We are now 1 week away from the first 2023 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament tipping off and it is time to submit your pool picks! 😍
Included below is a detailed rundown of the rules, key dates and payment information. Additionally, an excel sheet is attached that is to be filled out with your picks and returned no later than 11:59p CST on Sunday, 2/26/22. No entries will be allowed after 11:59p CST on Sunday, 2/26/23, no exceptions. ⌚
Let's get started...
Making the NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments a little more interesting for year number 13 in a row, below are the details of the pool where the goal is to pick the winner of each conference tournament. 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 tip-off and complete at different dates between 2/27/22 - 3/13/22 I will post a daily blog and standings updates via the links below. Make sure you save the below links, subscribe and put it in your favorites so you're always up to date. Each year I try to send less e-mails and use the blog more.
Blog Link
Standings Link
Here are the steps to enter the pool:
- Fill out the attached spreadsheet with the team you think will win each of the 32 conference tournaments using the dropdown provided for each conference
- Do not forget to pick the total of the SEC championship game as that may be an important tiebreaker along with a payout if you are the closest, regardless of where you're at in the standings
- Ensure your name (or nickname) is included along with your e-mail address
- E-mail me a copy no later than 11:59p CST on Sunday, 2/26/22
- If filling out a spreadsheet is not for you, or you're attempting to use google sheets and it's not working, feel free to call, e-mail, message, WhatsApp, text or smoke signal me your picks
It really shouldn't take longer than 5-10 minutes to fill everything out as I included a dropdown list for each conference to allow easy and accurate selections for that conference.
The seed numbers currently shown in the excel spreadsheet probably will change over the next few weeks as the regular season comes to an end at different dates for each conference. I will keep the seeds up to date on the master score sheet I send to the group.
I will send out a master spreadsheet with everyone's picks, known bonus points, and conference info prior to the first tournament championship game (Including my picks).
Payment information on where to send your $50. 💰
- Zelle (Preferred): Rick Donegan 630-885-2873
- Venmo: @Rick-Donegan
- Cashapp: $RickDonegan
- Address: 1140 Venetian Court; Naperville, IL 60540
- In Person/In Vegas
- PayPal (Not preferred, but if it's your only option): rwdpeanut@gmail.com
Any non-payment, or attempt to arrange payment, by Sunday, 3/4/23 will result in your entry being removed and a 69 year pool ban. I'm not going to spend my time chasing down money.
🚨 Reading this section is optional, but I highly encourage it! 🚨
If you are newer to the pool, or if you need a rundown of all the changes this season, this section will give you some insight and tips for making educated picks.
- Conference Tournament Seeding Changes
- The college basketball regular season is not yet over and teams are still jockeying for conference tournament seeding.
- Seed numbers may and likely will change between when you submit your picks and when a conference tournament tips off, impacting your possible bonus points and max points.
- Not Every Team Makes the Conference Tournament
- In some conferences, not every team will make the conference tournament and I will mark that team as DNQ in the dropdown when it is confirmed.
- While power conferences such as the SEC, B1G and ACC allow every team to participate, mid/low major conferences may cap participation to the top 4 or top 8 teams.
- I do my very best to reflect this in the dropdown by putting a "DNQ" next to the team, but similar to seeding, things could change between when you submit your picks and the conference tournament tipping off.
- Do your research if you're reaching for lower seeded teams as you cannot change your pick if your team does not qualify.
- Ineligible Teams
- This one is fun as conferences are sometimes unclear and rulings are constantly change right up to conference tournament time.
- The NCAA, conferences and even the team itself can declare a team ineligible for a number of reasons (i.e. grades, cheating, conference realignment/changes, D1 reclassification waiting periods, etc.).
- Sometimes that means the ineligible team can participate in its conference tournament, but cannot advance to the NCAA tournament, while other times it means the ineligible team cannot even participate in its own conference tournament.
- Teams that are currently documented as ineligible for the post season have a "ineligible" designation in the dropdown.
- I can't get all of these 100% accurate as decisions are sometimes appealed and change all the way up to the conference tournament start date, please do your research if selecting an ineligible team.
- About 5 years ago we had Texas Southern marked as ineligible and 24 hours before the conference tournament they were deemed eligible and won its conference tournament. Alternativley, in 2021 we had a very popular pick, Stephen F. Austin, declared ineligible moments before the conference tournament tipped off.
- Currently, 2 teams are marked as ineligible, but that could change over the next few weeks. Do not pick these teams! 😂
- UC San Diego (Big West)
- Stonehill (Northeast Conference)
- Conference Changes
- The number of conference changes for the 2022-23 season is insane, I'll hit the majority of the changes but I may miss a few.
- 5 teams have moved up from DII to DI conferences and are new names to the pool.
- Queens (Atlantic Sun)
- Stonehill (Northeast Conference)
- Lindenwood (Ohio Valley)
- Southern Indiana (Ohio Valley)
- Texas A&M-Commerce (Southland)
- 2 teams have re-classified as independent, meaning you will not see them as an option in any conference.
- Chicago State (Formerly WAC) and Hartford (Formerly America East)
- Hartford normally would be a popular pick since they were a NCAA tournament team in 2021, but they are headed to D3 next year.
- In addition to Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, the Ohio Valley also added Sun Belt transfer Arkansas-Little Rock to the conference this season.
- The Sun Belt also added Conference USA teams Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Mississippi along with former Colonial conference team, James Madison.
- The Sun Belt was busy last offseason as they also lost 4 teams from the conference.
- UT-Arlington left the conference for the WAC, Belmont and Murray State bolted for the Missouri Valley conference and Austin Peay is now in the Atlantic Sun conference.
- The WAC had a few more changes as Lamar left the conference to go back to the Southland and Southern Utah bailed from the Big Sky to join the WAC.
- Coming back to wrap up the Missouri Valley conference changes, Illinois-Chicago left the Horizon League to join the Missouri Valley while Loyola-Chicago left and is now in the Atlantic 10 conference.
- Although they lost 1 team, the Colonial Conference gained 4 teams, for a net add of 3 teams to the league.
- Stony Brook came over from the America East, both North Carolina A&T and Hampton from the Big South and Monmouth from the MAAC.
- Finally, Mount St. Mary's moved from the Northeast Conference to the MAAC.
For those of you that stuck around for all of that hopefully it helps, even if it means swinging 1 pick in your favor as that could be the difference between 1st and 5th place. Have fun making your selections this week as you comb through 360+ teams!
