Perfection in jeopardy

Dayton is threatening to bust Mark Gardner's perfect NIT bracket.

UPDATE: Dayton wins! So there will be no perfect bracket. Gardner's streak ends at 21 straight. (He did get Ohio State's win.)

I'll update the pool standings (NIT and women's) in the morning. Suffice it to say, however, that Gardner's lead has shrunk from 14 points to 4. Josh Krause, in second place, picked Dayton.

P.S. The wins by tOSU and Dayton also mean there will be all-Ohio regional final between the Buckeyes and Flyers, in Columbus. Fun.

UPDATE, 3/25, 8:03 AM: I've updated both the women's and NIT pool standings. Both are also after the jump.

In the NIT pool, Gardner went 3-for-4 on the day and effectively increased his lead back to 14. (Technically, he's only seven points ahead of Ginny Zak, but their picks are identical for the remainder of the tournament and thus she cannot pass him.)

Meanwhile, the big story yesterday in the women's pool was Carolyn Blessing, who went 8-for-8 on a day with two upsets (#6 Pitt over #3 Baylor and #6 GW over #3 Cal) to move within one point of the co-leaders and their "chalk" brackets.

Those co-leaders -- Tom Caputi, Ken Stern, F.X. McGahee, Chuck Wessell and Kay Torg -- haven't predicted a single upset thus far, and their risk-aversion has largely served them well, as 18 of the first 24 games have gone according to seed. But now others are moving within striking distance. Moreover, the co-leaders' brackets finally begin to diverge tonight, over a pair of 4-5 games. In the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game, Stern and Wessell picked the #5 Irish, while the others picked the #4 Sooners. In addition, Wessell picked #5 Old Dominion over #4 Virginia; the others picked the Cavaliers. So those games will largely determine who has the lead heading into the Sweet 16. There is also a scenario where Michael Rosenkrantz, currently in 12th place, could take sole possession of the lead -- if Oklahoma and Old Dominion win, and #5 Kansas State beats #4 Louisville.

11th annual women's NCAA pool
1. Tom Caputi - 187
1. Ken Stern - 187
1. F.X. McGahee - 187
1. Chuck Wessell - 187
1. Kay Torg - 187
--. *ALL FAVORITES BRACKET* - 187
6. Carolyn Blessing - 186
7. Jeremy Gist - 184
7. Josh Rubin - 184
7. Steve Leys - 184
10. Jim Hu - 182
10. Kevin Pilz - 182
12. Michael Rosenkrantz - 180
13. Colleen Duggan - 177
13. Gerry deSimas - 177
13. Ken Wagner - 177
16. Carol LaPlante - 175
16. Rick Boeckler - 175
16. Joseph Hiegel - 175
19. Kevin Curran - 173
20. Matt Kagan - 172
20. Sean Sullivan - 172
20. Kristy McCray - 172
20. Soren Hammerschmidt - 172
20. Gary Atkinson - 172
20. Gary Kirby - 172
26. Brian Dupuis - 170
26. David Kreutz - 170
26. Mark Gardner - 170
26. Joshua Krause - 170
26. Kevin Hauschulz - 170
31. Scott Paine - 169
32. Bill Pancoast - 168
33. Don LaPlante - 167
33. Randy Styles - 167
33. Stacey Dubois - 167
33. Greg Plank - 167
37. Jackie Wilson - 165
37. Matt Thomsen - 165
37. Dan Port - 165
--. *AGGREGATE PICKS BRACKET* - 165
40. Joanna Rubin - 164
40. Ian Auzenne - 164
42. Pat Caplin - 163
43. Ryan Dalidowitz - 162
43. Tyler Condon - 162
43. Rachel Wetherill - 162
46. Jeff Freeze - 160
46. Jeff Vaca - 160
46. Scott Loomer - 160
46. Kelly Strutz - 160
46. Jennifer Elam - 160
51. Mike Wiser - 157
52. Patrick Roach - 155
52. Weston Cross - 155
52. Dave Whelan - 155
52. M.T. Swanson - 155
52. Toby, Sasha and Butter Zak Loy - 155
52. Conor Sullivan - 155
52. Matt Wiser - 155
52. Sandy Berman - 155
60. Steve Duvernay - 153
60. Jessica Osborne - 153
60. Brendan Loy - 153
60. Peter Timbrell - 153
64. Bonnie Stone - 152
64. Kristy LaPlante - 152
66. Brandon Minich - 150
66. Amy Aemisegger - 150
66. Leanna Loomer - 150
66. Jeff Morrison - 150
66. Joe Loy - 150
71. Greg Kagan - 148
72. Joyce Kohler - 147
72. Becky Loy - 147
74. Kim Stone - 146
75. Ted Zak - 145
76. Andrew Long - 143
76. Chris Aemisegger - 143
76. Danny Pilz - 143
76. Jay Johnson - 143
76. Lisa Velte - 143
81. Chris Bravo - 141
82. Jen Ham - 140
83. Yvette Webster - 134
84. Bob Lutts - 133
84. Rose Holden - 133
86. Rosalie Town - 131
87. Katrina Lewonczyk - 126
87. Loyette Loy - 126
89. Ginny Zak - 123

4th annual NIT pool
1. Mark Gardner - 182
2. Ginny Zak - 175
--. *AGGREGATE PICKS BRACKET* - 175
3. Derek McDonald - 168
3. Gary Kirby - 168
3. Patrick Roach - 168
3. Dan Port - 168
3. Joshua Krause - 168
8. Brian Dupuis - 161
--. *ALL FAVORITES BRACKET* - 161
9. Jeff Burch - 158
9. Mike Quinn - 158
9. Matt Thomsen - 158
9. Pat Caplin - 158
13. Randy Styles - 155
14. Joe Hiegel - 151
14. Gerry deSimas - 151
14. Ted Zak - 151
17. Cam McLachlan - 148
17. Sean Sullivan - 148
17. Matt Wiser - 148
17. Scott Schmidt - 148
21. Diane Krause - 147
22. Larry Caplin - 144
22. Brian Nicholson - 144
24. David Mathues - 141
24. Matt Scarborough - 141
24. Josh Rubin - 141
24. Don LaPlante - 141
24. Joey Perucki - 141
24. Jeff Morrison - 141
30. Chris Bravo - 138
31. Wilson Loftis - 137
31. Weston Cross - 137
33. Becky Loy - 134
33. Andrew Long - 134
33. Kevin Hauschulz - 134
33. Jennifer Elam - 134
33. Rick Boeckler - 134
38. Dave Whelan - 131
38. Greg Plank - 131
40. Danny Pilz - 130
40. Katrina Lewonczyk - 130
42. David Kreutz - 128
43. Scott Paine - 127
43. Mike Dagen - 127
45. Steve Ivey - 124
45. Kevin Curran - 124
45. Chuck Wessell - 124
48. Jay Johnson - 120
49. Joshua Carpenter - 117
49. Ian Auzenne - 117
49. Scott Robertson - 117
49. Michael Rosenkrantz - 117
53. Matt Higgins - 114
53. Jeremy Gist - 114
55. Tom Keck - 111
56. Brandon Minich - 107
56. Sandy Berman - 107
56. Kay Torg - 107
59. M.T. Swanson - 93
60. Mike Wiser - 86

Comments

[Marty West]

A-10 baby!!!!

[David K.]

Brendan, you incorrectly entered Georgetown in my bracket beating Davidson and winning the whole tournament, clearly I picked Davidson to beat Georgetown and win the whole thing, feel free to update when convenient :)

[Gardner]

Bummer!

[B. Minich]

I love how Ohio State had repainted their arena for their volleyball season, and then had to host NIT games. That's why the borders are a lot smaller than the basketball court.

[zecco]

keep up the good work..