All,
The 2026 NCAA Tournament kicked off last night and it did not take long to get into the madness. Some tournament mainstays put up their expected big scores/wins with Michigan, Illinois, and Michigan State all with 20+ wins. Overall #1 seed Duke outlasted a scrappy Siena team who led by double digits in the second half, despite making their first substitution in the final minute of the game. But not all March dynamos were able to survive the opening day - the University of North Carolina, who have the second most tournament wins in history (134), could not hold onto their 19 point lead over 11th seeded VCU. The Tar Heels and Rams locked horns for an extra session where Terrence Hill erased the memory of a shaky first half with his go-ahead step back 3 to keep VCU dancing. But the darling of the opening day of action had to be the High Point Panthers, who were double digit underdogs to Wisconsin, having never notched a tournament victory. Chase Johnson gave the 12th seeded Panthers the final lead of the game with just 12 seconds remaining when he hit a fast-break layup for his 198th points of the season. The most notable thing about the drive and score was not that it gave High Point its first-ever tournament victory - but that it was Johnston's first two-point basket of the season. He had hit 64 three pointers, but only attempted 4 shots all season from inside the arc. That's March for you!
Yesterday also marked the start of the 31st edition of the Schreiber Pool of 42. We have 174 entries this year - an impressive feat given the record-breaking rule description length* for this International Edition. In a sign of the times, not only do we have all 64 teams from the field represented in our participants submissions, but we also got several entries that featured teams that are not even playing in this year's tournament. It seems that AI models might need a little more hand holding to come up with valid submissions. I think we even got an entry including the fictional Western University Dolphins featured in the movie Blue Chips. They would dominate by the way. Once the chaff was weeded out, though we have a solid set of entries. Duke was the most frequently selected team (42 entries), followed by St. John's (41), and Houston (39). Meanwhile, only two entries included Wright State, 4 with Siena, and 5 with Idaho, Cal Baptist, or N. Dakota State. The most selected bonus categories were Zatopek (3 pointers) with 43 and Ichiro (free throws) with 34. Following them was the Marta bonus (30) which will earn those players points based on the women's tournament. 72 was by far the most popular bonus number with 37 selections, more than double second place 71 with 18. 78 and  79  were the least frequent selections with only two entries combined - too bad since there were 6 scores between them on just the opening day of action. Also, nearly every entrant aged 15 or younger selected 67 as their number.
Our 174 entries gives us a prize pool of $3,480. The entrant that finishes with the most points and the entrant who finishes with the least points will each earn $1,315.
As with prior years, we will have a number of alternate prizes:


The Monaco Award: Named for the nation that has appeared in the most Olympics (30+) without winning a medal. $100 awarded to the entry whose final score is closest to zero
Olympic Selection Committee Award: $100 awarded to the entrant with the best bonus point selections (i.e. most international bonus points)
Didier Deschamps Award: Known for doing the dirty "water carrier" work for the 1998 French World Cup team while others collect the glory, $100 goes to the entry with the most "regular" points (points based on their team's points including the threshold, but without the glitz and glam of the bonus categories)
Silver Medals: This year we will award $50 to players 2nd from the top and 2nd from the bottom of the final standings
Also new this year, in lieu of the "category leaderboard" we will award two $20 daily prizes

The Switzerland Award: $20 Given to the participant that ends the day directly in the middle of the standings (87th place)
L'Etape Award: French for "the stage" it is inspired by the winner of a particular leg of The Tour de France: $20 to the entry that scores the most total points on any given day of the tournament

The Closing Ceremony Award: As with prior years, there will be a $50 mystery prize that everyone in the pool will be in contention for, the criteria of which will be revealed in the final recap emailAfter one day's action, Dave Luftman is in the lead with 694 points. He lost 3 teams in the process, though - so it might be tough to hold onto. But regardless, he is already a winner, taking the first L'Etape award for scoring the most points on any given day. With the flip of the threshold rule, there were not as many negative points scored, with only 6 team totals falling below the opening round's 65 point threshold. Despite that, Christopher Davis still managed to put up -57 points on day 1, and currently leads the low score prize. Our other inaugural daily prize goes to JJ Phillips who expertly navigated his way to the middle of the pool after the first day's action. Not the best place to be, but it's $20 back in his pocket!
Now remember (or for those that did not get all the way through the rules), the threshold starts changing with today's action. Here are the thresholds that a team has to hit to earn positive points (otherwise they are negative):


David Luftman: 70
Greg Nilles: 69
Bob Hopper 1: 68
Sarah Ganton: 67
Kathleen Cahill: 66

Purple Tolerance Daddy Kyle: 64
Mike Negley: 63
Corwin Rhyan: 62
RANDY RUTHERFORD: 61
Christopher Davis: 60
All others remain at 65.
Enjoy day two of the tournament! Current scores are below, with complete standings attached.


Name TOTAL
POINTS
David Luftman 694
Greg Nilles 644
Bob Hopper 1 631.25
Sarah Ganton 625.6
Kathleen Cahill 624.1
Neal Griffin 624
DAVID MILLER 600
Ben Tobin 586
Tom Melton 570
Team Thom 560
Noah Balanoff 534.9
Patrick Steines 530
Jakub Stosik 529.6
Ean Steinberger 526.5
Leo Dorfman 521.5
Shubhro Biswas 521
Bill Lynch 514.7
Michael Deckner 514
Justin Pasquale 495.4
Giuseppe Randazzo 492.75
Julia Ford 482.45
Mark Gruber 480.5
Lainie Gussman 478.25
Caroline Schreiber 478
Brian Ganton 473.5
Connor Gentile-DePaul 468.5
Patrick Appello 462.3
Ben Nemser 456.5
Patrick Steines 2 449
Josh Meyer 445.75
Nick Hurt 445.75
Lauren Schreiber 439.75
Kim Huang 432
Mario DePollo 425.2
Matthew McTague 415
Sean Farrell 410.55
Joan Ganton 407
Dave Pettit 405.3
Patrick Keisler 403.7
Michael Schreiber 402.75
Katie Schreiber 394.2
Lynn Delaney 393.5
Dominic Sembello 393.4
Jack Toomey 390
Tom Groth 388.95
Jacob Schreiber 386.8
Natalie Luftman 385.5
Victoria Keisler 381
Nabeel Azar 379.6
Paul Schreiber 378.2
Emma Gibbons 374
Tyler Cross 370
Bob Corcoran 369
Mary Ellen DePaul 366.25
Bill Scarpinato 366
Brian Leamy 361
Kerri Luftman 360
Daniel Sumner 359.5
Brian Redington 3 357.5
Ryan Heffernan 356.7
Derek Landel 356
Bridget Heffernan 355
Will Sargisson 353
Tony Miniaci 352.25
Michael Boyan 349.8
Rhonda Veugen 348.45
Sean Garahan 344
Uncle Jack McDonald 343.8
Adam Hudnut-Beumler 343
Juliana Jackson 342
Kaitlyn Pierpont 341.1
Larry Kriz 338
Jim McCarthy 337.25
Mark Sanicki 336
Michael Patti 334.8
PAUL THIEMANN 334.75
Eric Eckenrode 324.25
Brian Pierpont 322.25
Chris Pierpont 316.4
Kevin Park 315
Michael Miniaci 310
Philip G DePaul 303.75
Mavis Mai 303.7
Mckenzie Maier 303.5
Ed Li 303.2
Molly Wagner 298.8
JJ Phillips 294.65
Eric Fishman 293
Josh Deckner 292
Bob Hopper 2 290.5
Molly Farrell 290
Andrew Limoges 288
jason gaddy 287
Ryan Flynn 284.05
Brian Redington 282.5
Brian Redington 2 282.5
Robert Cappuzzo 282.3
Bob Wagner 280
Jaclyn Farrell 273.15
Aunt Cathy McDonald 267.1
Luke Schreiber 267
John Englert 265.7
David Marchisin 264.7
Salina McLaughlin 264
Lorenzo Quiogue 262.9
Killer B's 262
Mike Bopp 260.7
Jomo Thorne 258.8
Kurt Thiemann 258.5
Zac Favreau Smith 252.25
Sidney Schreiber 247
Noah Balanoff 245.7
Mark Rothstein 245.25
Charles Santanna 244.2
Kelly C Hirano 240.7
Vincent Hubner 237.2
Ethan Deckner 237
Jay Rosenberg 226
Eileen Rosa 226
Stu Nemser 224.6
Denis McCarthy 224
Thomas Daly 221.75
Michael Schoendorf 221.25
TJ Cilvick 215.25
Dean Macchi 213.4
Andrea Pellicciari 211.2
Matt Solow 211
Bobby Robertson 208
Mike Heffernan 206.5
Jack Schreiber 206.25
Brian Redington 1 205.4
Lisa Ito 205.2
Jason Schreiber 201
Kerry Farrell 198.2
Seany Farrell 198.2
Meri Schreiber 195
Mike Vogel 193.5
Jillian DePaul 193.1
Philip R. DePaul 191.35
Tina Nugteren 186
Jaklyn Limoges 186
Donald DeCaro 185
Catherine Bopp 184.6
Matthew Schreiber 184.25
Monica Heffernan 184
Brian Bharwani 183
Omar Azar 183
Tara Rogers 182
Brian Thiemann 181.25
Steph Dowd 179.25
Alisha Schreiber 177.5
Sam Schreiber 174
Ben Benoit 165.7
Maryellen Groth 140.4
Antonio Ayala 137.3
Ray Lacho 134
DAVID MILLER 122.65
Red Rampage BTP John 120
Pacifist Admiral Tom 118
Lauren Gentile 108
Michael Pinbell 105.3
Max Deckner 99.5
Ryan Gibbons 92.5
Matt Henrikson 92
Kelly G Hirano 85.8
Jeremy Schreiber 84.3
Kevin Payne 82.75
Massimo Randazzo 73.5
Michael Pinbell 67.5
Purple Tolerance Daddy Kyle 47
Mike Negley 10
Corwin Rhyan 0
RANDY RUTHERFORD -34
Christopher Davis -57
Thanks,
-j
* The 5 pages of rules unseated prior leader -  2000's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" rule format that nearly ended my relationship with my now wife before it ever started