16k left now? 9 more weeks to play? That number will be way less than 1,000.
Less than 3% made it through 8 weeks. 8 more weeks....3% of 16 k is under 500 and that leaves one more week so call it 400. On top of that every week gets harder because you can't repeat teams. My guess is 100 split it, not 1000. Good luck.