit 848.6
David Marchisin 847.4
Jacob Schreiber 840.4
Kelly G Hirano 835.2
Pacifist Admiral Tom 831
Ryan Gibbons 818.75
Tony Miniaci 818
Matt Henrikson 808
JJ Phillips 793
Sidney Schreiber 784.2
Christopher Davis 781
Maryellen Groth 778.4
Tyler Cross 768.25
Jaclyn Farrell 767.15
Denis McCarthy 761.1
Mckenzie Maier 754
Robert Cappuzzo 744.55
Jason Schreiber 727
Lauren Gentile 721
Tina Nugteren 699.65
Alisha Schreiber 697.75
DAVID MILLER 695.15
Derek Landel 658
Massimo Randazzo 643.3
RANDY RUTHERFORD 640.2
Seany Farrell 637.65
Mark Rothstein 636
Catherine Bopp 597.7
Philip R. DePaul 591.55
Purple Tolerance Daddy Kyle 579
Brian Redington 2 535.6
Andrew Limoges 528
Red Rampage BTP John 518
Jaklyn Limoges 460.25
Tara Rogers 425
Luke Schreiber 397
Thanks,
-j

* Competition was fierce in the edit room, whether the "Kaufman-Renn to Kylo Ren" transformation was too much of a stretch or maybe a "knights of Renn" reference would be easier to swallow. But I won the battle. I guess technically I lost the battle too.