After three rounds of the NCAA tournament, Jen Millman’s Chessmaster 2 still sits atop the Glimm Memorial NCAA Tournament Pool standings. But a closer look at the leaderboard shows an even more familiar name in the running: Mrs. Glimm herself.
The Grandma G bracket is in 13th place, 14 points behind Millman. But with just seven games remaining in the tournament, Grandma G has a chance: If Oklahoma, UNC and Villanova all win this weekend, then Oklahoma beats UNC in the championship game, Grandma G will win the Glimm for the first time since 1995.
Grandma G, of course, is Alma Glimm, aka Marion Glim, the namesake of the Glimm Memorial NCAA Tourney Pool. Most of you are already familiar with the legend: In 1995, Mrs. Glimm was my 11th grade calculus teacher. As I was passing out brackets for my pool before class one day, she chastised me, saying gambling wasn’t allowed. After I assured her that there was no money involved – a little white lie – she asked if she could play, even though she professed knowing nothing about college basketball. She played, and she won.
Years later, I decided the pool needed a name, and Mrs. Glimm was the perfect person to honor: Her story exemplifies what is great about the NCAA tourney – that anything can happen, and you don’t need to be an expert to win. I fictionalized the story a bit – changing Marion Glim to Alma Glimm – and the pool has been the Glimm Memorial ever since.
Through the magic of the internet, Mrs. Glimm got wind of this pool a few years ago. She told her family about it, and they reached out to me, and some of them joined. Last year, Mrs. Glimm herself joined. And now, once again, she’s in the thick of the race to the pool.
In 1995, because she thought there was no money involved, the first-place prize went to the runner-up.This time, she’s operating under no such illusions: If she wins, the pot is hers. To pull it off, though, she’ll have to leapfrog 12 others, including Millman and Kate Lord, whose GoHeelsGo2 and GoHeelsGo1 brackets sit in second and third place (incidentally, neither of Lord’s GoHeelsGo brackets have the Heels winning it all).
We’re all pulling for you, Mrs. Glimm.
The Leaderboard (full standings here):
| 1 | Chessmaster 2 | 99.0 | 33.0 | 137.0 | 73.2% | Kansas |
| 2 | GoHeelsGo2 | 95.5 | 24.5 | 122.5 | 73.2% | Mich St |
| 3 | GoHeelsGo1 | 95.0 | 25.0 | 135.0 | 73.2% | Kansas |
| 4 | KCB 1 | 92.5 | 24.5 | 139.0 | 75.0% | UNC |
| 5 | Bryn Forbes Toe Touch | 91.5 | 20.5 | 112.5 | 78.6% | Mich St |
| 5 | Ezra Kleinbaum | 91.5 | 27.5 | 138.0 | 67.9% | Kansas |
| 5 | Sophia Ceglinsky | 91.5 | 23.5 | 139.0 | 76.8% | Okla |
| 8 | Audrey Rosenberg | 89.5 | 23.5 | 137.0 | 67.9% | Okla |
| 9 | Donald Drumpf | 87.5 | 30.5 | 120.0 | 69.6% | Kansas |
| 9 | This can be the winning bracket | 87.5 | 16.5 | 133.5 | 73.2% | UNC |
| 11 | Gootshot | 87.0 | 21.0 | 113.5 | 73.2% | Mich St |
| 12 | Jon Snow Is Alive! | 86.5 | 20.5 | 138.5 | 71.4% | Kansas |
| 13 | Another Very Good Bracket | 85.0 | 18.0 | 117.0 | 73.2% | Kansas |
| 13 | Grandma G | 85.0 | 19.0 | 132.5 | 71.4% | Okla |