The outlook wasn’t brilliant for Kendall Gregor that day
She picked two longshots in the Glimm, and Gonzaga stood in the way
When Ohio State died in the first, and Michigan State did the same
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast
They thought, “If only an 8-year-old can manage to win the Glimm
That proves that any of us could actually win this thing.”

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a rusty yell
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the fort
For UCLA, mighty UCLA, was advancing on the court

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout
But there is no joy in Glimmville — Kendall Gregor is now out

That’s right: With UCLA’s heartbreaking loss to Gonzaga, 8-year-old Kendall Gregor’s magic run is over. She can’t win the Glimm. She can’t even win the Kids Championship.

The Glimm is down to two: Curtis Benham’s Sparty72 (if Gonzaga wins) and Shannon Ceglinsky’s ShannonCeglinsky (if Baylor wins).

In the women’s tournament, Seth Rubinroit’s Why isn’t USC in this will win if Stanford wins, and Lauren Kimball’s LK2 wins if Arizona wins.

We’ll have a full run-down of all the winners after the championship games.

For a six-year-old, it didn’t seem like a bad bracket: Two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed in the Final Four seemed like a good bet to get at least a middle-of-the-road, Orlov competitor finish. Surely not all of those teams would collapse, right?

Alas, Asa Kleinbaum put too much faith in the Big Ten in his Voty Goty Mac and Cheese bracket. Illinois and Ohio State saw early exits. Ohio, his darkhorse Final Four pick, scored an impressive first-round upset but went no further. When Asa’s other picks in general fell flat (he picked less than a quarter of the games correct overall), his hopes to climb out of the basement rested with one team: Michigan.

Asa, like many of us, saw his hopes collapse late Tuesday night, when UCLA beat Michigan. Voty Got Mac and Cheese finished with 38 points, clinching last place in the Glimm. Asa receives his Pity Prize: He gets his $5 back.

“Wait, so I get $5?” Asa said Wednesday morning after learning of his fate. “I’m the buffest!”

Asa’s misfortune (or fortune?) was Kendall Gregor’s gain. Eight-year-old Kendall’s kgregor bracket moved back into first place thanks to UCLA’s win, and continues to lead both the overall Glimm and the Kids Championship.

The Glimm is still wide open, though: With eight possible scenarios left, seven people can win outright: Kendall, Bob Connor’s Upset City, Ramona Shelburne’s Dragonfly, Doug Sweet’s Yahtzee, Brent Hopkins’ UCLATER, Curtis Benham’s Sparty72 and Shannon Ceglinsky’s Shannon Ceglinsky. Seven others have a chance to finish in the top three.

In the Kids Championship, we’re down to three contenders: Kendall, Eli Lester’s Eli and Hana Miller’s It’s March and I’m Mad.

And there’s an interesting contender for the Glimm Scholarship: Mrs. Glimm herself, Marion Glim. If Houston beats Baylor, her Grandma G bracket passes her grandson Owen and son-in-law Rich for the family lead.

In the women’s tournament, Paul Mordarski’s Mordy12 2 bracket remains in the lead, but his chances of winning are slim: He’d need Arizona to beat South Carolina in the championship game to have as hot. Otherwise, Lydia Mordarski’s lydiausa1, Lauren Kimball’s LK2 and LK4 and Seth Rubinroit’s Why isn’t USC in this? brackets are in the best shape.

Full men’s standings are here, and full women’s standings are here.

We’re one-third of the way through the Glimm, which means it’s a good time to look beyond the main event.

Sure, we still care about the big prize: Mike Mahoney reclaimed the lead late Monday thanks to USC’s victory over Kansas. Mahoney’s MizzouTgr11 1 bracket’s upset approach, which put him in first place after the first round, continued to be effective, giving him 65 points. But how long will it last? He’s already lost five of his Elite Eight teams and two of his Final Four teams.

Jordan Brenner’s JBrenner bracket (64.5 points) and Ramona Shelburne’s Dragonfly bracket (64) lurk just behind, although Brenner already lost his champion, Illinois. Shelburne has her entire Final Four intact.

In fact, 62 Glimmers still have a shot at the championship, and 93 have a shot at finishing in the top three.

But even for the other 185 of you, there’s a lot at stake:

The Kids Championship: After two rounds, Kendall Gregor and Zoe Sevilla are tied for first in the Kids Championship with 61.5 points. Eli Lester, JoJo Kleinbaum and Eden Lazarus round out the top five.

The Pity Money: Pete Catapano’s PeteCat2 bracket is in last place with 27 points, but he still has all Final Four teams alive, so he’s got room to move. In fact, the Pity Money race is wide open: The bottom four all have at least two Final Four teams alive.

The Orlov: Eight people are tied for 137th place right now. As we know, the Orlov goes to the 139th-place finisher, so if the tourney ended today, the Orlov would come down to a tiebreaker.

The Glimm Scholarship: Owen Lester is in 5th Place overall, leading all relatives of Mrs. Glimm.

The Women’s Tournament: Stephanie Kleinbaum’s Mrs. Banana bracket is in first place in the Women’s Tournament with 270 points midway through the second round. Paul Mordaski is in second, with 260 points.

Important note on the women’s tournament: If you entered, please shoot me an email with your bracket name. Some are obvious, but others less-so, and ESPN doesn’t make it easy to figure out who everyone is.

Full standings for the men’s pool are here, and standings for the women’s pool are here.

Glimm champions run the gamut of basketball knowledge. Some know little about college basketball and barely follow the sport, like 2013 champ Adam Kleinbaum and the tournament’s namesake, 1995 champ Mrs. Glimm. Others are experts, spending careers watching sports, like 2009 champion Ramona Shelburne and 2007-08 two-time champ Erik Boal. Some fall in between, like last year’s champion, Nina Lin, who vacillates between claiming to know nothing about college basketball and claiming to be an expert.

Your 2019 champion falls closer to the expert category. Mike Lazarus has spent more than a decade managing sports products for Yahoo. For years, he did his own bracketology, predicting which teams would be included in the tournament and their exact seeds before the brackets were released. He knows his college basketball.

Lazarus finally converted that expertise into Glimm glory. Thanks to Virginia’s victory in yesterday’s NCAA championship game, Lazarus’ MikeLaz Bracket finished with 134 points, three points ahead of Sean Bear 1. Ottomatic #2, which would’ve finished in first place if Texas Tech beat Virginia, settled for third.

The loss was devastating to Ottomatic, aka Otto Kern, who was not just playing for himself but for the entire Kern klan. The Kern family has been a Glimm mainstay for years, as many Kerns followed Michigan alum Mike into the pool. Nine entered this year, including Otto, Mike’s father. No Kern has ever come close to winning the Glimm, but Otto picked Texas Tech on a whim, and the Red Raiders nearly carried him to the title.

The tightest race was for the Orlov, which is awarded to the 159th place finisher. Three brackets were tied for 158th, so it came down to whoever finished in second place in the tiebreaker. That ended up being Dan Stamm’s Woford and Buffalo bracket.

Richard Lester claimed the Glimm Scholarship for the second consecutive year when his Son-in-law bracket finished in 42nd place, best among all relatives of Mrs. Glimm. Lester will get a free entry to the 2020 Glimm.

And as for Nina Lin, the 2018 winner? Despite her vacilations, the evidence suggests she does know a thing or two about college basketball. She struggled in the later rounds, but overall, her It’s 5 p.m. Somewhere bracket picked 77.8% of the games correctly, tops in the entire pool.

Your 2019 Winners:
Glimm Champion: Mike Lazarus
Kids Champion: Brooklyn Rados
The Orlov: Dan Stamm
Glimm Scholarship Recipient: Richard Lester
Pity Finisher: Avery Sweet

Final standings: