The Glimm Memorial Men's Pool
The only NCAA Tournament pool named for Alma Glimm
The Glimm cuts down the nets
The Glimm was made for this moment.
Glimm historians know the story: In the fall of 1991, I was a sports-obsessed kid without a college to root for. Then my sister was accepted to the University of Michigan, so I started watching their basketball team.
And I fell in love. Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson. The most fun sports team I had ever watched.
When March came around, I wanted to share that fun with my friends, so I started an NCAA tournament pool. It was really an excuse to get more people watch this team. And, I hoped, watch them win a championship.
They didn’t. Not in 1992, when they hung close to Duke for a half before fading. Not in 1993, when an ill-fated timeout doomed them. Not in 2013 (Trey Burke’s block was clean, dammit!) or 2018.
Monday night, all those tough losses were put to rest. Goat Cadeau and the 2026 Michigan Wolverines took care of that. Champions.
It was even more special to see my kids fall in love the same way I did 33 years ago, and share the moment with them. When I was in 8th grade in 1992, my parents made me go to bed at halftime, and I listened to the second half on the radio in my room. No such punishment my kids, who jumped up and down with me in the living room as the clock approached midnight on a school night, watching their favorite player — Goat Cadeau — accept the MOP award.
The Glimm was made for this moment.
There were many Glimm winners this year. The pool has a natural Michigan vibe. Seventy people picked Michigan to win the whole damn thing this year, and it wasn’t an emotional pick this time, but it certainly was emotional. We’re feeling all of those emotions right now.
But some of those Glimmers won more than others.
Chris Bowman’s BOCH2 bracket was the big winner. Bowman picked 74.6% of games right throughout the tournament, and was the only person to perfectly predict the last three rounds of the tournament. His 141.5 points was good for first place.
James Smith’s Jhsmith2 finished second with 133.5 points. He picked more games right overall – 79.4% – but had Purdue over Arizona in the Elite Eight. That game was the difference between Bowman and Smith.
Third place came down to the tiebreak — perhaps the closest tiebreak in Glimm history: Both Shannon Ceglinsky and Chris Kern‘s brackets both finished with 129.5 points. Shannon picked 148 total points in the championship game for the tiebreaker — and Chris picked 149. With 132 total points in the game, Shannon is closer by a point, and takes third place.
Bowman, Smith and Ceglinsky now all have a little extra money for championship merch.
In the women’s pool, nobody had much confidence in their picks, and it didn’t matter NBC News digital reporter Rudy Chinchilla’s This won’t end well bracket ended very well – Chinchilla picked 82.5% of the games right, including nailing the Final Four. That put him in first place with 135.5 points.
Jon Lloyd’s best guesses were good enough for second place with 128 points, and Michael Rosenberg‘s bracket finished third with 125 points.
Of note: Seth Rubinroit let emotion cloud his picks. His bracket name told the story: Came THIS close to picking UCLA…but it’s not my brand. The USC graduate couldn’t pick his arch rival. If he had, he would’ve won the women’s pool. Instead, he finished in fourth with 124 points.
Other Glimm winners:
- Kids champions: Clare Kern won the kids championship in the men’s pool with 112.5 points, and Simon Stamm’s the stuffy bracket won it in the women’s pool with 117 points. Both get a free entry to the Glimm next year.
- Owen Lester’s OWL1 won the Glimm Scholarship. With 122 points, he was the top-scoring Glimm family member.
- The Orlov came down to the tiebreak. With 265 entries, the Orlov goes to the person who finished in 132nd place. Jill Gregor’s JGregor and Jason Kaden’s Jiffo1 tied for 131st place with 86.5 points, but Jill’s tiebreak of 139 beat Jason’s of 143 — meaning Jason fell to 132nd place to win the Orlov. He will receive a $5 bill via snail mail for his Orlov prize.
- Brian McGettigan and Ansel Macht finished in last place in the men’s and women’s brackets, respectively, and they each win the Pity Prize. They will each get their $5 entry fee back.
A few of you still haven’t paid your Glimm winnings yet – you’ll get Venmo requests from me today, so we can pay out the winners ASAP.
Thanks everyone, and see you next year!
2026-04-10 17:58:51
It's On: Glimm 2026!
Submit your brackets now!
It's the most wonderful time of the year: Glimm time!
That's right, we're in the middle of March, which means only one thing: The best NCAA tournament pool in the land is back, this time, with a special feature: Michigan as a #1 seed. Woo-hoo! So don't waste any time: Get your Yaxel's together and fill out your brackets.
If you're on this site, you likely know the drill. We’ll have men’s and women’s pools. The men’s pool has the Orlov and the Glimm Family Scholarship. Both pools have the pity prize, the Kids Championship, and a 70/20/10 prize split. And yes, while prices seem high everywhere else, the Glimm's entry fee hasn't changed since 1993: It's still just $5.
Here are the key Glimm details:
WHAT: The 34rd Annual Glimm Memorial NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool
HOW: Fill out a men’s bracket here, and/or a women’s bracket here (women’s bracket will be available later tonight), then send me $5 per bracket via venmo (username @Josh-Kleinbaum). IMPORTANT: When sending money, be sure to specify what bracket (entry name and men’s or women’s pool) you’re paying for. I’m also requesting your Venmo handle, so if you don’t pay by the end of the first weekend, I can send you a request.
HOW MUCH: Five bucks per entry for each pool. And yes, you can enter more than once (but no more than five times per pool, thanks to the Nevin Barich rule).
THE PAYOUT: In both pools, the winner gets 70% of the pot, runner-up 20% and third-place person 10%. To give some context, the winner has taken home north of $1K in some years. There are a few other prizes in the men’s pool, too: The Orlov (whoever finishes exactly middle of the pack gets their $5 back, in cash, via snail mail), the Glimm Scholarship (the highest-finishing relative of Mrs. Glimm from the previous year gets a free entry), the Kids Champion (the top finisher under Bar Mitzvah age; details below) and the Pity Finisher (the last-place finisher gets his/her $5 back). On top of that, thirty bucks comes out of the pot to pay for Glimm infrastructure, and I give myself 2 free entries.
SCORING: For both pools, it’s a 1-2-4-8-10-12 scoring system with upset points. So that means that you get one point for picking a game correctly in the first round, two points in the second round, etc. And we use upset points – any time a lower-seeded team beats a higher-seeded team, you get half the difference between the seeds as bonus points. So if a 15 beats a 2, you get 6.5 bonus points. If a 9 beats an 8, you get half a point. The bottom line: It pays to take risks.
KIDS CHAMPION: Any kid under Bar Mitzvah age that enters the Glimm men’s pool (and makes their own picks – this isn’t about mommy or daddy submitting an entry under baby’s name) is also eligible to win the Kids Championship. Like the Glimm Scholarship (awarded to the top finisher related to Mrs. Glimm), the Kids Champion will receive a free entry to the next year’s Glimm. When filling out their bracket, kids should choose YES in the Kids Bracket drop-down. We’ll see how many kids enter to determine if there will be a kids championship in the women’s pool…
HOW TO PAY: Venmo (username @Josh-Kleinbaum). IMPORTANT: When sending money, be sure to specify which brackets in which pool you’re paying for. This year, I’m asking for your venmo handle in the bracket. If I don’t receive payment by the end of the first weekend of the tourney, I will send you a Venmo request.
2026-03-15 12:27:09