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Surprise Leach and Iona bested Rybaltowski and Siena for the MAAC championship, by one point in overtime. The 5 pool points that nobody else got has propelled Su Leach all the way into a tie for 14th place.

Six other conference titles have been decided. In the OVC, Jacksonville State (picked by one fewer entrant than the winner of the MAAC, i.e., zero) beat UT-Martin (chosen by Mash Leach only). In the Atlantic Sun, Florida Gulf Coast (taken by 67) ended the hopes of M Pogach, L Schlegel, and North Florida, in that order. Big South champion Winthrop (selected by 41) beat Campbell (selected by nobody). In the Southern Conference, it was East Tennessee State (36) over UNC-Greensboro (17). In two conferences where all of our entrants picked either one of two teams, UNC-Wilmington (52) triumphed over Charleston (23) in the Colonial Athletic Association, and Wichita State (60) cruised by Illinois State (15) in the MVC.

Out of 32 conferences, there were only four in which 70 or more of our contestants agreed on a champion. Two of those four (Belmont and Monmouth) have already lost. The other two have reached their conference finals: Vermont (74) plays Albany (0) in the America East conference final, later in the week, and Gonzaga (73) plays either St. Mary's (Mash Leach only) or BYU (Steinhardt only), tomorrow. In the NEC final, also tomorrow, Mt. St. Mary's (taken by 51) faces St. Francis, PA (taken by nobody).

The Summit League presents another mano-a-mano cage match between South Dakota State/L Schlegel and Omaha/M McAtee. In the Horizon League, the #1 seed (Oakland, taken by 33), the #2 seed (Valparaiso, liked by 40), and the #3 seed (Biebel 2, only) all lost their first game. The championship game tomorrow pits #4 Northern Kentucky (chosen by a grand total of none of us) against #10 Milwaukee (ditto), meaning that out of the first 11 conferences to crown a champion, at least four (and potentially as many as six) were picked either by zero or by just one of our entrants. We send out a hearty and well-deserved bravo to our group of "special" pool-pickers.

In our first standings of the year, Avila is on top with 28 points, followed closely by nine contestants who are tied with 25. Last year's champion, M Peloso has gone from top to bottom and is now alone in last place with 5 points. Full standings may be accessed here, or by employing the link on the right-hand side of the page.