Picture it. Houston. 2016. Villanova and North Carolina playing for the national championship. And Kate Lord, owner of five TAR HEELS brackets in the Glimm year after year, was torn.
Her beloved Tar Heels had a chance at a national championship. But her hopes at a first-ever Glimm championship needed Villanova to beat UNC.
We know the rest: Villanova won the NCAA championship, Lord won the Glimm championship, and a small part of her heart broke.
Six years later, Kate Lord has a chance to erase the bittersweet memory: Her Tar Heels are back in the championship game, and this time, her Glimm hopes ride with them and her TAR HEELS 1 bracket.
Opposing Kate/UNC? Kelly Bohling and the Kansas Jayhawks. A Jayhawks win tomorrow night gives Bohling the Glimm championship.
Watching all of this from the sidelines? Evan Kwarta and his Markley bracket. Kwarta has been in first place since the end of the tournament’s first weekend, and remains there today. But his championship pick of Gonzaga is long gone, which means either Lord or Bohling will pass him; Kwarta has no chance at victory.
We already have one champion, though: Ellery Kern has clinched the Kids Championship! Ellery is in fourth place overall, and can move up to second if Kansas wins tomorrow. But with no kids picking UNC, she’s clinched the Kids title, beating out Penny Otter’s MagicPenny.
The most competitive race, though, is not at the top of the standings but in the middle — the battle for the Orlov. With 269 competitors, the Orlov will go to whoever finishes in 134th place. There are currently eight people tied for 127th place – none can get any more points, so the order will come down to the tiebreaker (total score of the championship game). Whoever finishes worst of those seven will finish in 134th place and win the Orlov. In the running: Parker Sweet, Uma Subramanian, Sharat Raju, Nick Putnam, Asa Kleinbaum, Presley Kaniewski, Jim Catapano and Nevin Barich.
But before the Glimm men’s championship wraps up tomorrow, the women’s championship concludes tonight.
Seth Rubinroit, who won the inaugural Glimm women’s championship a year ago, is going for his second consecutive title in his Rooting for the other USC bracket. But don’t be confused by the bracket name: Rubinroit, a graduate of the University of Southern California, should NOT be rooting for the University of South Carolina tonight. Seth correctly picked USC to reach the championship game, but he picked UConn over the Gamecocks in the title game. So Seth will not be rooting for the other USC.
Who will? Mike Lazarus. Like Rubinroit, Lazarus predicted a UConn-USC championship game — but he picked South Carolina to win it all, and if that happens, he beats Rubinroit for the Glimm title.
The women’s championship is tonight, and the men’s championship is tomorrow. Check out theglimm.com for final standings.