Leaderboard Link for the guy who doesn't know how to bookmark
Sunday Pick Form for the few of you still picking
Twas the night before Easter and all through the pool, not a creature was stirring, not even the fool. The selections were made on the pick form with care, it hopes that some 2 seed would still be there....
This is what this devolves into at this point in the Tournament. I know the few of you still alive are only giving this a cursory glance at this point. The opening weekend effort just isn't there any more. The wit gets duller, the links get less relevant, and some other thing probably happens too, but I can't think of what it might be.
In a lot of ways this is shaping up to be the exact opposite of every tournament ever. The teams that always choke, the Villanova's, and Notre Dame's, and Virginia's are still around. The teams that always seem to make runs either got sent home early or decided to stay home and study hard because basketball isn't the most important thing in life, right?
Meanwhile, the past two days have shown us that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. So many of us felt so smart a few days ago. Everyone seemed to be cruising along picking winners. The pool was like perforing like a legit fortune teller, the hive mind just picking winners once after another. And then Syracuse made that come back and blew everything up. The people that avoided it were faced with a difficult choice: Pick a very tough Oregon v Oklahoma match-up, or roll the dice on Kansas v Villanova.
It seems like a lot of our scions of holiness had been working toward a Kansas v Oklahoma Final 4. They were half right.
Tonight's match-up between Oklahoma and Oregon attracted 31 of the 49 picks. Of those, 18 went on Oklahoma while Oregon was selected by 13 sad pandas. It was never really in doubt. Buddy Hield just crushed the dreams of the Ducks and those who aligned themselves with the Church of Phil Knight.
Meanwhile Villanova v Kansas drew just seven selections: six on Villanova and silverfox all alone on Kansas Island. Silverfox will be remaining on that lonely island as their Survivor Pool dreams have been dashed like so many before them.
Heading into Sunday we are down to just 25 warriors for redemption. Last year at this point we had 39 alive, so the past two days have taken us from well ahead of last year's pace, to now falling behind it. Maybe we aren't so smart after all. Meanwhile, the leaderboard remains the same with Alvin and the Chipmunks! (I love that we get such a cute name in a survivor pool) and Steve Fiscus (also a cute name) on top of the tie breaker standings with 47 points.
To those still alive, we wish you good fortune, for those who are no longer around we wish that you find peace in this hour of darkness, and for those about to rock, we salute you.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
Payout Info & Day 6 Recap - Boom Goes the Dynamite
Leaderboard Link again, because I think you're super lazy
Saturday Pick Form Deadline is 6:09 Eastern (the real timezone) tomorrow.
Up First, Payout Info:
1st - $2,300
2nd - $1,250
3rd - $650
4th - $400
5th - $300
6th - $200
7th - $97.36 (someone screwed up their PayPal payment.....)
Onto the recap...
Well ladies, gentlemen, and various others that don't fit neatly into either of those categories, we have officially gone beyond the midpoint of our lovely little adventure through the jungle that we fondly refer to as the NCAA Tournament. Six days are down, and just four remain standing between you and Survivor Pool Immortality. Will you be the master of the universe? Will you be the champion of champions? Will your cuisine reign supreme?
I feel at this point I need to disclose a dirty little secret. We said that we run this pool because we enjoy participating and we enjoy running it. Those are somewhat true, but you may have also noticed some ads have been popping up on the blog over the last few weeks. It does bring me some level of shame to admit that yes, we have officially sold out. What was once a pool we ran for the love of the game has become as cheap and tawdry as so many other great businesses that came before it. I feel it is only right to let you know that, through tricking you to come to our blog over multiple days, we have been able to rack up $2.33 worth of sweet, sweet, ad revenue. We always said the money wouldn't change us, but I did see Philip shopping for something on Amazon last week...
The early games saw Virginia v Iowa State and Wisconsin v Notre Dame. As expected, most everyone opted to save Virginia for a rainy day, and no on was brave (or stupid) enough to try their luck with Iowa State. But, all of you little girls that felt discretion was the better part of valor turned out to be correct. The four of you that used Virginia moved on...but, at what cost?
I really expected Notre Dame v Wisconsin would be a very contentious pick. I thought the breakdown here would be in the neighborhood of even. I thought it would probably lean slightly to Notre Dame. But, instead I was wrong (s usual) and Notre Dame was an overwhelming favorite with 28 picks compared to just nine on Wisconsin. Of course, as with virtually every other game in this tournament, our basketball selecting think tank was dead on. Really, why don't we all just submit picks to every game, bet money lines on who the crowd selects, and retire to Grenada. Why Grenada? Because I was going to put Turks and Caicos, but I didn't know how to spell it, and I still don't know how to pronounce it. That would work, right? This group is never horribly wrong!!! (Foreshadowing.....)
Apparently those that chose Wisconsin forgot about this secret I revealed a few days ago about Notre Dame: at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. I dare you to deny that claim after tonight's comeback.
The late games would surely bring more of the same, right? The majority has been right all post season. The overwhelmingly popular pick was Gonzaga. It's unusual to get an 11 seed as a 4 point favorite in the Sweet 16...it was an offer many of our tiny buffalo children were unable to refuse. The Zags seemed to be cruising, our 51 participants were smiling, they were putting their children to bed, they were laughing, they were living....
AND, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!
We knew it would happen eventually. At some point in time the right pick goes horribly wrong. In one fell swoop we lost over half of the remaining living souls.
UNC v Indiana didn't matter.
Good luck tomorrow everyone (much less everyone than yesterday), shit has officially gotten real.
Saturday Pick Form Deadline is 6:09 Eastern (the real timezone) tomorrow.
Up First, Payout Info:
1st - $2,300
2nd - $1,250
3rd - $650
4th - $400
5th - $300
6th - $200
7th - $97.36 (someone screwed up their PayPal payment.....)
Onto the recap...
Well ladies, gentlemen, and various others that don't fit neatly into either of those categories, we have officially gone beyond the midpoint of our lovely little adventure through the jungle that we fondly refer to as the NCAA Tournament. Six days are down, and just four remain standing between you and Survivor Pool Immortality. Will you be the master of the universe? Will you be the champion of champions? Will your cuisine reign supreme?
I feel at this point I need to disclose a dirty little secret. We said that we run this pool because we enjoy participating and we enjoy running it. Those are somewhat true, but you may have also noticed some ads have been popping up on the blog over the last few weeks. It does bring me some level of shame to admit that yes, we have officially sold out. What was once a pool we ran for the love of the game has become as cheap and tawdry as so many other great businesses that came before it. I feel it is only right to let you know that, through tricking you to come to our blog over multiple days, we have been able to rack up $2.33 worth of sweet, sweet, ad revenue. We always said the money wouldn't change us, but I did see Philip shopping for something on Amazon last week...
The early games saw Virginia v Iowa State and Wisconsin v Notre Dame. As expected, most everyone opted to save Virginia for a rainy day, and no on was brave (or stupid) enough to try their luck with Iowa State. But, all of you little girls that felt discretion was the better part of valor turned out to be correct. The four of you that used Virginia moved on...but, at what cost?
I really expected Notre Dame v Wisconsin would be a very contentious pick. I thought the breakdown here would be in the neighborhood of even. I thought it would probably lean slightly to Notre Dame. But, instead I was wrong (s usual) and Notre Dame was an overwhelming favorite with 28 picks compared to just nine on Wisconsin. Of course, as with virtually every other game in this tournament, our basketball selecting think tank was dead on. Really, why don't we all just submit picks to every game, bet money lines on who the crowd selects, and retire to Grenada. Why Grenada? Because I was going to put Turks and Caicos, but I didn't know how to spell it, and I still don't know how to pronounce it. That would work, right? This group is never horribly wrong!!! (Foreshadowing.....)
Apparently those that chose Wisconsin forgot about this secret I revealed a few days ago about Notre Dame: at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. I dare you to deny that claim after tonight's comeback.
The late games would surely bring more of the same, right? The majority has been right all post season. The overwhelmingly popular pick was Gonzaga. It's unusual to get an 11 seed as a 4 point favorite in the Sweet 16...it was an offer many of our tiny buffalo children were unable to refuse. The Zags seemed to be cruising, our 51 participants were smiling, they were putting their children to bed, they were laughing, they were living....
AND, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!
We knew it would happen eventually. At some point in time the right pick goes horribly wrong. In one fell swoop we lost over half of the remaining living souls.
UNC v Indiana didn't matter.
Good luck tomorrow everyone (much less everyone than yesterday), shit has officially gotten real.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Day 5 Recap
Leaderboard link for the needy
Friday pick form for the living
The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament is officially upon us. It's also Easter weekend, which marks the anniversary of the time when Jesus died, realized he was going to miss the NCAA Tournament Finals, rose from the dead for a while, realized it was baseball season again, and decided to just head to Heaven. Pretty sure that story was told in one of the Gnostic Gospels.
Today a few people asked why the totals on the pick chart don't match the actual number of entries. Well, if you assholes would stop submitting picks and then changing them, the pie chart thing wouldn't screw up. It's your fault, don't blame us. Speaking of stuff people did wrong, as I warned you the other day, we don't look at picks until we put ours in, so we can't catch your mistakes...tonight Brandon Daulton picked Texas A&M...a ballsy pick...a ballsy pick he had also made a few days ago. Luckily for Brandon his mistake resulted in hi being put onto Kansas instead (the biggest favorite of the night), so he was saved from himself and lives to fight another day.
It took five days, but we finally got a day with some match-ups that would force people to make a little bit tougher decisions. In the Oregon v Duke match-up there were 21 Oregon picks and 10 Duke picks. Villanova v Miami attracted 41 picks on Nova and 13 on Miami. So there was SOME disagreement tonight. I mean, the majority was right on both occasions again...but, at least we had some guaranteed eliminations.
As far as the games themselves....well....they weren't super exciting. Really, nothing very exciting happened in these games. They were all pretty much blowouts.
Villanova manhandled Miami. Oklahoma crushed Texas A&M, moving 20 combatants on to Friday. Kansas took over in the second half and sent another 17 on to tomorrow. And, in the nightcap Oregon sent Grayson Allen's super punchable face back to Carolina and sent 10 weak willed participants along with him.
We have finally fallen below the century mark on number of participants still alive...but just barely as 99 humans have been savvy enough to pick winners for five consecutive days. Last year at this point we only had 66 people hanging around. So, we continue to have a bigger pool than last year. Percentage wise, 30% of our entries were alive at this time last year, this year it's 38%.
Remember to have your picks in by the time the first game tips off! And, ya know, make sure not to use a team you've already used. Fail to do either of these things and you'll get put on Virginia probably, they're currently the biggest favorite for tonight.
Friday pick form for the living
The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament is officially upon us. It's also Easter weekend, which marks the anniversary of the time when Jesus died, realized he was going to miss the NCAA Tournament Finals, rose from the dead for a while, realized it was baseball season again, and decided to just head to Heaven. Pretty sure that story was told in one of the Gnostic Gospels.
Today a few people asked why the totals on the pick chart don't match the actual number of entries. Well, if you assholes would stop submitting picks and then changing them, the pie chart thing wouldn't screw up. It's your fault, don't blame us. Speaking of stuff people did wrong, as I warned you the other day, we don't look at picks until we put ours in, so we can't catch your mistakes...tonight Brandon Daulton picked Texas A&M...a ballsy pick...a ballsy pick he had also made a few days ago. Luckily for Brandon his mistake resulted in hi being put onto Kansas instead (the biggest favorite of the night), so he was saved from himself and lives to fight another day.
It took five days, but we finally got a day with some match-ups that would force people to make a little bit tougher decisions. In the Oregon v Duke match-up there were 21 Oregon picks and 10 Duke picks. Villanova v Miami attracted 41 picks on Nova and 13 on Miami. So there was SOME disagreement tonight. I mean, the majority was right on both occasions again...but, at least we had some guaranteed eliminations.
As far as the games themselves....well....they weren't super exciting. Really, nothing very exciting happened in these games. They were all pretty much blowouts.
Villanova manhandled Miami. Oklahoma crushed Texas A&M, moving 20 combatants on to Friday. Kansas took over in the second half and sent another 17 on to tomorrow. And, in the nightcap Oregon sent Grayson Allen's super punchable face back to Carolina and sent 10 weak willed participants along with him.
We have finally fallen below the century mark on number of participants still alive...but just barely as 99 humans have been savvy enough to pick winners for five consecutive days. Last year at this point we only had 66 people hanging around. So, we continue to have a bigger pool than last year. Percentage wise, 30% of our entries were alive at this time last year, this year it's 38%.
Remember to have your picks in by the time the first game tips off! And, ya know, make sure not to use a team you've already used. Fail to do either of these things and you'll get put on Virginia probably, they're currently the biggest favorite for tonight.
Sweet 16 Friday Pick Form
Here's your Friday pick form if you manage to make it through this landmine of a night!
Thursday Sweet 16 Picks
We're knocking some people out tonight!
Choose your Thursday Sweet 16 Pick
| Villanova | 46 | 34.6% |
| Miami FL | 16 | 12% |
| Oklahoma | 22 | 16.5% |
| Texas A&M | 1 | 0.8% |
| Kansas | 15 | 11.3% |
| Maryland | 0 | 0% |
| Duke | 11 | 8.3% |
| Oregon | 22 | 16.5% |
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Thursday Sweet 16 Pick Form
Good luck chumps - this is easily the toughest day yet. Remember that now we get into the Sweet 16 and who people pick becomes an advantage. All picks need to be in prior to tip of the first game of the night at 7:10 PM EST!
Monday, March 21, 2016
Day 4 Recap - AKA People Still Don't Lose
Leaderboard Link for Reference
Thursday pick sheet will be up in the next couple of days!
Well everyone, the most exciting week in sports is over for another year. The next 51 weeks will suck by comparison. The beautiful distraction of amazing and competitive basketball is over. Now we're left to look for joy in much less meaningful things like family and friends. And, who knows, next year there may not even be an NCAA Tournament...By then we could have Bernie Sanders outlawing sports since everyone deserves an equal award and we shouldn't let the 1% be declared champion. Or, maybe we'll have Donald Trump build a wall around the game that the players have to for? Or maybe Hilary Clinton will email someone about it, have people find out, and then send all the players to some Benghazi Death Prison? Hell, maybe that computer that beat the world's best Go player will decide he's going to play basketball too and replace humans with the automation that will soon take all of our jobs? These are all realistic scenarios you guys.
But, instead of dwelling on a miserable dystopian future that we are hurtling toward, let's instead cling to those beautiful moments we were lucky enough to experience over the past few days. And, they really were beautiful for a lot of you, because we really didn't eliminate as many people as I think most of us expected to over the Tournament's first weekend.
Heading into yesterday we had 144 children of the narwhal still competing for the golden apple. At the end of the night we had lost just 22 of these brave and beautiful souls.
The day started with one of the most lopsided games in the tournament, as Villanova dismantled Iowa it seemed that maybe order was restored. That, after a few crazy days with wild finishes and insane results, we were going to get a day to catch our breath and relax a little bit.
You really are stupider than you look if you fell for the NCAA Tournament's little ploy...
After they brought out some extra brooms to remove all the hawkeye carcasses from the court, Notre Dame and Staphen F Austin went to work. This was the most controversial game of the day with 10 picks on the Irish and 10 picks on the lumberjacks (so mad I can't use this link again this tournament). With a couple minutes remaining Stephen F Austin (What? You were expecting a wrestler?) was poised to move on....at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. After missing a few shots down 1, Notre Dame somehow got a tip to fall and sent the lumberjacks back to wherever the hell Stephen F Austin is located. It also sent home 10 of our entrants and the dreamiest player in the tournament.
The next couple of games were fairly tame. Oklahoma got by VCU in a tight game that never REALLY seemed in doubt. Seven survivors chose the easy route and took Buddy Hield here. After that Syracuse obliterated Middle Tennessee State and, in doing so, became this year's team that everyone complained about getting to the tournament that ends up going to the Sweet 16, this was a title UCLA held last year...it's like, the only title Steve Alford coached teams have ever held (burn). The Syracuse win, while largely unentertaining, actually did provide some impact in the Pool as six people got caught up in the excitement of grabbing those 15 tie-breaker points. Instead these suckers ended the day like a nine year old girl that was expecting to get a pony for her birthday...disappointed. You were never getting that pony. You're telling me you were gonna muck out stalls every day Susan? Seriously? You know who would have ended up with that job. You don't even brush your own hair, much less a pony's.
Maryland's win over Hawaii was surprising only in that it didn't knock out a single person. There were 33 picks on Maryland and not a single pick on the Rainbow Warriors. Not one.
Overall, the day had not been THAT crazy. Sure, we got a wild finish with Notre Dame winning, but that was it. This day was pretty subdued. Oh Billy, you stupid idiot, things were just getting interesting.
To call the comeback Texas A&M made against Northern Iowa dramatic, or crazy, or amazing, would be selling it short. It literally might be the most improbable thing I have ever seen happen in sports. The chances of a team down 12 with 44 seconds remaining in a college game winning are slimmer than 1 in 10,000. There's a 1 in 10,000 chance that you'll be physically injured by a toilet this year. A toilet. Toilet's are our friends, and yet, there's a better chance of a toilet injuring you than of Texas A&M winning this game. What makes it crazier is that Northern Iowa's last two games had ended LIKE THIS and LIKE THIS. You have to give props to Northern Iowa, if nothing else they are consistent in providing unreal finishes. As amazing as this was, it didn't knock out a single survivor...but, I really wish it had as it would be hilarious to make fun of someone after that. It did, however, allow 19 contestants to move on to Week 2.
Within ten minutes of that astounding collapse we also saw Xavier get knocked out by Wisconsin on a 3 as time expired. This finish actually did knock people out as seven combatants had their hopes pinned to Bill Murray's cap. The last game of the night saw Oregon escape St. Joe's and move the rest of our selectors on as well. It probably deserves more text than that, but I'm over it.
As mentioned above, there are 122 protector's of moral values moving on to the second week. With just four games Thursday and Friday we finally may witness some match-ups that get equal interest for both sides. Thus far the group has been pretty unanimous in their selections, and they've been right on almost all cases. As they say in my old hood, "Shit's about to get real." Indeed it is old hood....indeed it is.
Thursday pick sheet will be up in the next couple of days!
Well everyone, the most exciting week in sports is over for another year. The next 51 weeks will suck by comparison. The beautiful distraction of amazing and competitive basketball is over. Now we're left to look for joy in much less meaningful things like family and friends. And, who knows, next year there may not even be an NCAA Tournament...By then we could have Bernie Sanders outlawing sports since everyone deserves an equal award and we shouldn't let the 1% be declared champion. Or, maybe we'll have Donald Trump build a wall around the game that the players have to for? Or maybe Hilary Clinton will email someone about it, have people find out, and then send all the players to some Benghazi Death Prison? Hell, maybe that computer that beat the world's best Go player will decide he's going to play basketball too and replace humans with the automation that will soon take all of our jobs? These are all realistic scenarios you guys.
But, instead of dwelling on a miserable dystopian future that we are hurtling toward, let's instead cling to those beautiful moments we were lucky enough to experience over the past few days. And, they really were beautiful for a lot of you, because we really didn't eliminate as many people as I think most of us expected to over the Tournament's first weekend.
Heading into yesterday we had 144 children of the narwhal still competing for the golden apple. At the end of the night we had lost just 22 of these brave and beautiful souls.
The day started with one of the most lopsided games in the tournament, as Villanova dismantled Iowa it seemed that maybe order was restored. That, after a few crazy days with wild finishes and insane results, we were going to get a day to catch our breath and relax a little bit.
You really are stupider than you look if you fell for the NCAA Tournament's little ploy...
After they brought out some extra brooms to remove all the hawkeye carcasses from the court, Notre Dame and Staphen F Austin went to work. This was the most controversial game of the day with 10 picks on the Irish and 10 picks on the lumberjacks (so mad I can't use this link again this tournament). With a couple minutes remaining Stephen F Austin (What? You were expecting a wrestler?) was poised to move on....at that point it became clear that Notre Dame truly does own an actual leprechaun that they have tied to a post in their locker room granting them wishes. After missing a few shots down 1, Notre Dame somehow got a tip to fall and sent the lumberjacks back to wherever the hell Stephen F Austin is located. It also sent home 10 of our entrants and the dreamiest player in the tournament.
The next couple of games were fairly tame. Oklahoma got by VCU in a tight game that never REALLY seemed in doubt. Seven survivors chose the easy route and took Buddy Hield here. After that Syracuse obliterated Middle Tennessee State and, in doing so, became this year's team that everyone complained about getting to the tournament that ends up going to the Sweet 16, this was a title UCLA held last year...it's like, the only title Steve Alford coached teams have ever held (burn). The Syracuse win, while largely unentertaining, actually did provide some impact in the Pool as six people got caught up in the excitement of grabbing those 15 tie-breaker points. Instead these suckers ended the day like a nine year old girl that was expecting to get a pony for her birthday...disappointed. You were never getting that pony. You're telling me you were gonna muck out stalls every day Susan? Seriously? You know who would have ended up with that job. You don't even brush your own hair, much less a pony's.
Maryland's win over Hawaii was surprising only in that it didn't knock out a single person. There were 33 picks on Maryland and not a single pick on the Rainbow Warriors. Not one.
Overall, the day had not been THAT crazy. Sure, we got a wild finish with Notre Dame winning, but that was it. This day was pretty subdued. Oh Billy, you stupid idiot, things were just getting interesting.
To call the comeback Texas A&M made against Northern Iowa dramatic, or crazy, or amazing, would be selling it short. It literally might be the most improbable thing I have ever seen happen in sports. The chances of a team down 12 with 44 seconds remaining in a college game winning are slimmer than 1 in 10,000. There's a 1 in 10,000 chance that you'll be physically injured by a toilet this year. A toilet. Toilet's are our friends, and yet, there's a better chance of a toilet injuring you than of Texas A&M winning this game. What makes it crazier is that Northern Iowa's last two games had ended LIKE THIS and LIKE THIS. You have to give props to Northern Iowa, if nothing else they are consistent in providing unreal finishes. As amazing as this was, it didn't knock out a single survivor...but, I really wish it had as it would be hilarious to make fun of someone after that. It did, however, allow 19 contestants to move on to Week 2.
Within ten minutes of that astounding collapse we also saw Xavier get knocked out by Wisconsin on a 3 as time expired. This finish actually did knock people out as seven combatants had their hopes pinned to Bill Murray's cap. The last game of the night saw Oregon escape St. Joe's and move the rest of our selectors on as well. It probably deserves more text than that, but I'm over it.
As mentioned above, there are 122 protector's of moral values moving on to the second week. With just four games Thursday and Friday we finally may witness some match-ups that get equal interest for both sides. Thus far the group has been pretty unanimous in their selections, and they've been right on almost all cases. As they say in my old hood, "Shit's about to get real." Indeed it is old hood....indeed it is.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Sunday Picks Through Noon
Choose your Sunday Round 2 Pick
| Iowa | 0 | 0% |
| Villanova | 7 | 6.1% |
| Notre Dame | 7 | 6.1% |
| Stephen F. Austin | 6 | 5.3% |
| VCU | 0 | 0% |
| Oklahoma | 4 | 3.5% |
| Syracuse | 39 | 34.2% |
| Middle Tennessee | 3 | 2.6% |
| Maryland | 27 | 23.7% |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0% |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 0% |
| Xavier | 6 | 5.3% |
| Northern Iowa | 0 | 0% |
| Texas A&M | 13 | 11.4% |
| Oregon | 2 | 1.8% |
| Saint Joseph's | 0 | 0% |
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Day 3 Recap - Down Goes Wichita!
OK Guys, here's your Day 4 Pick Form!
We started Day 3 with a bang as there was FINALLY a HUGE upset in the NCAA Tournament. I think we can all agree the first two days of basketball were extremely boring. Michigan State loss? Who cares only took out one guy. Hawaii knocking off Cal...uh, yeah, we expected that.
But, after two days of results that were completely mundane and contained almost no surprises, we finally get a SHOCKER! (Get it you guys, that's the Wichita mascot!) That's right, the heavily favored, and heavily selected, Wichita State Shockers went down! And they took the hopes and dreams of 31 Survivor Pool entrants with them!
I don't want to be overly dramatic, or fall victim to recency bias, but I think it's safe to say this was one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. Sure, not many people would have ever expected a 3 seed like Miami to knock off a powerhouse 11 seed like Wichita State, but it happened!! Everyone was overlooking these guys after a ho hum season. But, they came through when it mattered!
Just how unbelievable was the Wichita loss? So unbelievable that our smartest two survivors heading into today BOTH saw their dreams, and gigantic tie-breaker scores, shatter into little pieces. Larry Gillespie and Tim Couch Fanclub, famous for their Yale - Hawaii combos, both went out trying to pick their third double digit seed. Like Icarus before them, they flew too close to the sun, and their wings melted away.
With game one in the books it looked like we might be looking at the day that would separate the wheat from the chaff. The day that would allow the cream to rise to the top (it turns out it was a day where the CREAN rised to the top....but I'll get there in a minute). Instead, Duke had to go and screw everything up by not screwing everything up. After jumping out to a quick 89 point lead, they then proceeded to play like a third grade girls team for most of the second half. It looked like something good may finally happen to Yale, but, Duke is Duke. And, when push comes to shove, Duke usually doesn't get called for the foul (burn). Duke was the second most popular pick of the day, and their win moved 48 people on to Sunday. It also sent Ryan S and Photobombed by Bilas packing. Yes, they picked Yale.
As I mentioned, Duke was the second most popular pick. Some of you were probably thinking, well who was the MOST popular? It was probably that bitch Jennifer, but it's only because she'll literally make out with anyone...whoa, sorry, I was thinking of something else. The most popular Survivor Pool play of the day was Iowa State. And, depending on if you picked them, they either did, or did not, disappoint when they won fairly easily. With their win, 58 of our combatants moved on, and ZERO lost their Survivor Pool souls. Apparently no one trusted Little Rock. Yes, today Iowa State truly was paper and not scissors.
Indiana v Kentucky was an awesome game if you're an Indiana fan, or, even better, if you're just a bitter dude in his basement cheering against UK because the team you love is sitting at home due to a stupid post-season ban brought about by a crazy hooker everyone is willing to listen to...sorry. One person, pool runner The Phillionire's Club, had the balls and brains to pick Indiana. While three people were pulling for Kentucky and ended up sad. Meanwhile, IU fans get a few more years of TOM CREAN!!!! Honestly, I expected a few more UK picks here as I thought they were pretty much universally expected to win, and people wouldn't want to save them.
The Virginia v Butler game actually got pretty close. But, the seven chalk eating weasels that picked the Hoos move on to Sunday. The Hoos, that's a dumb things for the Virginia Cavaliers to be nicknamed. No one wasted a pick on Butler. But, Bazinga! did waste a pick on Providence as they lost to UNC, who an additional eight chalk eating weasels backed.
Gonzaga v Utah was the game that attracted the most controversy...I guess. I mean there were 15 picks on Gonzaga and six on Utah. That's actually fairly controversial for us thus far the tournament as basically every game has been pretty one sided on how the picks have gone. Unsurprisingly, the 15 contestants that took the 11 seed turned out to be right. This game was never even close. It was a stunning loss for Utah who hadn't lost this badly in an entire week!! My God, the NCAA Selection Committee was just horrendous this year. It'slike they're trying to manufacture double digit seeds making Sweet 16 runs. Seriously, I would actually think they were trying to do this if I didn't truly believe they're just completely incompetent. This game also featured the color commentary stylings of Steve Lappas. He is an amazing color commentator if you enjoy the feeling of your ears being put into a cheese grater.
We started the day with 186 beautiful warriors for peace, we end the night with 144, the 12th Fibonacci Number and the number that represents one gross (a dozen dozens). It seems fitting....I guess....
We started Day 3 with a bang as there was FINALLY a HUGE upset in the NCAA Tournament. I think we can all agree the first two days of basketball were extremely boring. Michigan State loss? Who cares only took out one guy. Hawaii knocking off Cal...uh, yeah, we expected that.
But, after two days of results that were completely mundane and contained almost no surprises, we finally get a SHOCKER! (Get it you guys, that's the Wichita mascot!) That's right, the heavily favored, and heavily selected, Wichita State Shockers went down! And they took the hopes and dreams of 31 Survivor Pool entrants with them!
I don't want to be overly dramatic, or fall victim to recency bias, but I think it's safe to say this was one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. Sure, not many people would have ever expected a 3 seed like Miami to knock off a powerhouse 11 seed like Wichita State, but it happened!! Everyone was overlooking these guys after a ho hum season. But, they came through when it mattered!
Just how unbelievable was the Wichita loss? So unbelievable that our smartest two survivors heading into today BOTH saw their dreams, and gigantic tie-breaker scores, shatter into little pieces. Larry Gillespie and Tim Couch Fanclub, famous for their Yale - Hawaii combos, both went out trying to pick their third double digit seed. Like Icarus before them, they flew too close to the sun, and their wings melted away.
With game one in the books it looked like we might be looking at the day that would separate the wheat from the chaff. The day that would allow the cream to rise to the top (it turns out it was a day where the CREAN rised to the top....but I'll get there in a minute). Instead, Duke had to go and screw everything up by not screwing everything up. After jumping out to a quick 89 point lead, they then proceeded to play like a third grade girls team for most of the second half. It looked like something good may finally happen to Yale, but, Duke is Duke. And, when push comes to shove, Duke usually doesn't get called for the foul (burn). Duke was the second most popular pick of the day, and their win moved 48 people on to Sunday. It also sent Ryan S and Photobombed by Bilas packing. Yes, they picked Yale.
As I mentioned, Duke was the second most popular pick. Some of you were probably thinking, well who was the MOST popular? It was probably that bitch Jennifer, but it's only because she'll literally make out with anyone...whoa, sorry, I was thinking of something else. The most popular Survivor Pool play of the day was Iowa State. And, depending on if you picked them, they either did, or did not, disappoint when they won fairly easily. With their win, 58 of our combatants moved on, and ZERO lost their Survivor Pool souls. Apparently no one trusted Little Rock. Yes, today Iowa State truly was paper and not scissors.
Indiana v Kentucky was an awesome game if you're an Indiana fan, or, even better, if you're just a bitter dude in his basement cheering against UK because the team you love is sitting at home due to a stupid post-season ban brought about by a crazy hooker everyone is willing to listen to...sorry. One person, pool runner The Phillionire's Club, had the balls and brains to pick Indiana. While three people were pulling for Kentucky and ended up sad. Meanwhile, IU fans get a few more years of TOM CREAN!!!! Honestly, I expected a few more UK picks here as I thought they were pretty much universally expected to win, and people wouldn't want to save them.
The Virginia v Butler game actually got pretty close. But, the seven chalk eating weasels that picked the Hoos move on to Sunday. The Hoos, that's a dumb things for the Virginia Cavaliers to be nicknamed. No one wasted a pick on Butler. But, Bazinga! did waste a pick on Providence as they lost to UNC, who an additional eight chalk eating weasels backed.
Gonzaga v Utah was the game that attracted the most controversy...I guess. I mean there were 15 picks on Gonzaga and six on Utah. That's actually fairly controversial for us thus far the tournament as basically every game has been pretty one sided on how the picks have gone. Unsurprisingly, the 15 contestants that took the 11 seed turned out to be right. This game was never even close. It was a stunning loss for Utah who hadn't lost this badly in an entire week!! My God, the NCAA Selection Committee was just horrendous this year. It'slike they're trying to manufacture double digit seeds making Sweet 16 runs. Seriously, I would actually think they were trying to do this if I didn't truly believe they're just completely incompetent. This game also featured the color commentary stylings of Steve Lappas. He is an amazing color commentator if you enjoy the feeling of your ears being put into a cheese grater.
We started the day with 186 beautiful warriors for peace, we end the night with 144, the 12th Fibonacci Number and the number that represents one gross (a dozen dozens). It seems fitting....I guess....
Saturday Pick Distribution
Choose your Saturday Round 2 Pick
| Miami FL | 6 | 3.8% |
| Wichita St. | 31 | 19.7% |
| Duke | 38 | 24.2% |
| Yale | 1 | 0.6% |
| Kentucky | 2 | 1.3% |
| Indiana | 0 | 0% |
| Iowa St. | 49 | 31.2% |
| Arkansas-Little Rock | 0 | 0% |
| Virginia | 7 | 4.5% |
| Butler | 0 | 0% |
| Kansas | 0 | 0% |
| Connecticut | 0 | 0% |
| Utah | 6 | 3.8% |
| Gonzaga | 9 | 5.7% |
| North Carolina | 7 | 4.5% |
| Providence | 1 | 0.6% |
Friday, March 18, 2016
Day 2 Recap
First, the mandatory link to the Day 3 Pick Sheet.
And, the obligatory link to the LEADERBOARD.
Now that the formalities are out of the way, onto an insightful summarization of the goings on that occurred during the 2nd day of what is once again, and rightfully so I might add, called the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Yes, the stupid NCAA tried to make us call this the second round for a few years...but, America fought back. Yes, we're going to super size our freaking value meal no matter what stupid nerd doctors say. Yes, we're going make Mexico build and pay for a wall they don't want. And, yes, we are going to refer to the play-in games as play-in games and the round of 64 is going to be the first freaking round forever and ever!
I realize the basketball on day 2 was absolutely incredible, but before I get to the games....I want to talk about commercials again. I understand that there was a fairly significant amount of text about the commercials on the Day 1 recap. But, to be fair, these games are like 50% commercials. I feel like I really dropped the ball yesterday by not bringing up the BW3's commercial about Daddy Going to Art School. In case you don't watch it, and haven't seen it somehow, it features an apathetic mother who is leaving her children with their father, a father that the children apparently hate. The children do not want to be left with this man, and beg their mother to allow them to go into BW3's...but she disallows this....because their father went to art school. At first glance it's kind of funny I guess, and it's cool that this chick is ditching her nerd husband to watch basketball. BUT, what does it mean!? Why does his having attended art school mean the children are not allowed in BW3's? Does he hate sports and forbid his children from watching sports? Does she just hate her children and want to pawn them off on her weak nerd of a husband? I demand a sequel to this commercial BW3's. America needs answers!
While America was fiercely debating the meaning of BW3's commercials, the first round was coming to it's climactic conclusion. If you took the time to fill out a bracket, it's probably completely blown up by now. Michigan State, the second choice in Vegas to cut down the nets in Houston, wound up getting run off the court by a Giddy Middle Tennessee State team. I think we can all agree the middle part of Tennessee is underrated, and today it was proven. But, while this blew up brackets, it was relatively meaningless in the Survivor Pool as only 1 person put his hopes and dreams on Tom Izzo's shoulders today. Hilariously (well not for him/her) the entry was under the name "You did what?" Which is precisely what people said when they found out (s)he picked Michigan State today.
Despite brackets across the country being busted, you bastards just won't make bad picks in the Survivor Pool. The three most popular picks for Friday were Iowa (30), Maryland (29), and VCU (27). All 3 won, of course. After going an incredible 61-3 in 8/9 match-ups on day 1, our combatants now sit at a preposterous 139 - 17 in 8/9 and 7/10 games. These games are supposed to be hard people. Hell, you guys went 10-5 picking 13 seed Hawaii over 5 seed Cal. That's really good, but, of the five losing entries, three belonged to DaddyNeedsAWin....Well Daddy, you can't always get what you want, but if you pick Cal three times you also don't get what you need apparently. Meanwhile, Larry Gillespie and Tim Couch Fanclub get shout-outs for a second consecutive day; not only did they both pick Yale yesterday, they both backed it up with wins on Hawaii on day 2! Also, no idea if I used that semi-colon properly. I don't know how to use them, but it felt right. It's not like this is being graded. You don't own me any more Mrs. Miller, I don't give a crap if I use perfect grammar. You know who else didn't know how to use semi-colons? Jesus.
Another quick punctuation mark aside...When did people start spelling it Hawai'i? This feels like more politically correct BS to me, and I don't like it. If it's not political correctness it's probably just another attempt by Big Apostrophe to get us all to use those lame flying commas more. Im not buying it.
The last three games of the night were legitimately three of the best basketball games you could ever imagine witnessing. But, once again, they didn't result in many eliminations. Notre Dame carried the hopes and dreams of 13 participants. The Irish shook off their post St. Paddy's day hangover in the second half, and, once again, a bunch of people moved on to tomorrow.
Northern Iowa, in about the most dramatic fashion imaginable, moved a mere four people onto Saturday. The also sent four people packing that were silly enough to pick Texas. Including Larry Gillespie, you remember him, the guy with one of the Yale - Hawaii entries, not so smart anymore, huh Larry? No, seriously though, losing like this sucks. But you know what's even worse? I mean, like way worse? Losing like this. And, yes, that dunk that didn't count ended the run for seven of our fierce competitors, including one of the pool creators, The Phillionaire's Club, and the only guy smart enough to play Stephen F Austin today, mmidland. The worst luck guy? How about silverfox who had entries on each of these losers. Ouch.
At the end of one of the most insane days of basketball ever, 186 of our 260 original entrants are still alive and picking. Good luck on day 3, we're all going to need it.
And, the obligatory link to the LEADERBOARD.
Now that the formalities are out of the way, onto an insightful summarization of the goings on that occurred during the 2nd day of what is once again, and rightfully so I might add, called the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Yes, the stupid NCAA tried to make us call this the second round for a few years...but, America fought back. Yes, we're going to super size our freaking value meal no matter what stupid nerd doctors say. Yes, we're going make Mexico build and pay for a wall they don't want. And, yes, we are going to refer to the play-in games as play-in games and the round of 64 is going to be the first freaking round forever and ever!
I realize the basketball on day 2 was absolutely incredible, but before I get to the games....I want to talk about commercials again. I understand that there was a fairly significant amount of text about the commercials on the Day 1 recap. But, to be fair, these games are like 50% commercials. I feel like I really dropped the ball yesterday by not bringing up the BW3's commercial about Daddy Going to Art School. In case you don't watch it, and haven't seen it somehow, it features an apathetic mother who is leaving her children with their father, a father that the children apparently hate. The children do not want to be left with this man, and beg their mother to allow them to go into BW3's...but she disallows this....because their father went to art school. At first glance it's kind of funny I guess, and it's cool that this chick is ditching her nerd husband to watch basketball. BUT, what does it mean!? Why does his having attended art school mean the children are not allowed in BW3's? Does he hate sports and forbid his children from watching sports? Does she just hate her children and want to pawn them off on her weak nerd of a husband? I demand a sequel to this commercial BW3's. America needs answers!
While America was fiercely debating the meaning of BW3's commercials, the first round was coming to it's climactic conclusion. If you took the time to fill out a bracket, it's probably completely blown up by now. Michigan State, the second choice in Vegas to cut down the nets in Houston, wound up getting run off the court by a Giddy Middle Tennessee State team. I think we can all agree the middle part of Tennessee is underrated, and today it was proven. But, while this blew up brackets, it was relatively meaningless in the Survivor Pool as only 1 person put his hopes and dreams on Tom Izzo's shoulders today. Hilariously (well not for him/her) the entry was under the name "You did what?" Which is precisely what people said when they found out (s)he picked Michigan State today.
Despite brackets across the country being busted, you bastards just won't make bad picks in the Survivor Pool. The three most popular picks for Friday were Iowa (30), Maryland (29), and VCU (27). All 3 won, of course. After going an incredible 61-3 in 8/9 match-ups on day 1, our combatants now sit at a preposterous 139 - 17 in 8/9 and 7/10 games. These games are supposed to be hard people. Hell, you guys went 10-5 picking 13 seed Hawaii over 5 seed Cal. That's really good, but, of the five losing entries, three belonged to DaddyNeedsAWin....Well Daddy, you can't always get what you want, but if you pick Cal three times you also don't get what you need apparently. Meanwhile, Larry Gillespie and Tim Couch Fanclub get shout-outs for a second consecutive day; not only did they both pick Yale yesterday, they both backed it up with wins on Hawaii on day 2! Also, no idea if I used that semi-colon properly. I don't know how to use them, but it felt right. It's not like this is being graded. You don't own me any more Mrs. Miller, I don't give a crap if I use perfect grammar. You know who else didn't know how to use semi-colons? Jesus.
Another quick punctuation mark aside...When did people start spelling it Hawai'i? This feels like more politically correct BS to me, and I don't like it. If it's not political correctness it's probably just another attempt by Big Apostrophe to get us all to use those lame flying commas more. Im not buying it.
The last three games of the night were legitimately three of the best basketball games you could ever imagine witnessing. But, once again, they didn't result in many eliminations. Notre Dame carried the hopes and dreams of 13 participants. The Irish shook off their post St. Paddy's day hangover in the second half, and, once again, a bunch of people moved on to tomorrow.
Northern Iowa, in about the most dramatic fashion imaginable, moved a mere four people onto Saturday. The also sent four people packing that were silly enough to pick Texas. Including Larry Gillespie, you remember him, the guy with one of the Yale - Hawaii entries, not so smart anymore, huh Larry? No, seriously though, losing like this sucks. But you know what's even worse? I mean, like way worse? Losing like this. And, yes, that dunk that didn't count ended the run for seven of our fierce competitors, including one of the pool creators, The Phillionaire's Club, and the only guy smart enough to play Stephen F Austin today, mmidland. The worst luck guy? How about silverfox who had entries on each of these losers. Ouch.
At the end of one of the most insane days of basketball ever, 186 of our 260 original entrants are still alive and picking. Good luck on day 3, we're all going to need it.
Friday Picks Breakdown
Here's how things are shaking out with the majority of the picks in. Not too surprisingly, VCU as a 4 1/2 point favorite as a 10 seed is the most popular pick, followed closely by Iowa. The biggest shocker though has to be the 11 crazy people who took Hawaii! What the hell are you all thinking?! Wait a second... Lemme just... check my picks... uhhh... Wait, so it's actually 10 crazy people and one super genius that went Hawaii. Yep, only one... genius.... Anyway, good luck today!
Choose your Friday Round 1 Pick
| Villanova | 5 | 2.4% |
| UNC Asheville | 0 | 0% |
| Oregon St. | 2 | 1% |
| VCU | 27 | 13% |
| California | 6 | 2.9% |
| Hawaii | 11 | 5.3% |
| Michigan St. | 0 | 0% |
| Middle Tennessee | 0 | 0% |
| Iowa | 25 | 12.1% |
| Temple | 0 | 0% |
| Oklahoma | 0 | 0% |
| Cal St. Bakersfiled | 0 | 0% |
| Maryland | 27 | 13% |
| South Dakota St. | 0 | 0% |
| Wisconsin | 7 | 3.4% |
| Pittsburgh | 2 | 1% |
| West Virginia | 6 | 2.9% |
| Stephen F. Austin | 1 | 0.5% |
| Texas A&M | 12 | 5.8% |
| Green Bay | 0 | 0% |
| Oregon | 19 | 9.2% |
| Holy Cross | 0 | 0% |
| Xavier | 10 | 4.8% |
| Weber St. | 0 | 0% |
| Notre Dame | 14 | 6.8% |
| Michigan | 0 | 0% |
| Texas | 5 | 2.4% |
| Northern Iowa | 2 | 1% |
| Saint Joseph's | 3 | 1.4% |
| Cincinnati | 4 | 1.9% |
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Survivor Pool Day 1 Recap & Day 2 Links
First off guys, reminder that the leaderboard can be found HERE.
And the Friday pick form is HERE.
It was a day filled with excitement, anger, joy, pain, redemption, and BW3's commercials. And, while the day ended with some great games, I think we can all agree that it started with a whisper. Seriously though, getting back to commercials for a second, was it just me or is there not a really annoying commercial on at every break this year? I mean we got a lot of BW3's, Barkley and the boys (which I like), some Batman v Superman, Lil' Wayne hanging with Wesley Snipes...but, nothing I consider brutally annoying. I guess maybe the Burger King hot dog commercial was the WURST!? Get it guys, a hot dog is similar to a bratwurst, so it's funny on multiple levels.
Of course the biggest winners today were white people and trust funds. It's about time the 1% got a win, right? If you're confused by this comment, let me walk you through my logic....
The West bracket had a pod start off in Providence, RI...but, they might as well have just played the games in the Hamptons where all the Dukies and Yale alums could have taken their yachts to the game instead of having to fuel up their private jets. This West bracket can easily be compared to this year's race to the White House. Bernie Sanders (UNC Wilmington) ruffled some feathers for a while but eventually Clinton (Duke) was just far too strong. Meanwhile, Trump, the rich asshole that's never been involved in politics (Yale and never being in the tournament), just got out to a huge lead early and the crazy Texan Cruz (Baylor) just couldn't catch him. I know, brilliant correlation.
So, now we get Duke v Yale. Great. We can cheer for this guy or this guy. I'm so excited. This is what we have to look forward to America....
While Yale was a big upset, it only knocked out 11 players in the Survivor Pool, including one of the author's entries (D Money Stay Woke). Meanwhile, one entrant, Scott Kremer, took a shot against the Dukies and fell short...ya gave it a good run, and we love you for it. Larry Gillespie, Tim Couch Fanclub, and tjsams were smart enough to pick Yale. Aren't they geniuses? They should go to Yale.
In other news, Purdue still sucks. Right when some people (like me) thought they were capable of making a big run, they go and do what trains are wont to do....yeah, you guessed it. UALR, like Yale before them, advanced three people as Andy Lonnon, kyltan, and Tommy Miami were rewarded for their utter lack of faith in Matt Painter and Purdue.
The most popular pick of the day, UConn, did what UConn always does in the NCAA Tournament and found a way to win a game they shouldn't have. That win moved 30 people onto tomorrow. While just two brave souls (silverfox and RP) tried Colorado. They were left HIGH and dry...boom, marijuana joke. Other super popular 9 seed, Butler, also moved on and eliminated no one, as not a single person in our pool trusted Tubby Smith. Finally, the last 9 seed of the day, Providence, won as well and moved nine people along. The USC loss knocked out Wildturkeydaughter who got to watch their pick blow a late lead and miss 63 straight FTs to let Providence get the win. Astoundingly, we had SIXTY-ONE players advance by picking 9 seeds...and only THREE lose picking their opposing 8 seeds. That seems absolutely incredible to me in what are supposed to be the most competitive first round match-ups.
In the final game of the night, Gonzaga did what 21 of our players thought they would, and knocked off Seton Hall. There were just eight entries on the 6 seed Seton Hall. So, for the day, the 11 seeds got 33 people onto the next round, and the lousy 6 seeds eliminated a mere nine players...including my mother, Julie Crone. Maybe I'll let her have a share in my D Money Haters Get Rekt entry.
Good luck with Day 2, everyone was basically right on day 1, so maybe day 2 will bring a little more challenge.
Friday Pick Form
For all who have advanced so far today, here's the pick form for tomorrow. Good luck!
2016 NCAA Survivor Pool Leaderboard!
Alright kiddos, here's the leaderboard.
Leaderboard
Through the tip of the Duke game, we're at 190 entries. We'll be adding entries as they continue to come in. Keep in mind the pool remains open until tip of the final game, so when UCONN inevitably loses in about 3 hours here, you'll still be able to lose another pick in the evening.
Leaderboard
Through the tip of the Duke game, we're at 190 entries. We'll be adding entries as they continue to come in. Keep in mind the pool remains open until tip of the final game, so when UCONN inevitably loses in about 3 hours here, you'll still be able to lose another pick in the evening.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
2016 NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool!
The year was 2010, and the Ides of March were upon us. The older brother awoke in a cold sweat. He looked to the clock with eyes accustomed to the night, 3 am. He sighed. Another nightmare. Each year at this time he was haunted. Haunted by the feeling that there was something more. That there must be a better way. He tossed and turned, but sleep would evade him.
In a neighboring kingdom, the younger brother slept well that night. And, while his brother awoke listless, the younger brother had less of a dream, and more of a vision. The following day he awoke rested. And, he knew he had the answer.
For as long as anyone could remember The NCAA Tournament was wagered upon in one way: filling out brackets. The single greatest spectacle in sports, a 64 team single-elimination blowout, was turned into a glorified lottery. Since the dawn of man this is how it had been. Sure, some people had brought up alternatives. But, they were typically hung in the town square for witchcraft. The brothers saw others endure this fate, but they pushed on.
When the younger brother spoke to his elder the next day he spoke of his vision. The black crow flew low against a red sky, the sun was rising, the day was born anew. He realized this could mean only one thing.....instead of filling out brackets people should make one selection each day in an NCAA TOURNAMENT SURVIVOR SHOWDOWN!
And, that's why, six years ago, we hastily threw together the greatest pool ever - The NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool! We thought we maxed out three years ago when we had over 100 entries. Then two years ago it grew even larger. And, last year was scary big with 222 entries and a winner walking away with $2000. Can it go even higher this year?! For the sakes of my chances I almost hope it doesn't, but let's see how high this baby can fly! Without further ado, the rules:
In a neighboring kingdom, the younger brother slept well that night. And, while his brother awoke listless, the younger brother had less of a dream, and more of a vision. The following day he awoke rested. And, he knew he had the answer.
For as long as anyone could remember The NCAA Tournament was wagered upon in one way: filling out brackets. The single greatest spectacle in sports, a 64 team single-elimination blowout, was turned into a glorified lottery. Since the dawn of man this is how it had been. Sure, some people had brought up alternatives. But, they were typically hung in the town square for witchcraft. The brothers saw others endure this fate, but they pushed on.
When the younger brother spoke to his elder the next day he spoke of his vision. The black crow flew low against a red sky, the sun was rising, the day was born anew. He realized this could mean only one thing.....instead of filling out brackets people should make one selection each day in an NCAA TOURNAMENT SURVIVOR SHOWDOWN!
And, that's why, six years ago, we hastily threw together the greatest pool ever - The NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool! We thought we maxed out three years ago when we had over 100 entries. Then two years ago it grew even larger. And, last year was scary big with 222 entries and a winner walking away with $2000. Can it go even higher this year?! For the sakes of my chances I almost hope it doesn't, but let's see how high this baby can fly! Without further ado, the rules:
First, remind me of all the links and
stuff I need. I’m going to ask about it,
so just put it up here.
Good
call. Here’s a quick reference for all
the links you should need:
Entry Fee: $20/entry (no limit on entries per person, buy 2, buy 10, hell, buy 20, I might.)
- Website: tourneypools.blogspot.com – the leaderboard and all updates will be posted here. If you have a question where ANYTHING is, go here before asking, because odds are it’s here.
- Entry Form: Embedded in the bottom
- Email: tourneypools@gmail.com – I’m constantly monitoring this and can get back to you fairly quickly. I ask that you do not send questions asking if I got your pick or payment. If you see an error, then send me a question - 99% of the time it's something I screwed up.
- Paypal ID: tourneypools@gmail.com – yep, finally linked ‘em all up. BRANDING!
- Venmo ID: tourneypools@gmail.com - Venmo is basically Paypal for people who are somehow to slow on the uptake to figure out Paypal. You really have no excuse anymore. It's an app you can get on your fancy smartphone.
Wait wait wait, before you start into
your convoluted rules, did you change anything?
I played this stupid game last year, so just give me the changes so I
can get on with my day!
Ok ok
no need to yell here. We nixed the referral pool, but besides that, there's nothing new here. Just scroll to the bottom and enjoy the show!
As usual,
do not email,
text, call, direct message, or facebook message me picks. I will ignore them.
And
with that, now to the rules proper…
Rules
- Choose one team each day that you think will win for that particular day.
- If your team wins, congrats, you move on to the next day of picks (assuming you can still pick a team. If not, see next rule). If not, you are out. If you forget to pick one day, you will receive the “best” team available to you in the last set of games. The “best” team will be determined by whatever spread I find first, probably Bovada.
- Once you have a chosen a team, you cannot choose that team again for the rest of the contest. If you use Kentucky to beat Manhattan in round one, Kentucky will not be an available option if they are still alive in the Elite 8. If you ever get to a point where you cannot pick a team b/c you have used all the teams playing that day, then your entry will be treated like an entry who could pick that day and lost.
- This comes up every year as a point of contention, but just to reiterate – even if someone does not have a pick, you still have to pick correctly for that day to finish ahead of them. Picking to the point where you run out of teams is an acceptable strategy.
- Multiple entries are allowed – buy early, buy often
- How to submit picks:
- Every day, I will create a Google form that will be used by participants to choose their team for that day. The first day will ask for a handful of information. Subsequent days will not ask for as much info. Trust me when I say all info is necessary.
- Subsequent days will only ask for your entry name, email address, and your pick. Please enter your entry name as I have entered it on the Leaderboard. If you know anything about excel, you know how finicky computers are with matching things up if you don’t spell things the same way
- If you want to change your pick for a day, just use the same form and pick again. I can see timestamps on my end, and I’ll just take the latest one.
Deadlines
- Day One purchase and pick deadline is prior to tip for the last set of games of the evening, which usually occurs around 10:30 PM EST. If you lose at noon, go ahead and rebuy on day one - you will not be alone.
- Daily pick deadlines for rounds 1 and 2 are prior to tip for the last set of games for that day. For the Sweet 16 and later, the deadline is prior to tip of the first game of the day. Each form will have the deadline on there.
Winner/Tiebreaker
The
order of finish is first determined by the total number of winning picks made. In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken
in the following manner…
- Highest combined total of all seeds selected
- Ex: You and I get knocked out on Day 6. Because I’m awesome, I had that 12 seed that won in round one. My combined seed picking total is 28, and yours is 26. I win.
- Highest individual seed selected, and then second highest individual seed, etc.
- Ex. You and I get knocked out Day 6, but both of our combined seed totals are 28. I had my 12 seed, but your highest seed you picked was a 10 seed. I win again. (This was the tie-breaker we had to get to in 2012, so make sure you UNDERSTAND THIS RULE.)
- Highest individual seed selected by round, and then second highest individual seed by round, etc.
- Ex. You and I get knocked out Day 6, both of our combined seed totals are 28, and we have happened to have every seed we’ve chosen be the exact same. However, you picked a 10 seed to win in round 1 (which they did), but I had my 10 seed to win in round 2 (which they did). Once again you lose. You’re really bad at this. (If you don’t understand this rule, that’s fine. Odds are it will not come in to play.)
- If this does not result in a tie being broken, the pot will be split evenly.
Payment
- Entry cost: $20
- Money must be in my grubby hands in some form before you make your pick. The pool was big enough last year that I feel like I can big-time you all like this. You can do this one of three ways:
- Venmo - Venmo is a nifty app that lets you quickly send payments to people. You don't even have to worry about commissions. It's basically Paypal for dummies. My Venmo ID is above.
- PayPal – Still the easiest to track and you don’t have to track me down. The paypal ID is above. In addition, when paying on PayPal, CHOOSE THAT IT IS A PERSONAL PAYMENT! Otherwise, PayPal will take a commission. If you do not have a PayPal account, sign up now so it can check your bank account. Again, this is the preferred method of payment. Not only does it guarantee I get the money, it also GETS YOU PAID FASTER IF YOU WIN!!!
- Find my and physically hand me cash or a check. I literally have to have the payment in my hand. Do not call me and say “I’ll get you Sunday.” Not happening. Unless that Sunday is the Sunday before the tournament starts.
- Payouts will be determined at the end based on number of entries. We will not pay out beyond 7 spots.
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