We are a little over a month away from the college basketball conference tournament season tipping off which means it's time to fire up our NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament pool! 🏀
During the week of 2/19/2023 I will be sending out the rules and entry sheet for the 2023 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament pool. This is our 13th year of the pool and it has grown from a small group of us doing it to prepare for March Madness to over 35 entries last year.
Before we dive into the details of the pool let's first congratulate our 2022 winner, Pizzy, who won with 18 points, edging out four other players by only 1 point. Pizzy only had 14 wins, while others behind him had 15 wins, but it was 4 bonus points that catapulted him to victory. This shows how important it is to reach for those lower seeded teams.
Top 4 From the 2022 Pool
Below is a preview of the rules for the 2023 pool. We have zero rule changes for 2023, but if you have any proposed rule changes or suggestions that you would like to see in 2024 please let me know.
If you are interested in playing this year please let me know and I will reserve a spot for you as we have been capping the number of entries the past few years. The game is very simple, all you do is pick who you think is going to win each of the 32 NCAA conference tournaments.
The entry fee will remain the same at $50 with the following payout structure:
- 1st place receives a 60% payout
- 2nd place receives a 25% payout
- 3rd place receives a 15% payout
- 4th place receives a free entry for the 2024 pool
This pool has a very easy scoring system. The person with the combination of most correct picks, including bonus points, wins the pool. All ties in the standings are settled using the following tiebreakers:
- Overall total w/bonus points
- Total wins
- Accuracy
- Least amount of losses
- Closest SEC championship game total
Bonus points breakdown:
The bonus point scoring is super simple. For every 3 seed of lower conference tournament winner that you pick, you will be awarded 1 bonus point. In 2022, 9 out of 32 conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower. It happens.
Win money without winning the pool. Yes! 🤑
The pool is meant to be fun and keep people in it as long as possible, all the way to the last game played on Selection Sunday. No matter where you're at in the standings you can still win money 4 different ways even if you're outside the top 3 in the standings. It's likely we'll have some ties, so the money gets split among all winners in the event of a tie. Technically, you can be towards the bottom of the standings and on Selection Sunday and still win every one of these categories.
1. Most bonus points - The person with the most total bonus points (picking 3 seed or lower winners) will win $150. In 2022 Pizzy won it all alone with 4 points.2. Most power conference points - The person with the most power conference points (wins + bonus points) will win $150. In 2022 we had a single winner, Curt, with an incredible 5 points. The power conferences will be identified on the entry sheet for anyone unfamiliar with which 5 conferences are considered power conferences.3. Lowest winning seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference tournament champion wins $150. This payout has been increased from $100 to $150 effective 2023. In 2022, 2 people, both finishing middle of the pack, picked (7) Virginia Tech.4. Closest SEC championship game score - The person with the closest SEC championship game score wins $50. This is typically the last conference championship game, taking place on Selection Sunday, so even if you're in last place with no other wins you will have the opportunity to recoup your $50.
As conference tournaments begin and end at different dates between 2/27/23 - 3/12/23 I will post a daily blog and standings update via the link below.
Make sure you save this blog link, subscribe and put it in your favorites so you're always up to date. More details coming the week of 2/19/23. Get excited! 🎉
Thank You!
Rick Donegan
