6 (or 7) mids win; Shtraks leads pool, Jordon & Hunter 2nd, Obama on a roll

Six “below the Red Line” mid-majors — seven if you count Gonzaga — survived the first two days (or three days, in VCU’s case) of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Here’s my #GiantBracket:

Meanwhile, in the 16th annual Living Room Times pool, Greg Shtraks of Montclair, New Jersey leads the LRT men’s NCAA pool with 124 points out of a possible 140, reflecting a perfect “First Four” and a 28-4 record in the first round.

Mark Jordon of Goshen, New York and Andrew Hunter of Columbia, Missouri are tied for second with 117 points. President Barack Obama, if he had entered the pool, would be in fourth place with 116 — and that’s only because he didn’t make “First Four” picks. Obama’s 29-3 record in the first round is better than anyone in the pool.

Keith DeMonstoy, Sean Sullivan, Jeffrey Kwit, and two-time past champion Jenn Castelhano are tied for fourth with 113 points. Complete standings here.

I, incidentally, am tied for 27th place with 106 points. Loyette has 91 points; Becky has 87; the cats have 77; and DU Bally has 34. Interestingly, the last-place human contestant, just above Travis Mason-Bushman’s FYNNAL FOUR BALLZ and my DU Bally, is ESPN sports columnist Arash Markazi. His bracket went just 17-15 in the first round.

Of course, my “As-You-Go Bracket” remains perfect, as you can see at the top of this post. 🙂 Tomorrow, I’m back to the Pepsi Center for Morehead-RIchmond and BYU-Gonzaga!!!