It probably comes as little consolation on the night that her father’s team was knocked out of contention for its third straight national championship, but Jenna (Auriemma) Stigliano, daughter of Geno and wife of my high-school classmate Todd, clinched the free, moneyless 14th annual Living Room Times NCAA Women’s Pool when Texas A&M upset Stanford in tonight’s first semifinal.
She had predicted a UConn vs. A&M title game, with the Huskies winning. Instead, it will be Notre Dame vs. A&M, a pairing that none of the pool’s 74 contestants predicted. But although Stigliano cannot gain any additional points, she is too far ahead (and the remaining teams picked by too few contestants) for anyone to catch her.
Five contestants, including both Stiglianos (Jenna and Todd), Shaun Sullivan, Alison Vargas and Vinny Jankowski picked the Aggies. Four contestants, Lauren Taylor, Brendan Loy (hey, that’s me!), Melanie Peralta and Carolyn Blessing picked the Irish. Only Blessing has ND winning the title; nobody has A&M winning it all. Currently 35th, Blessing will finish 5th if the Irish beat the Aggies, but would still be 25 points behind Jenna Stigliano.
Regardless of the title-game outcome, the Top 4 will be Jenna (Auriemma) Stigliano with 338 out of a possible 477 points; Andrew Long with 328; Cam McLachlan with 320; and Dan Dinunzio with 317. Michael Watkins is fifth with 315, and may or may not be joined by Blessing, depending on the ND-A&M outcome.
Shaun Sullivan is currently sixth with 313 points, followed by a seventh-place tie between Todd Stigliano and Scott Paine at 311, then Lisa Velte and Colleen Duggan rounding out the Top 10 with 310 each. Becky Loy is eleventh with 307, while I’m tied for 28th with 290. Complete standings here.
I *almost* feel bad for her. Were it not for a last-minute Drunken Tree choke-job, I’d have won the pool. I wonder if anyone has been runner-up in your pools as often as I have. Bah-humbug!