TourneyPools HQ is mulling over a significant change this season. And we're split. Like, shouting matches for months now split. Personally, I'm for the changes, but I don't want my own biases to cloud my judgement here. So, I'll bring it to you. Allow me to lay out the proposed changes, and then I'll let you, the people who have made this pool the best pool out there, dictate the future.
As you all know, we've always done one pick a day. The proposal is to remove consideration of which day of the week a game falls on and just pick that many games per round. So, rather than one Thursday game and one Friday game in round 1, players would just have to correctly pick two first round games, regardless of day. Of course, BOTH will have to win for you to move on to the next round. This would be the case for Round 1, Round 2, The Sweet 16, and The Elite Eight.
Now, of course, this changes a couple rules. Let's hit the two big ones...
- Deadlines - Rounds 1 & 2 would be until the tip of the 2nd to last game on Friday & Sunday respectively. The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight would both lock at tip of the very first game on Thursday and Saturday respectively.
- Tiebreakers - There could be a concern in later rounds that picking later games would help with the tiebreakers and whatnot. To alleviate this, any submitted picks will count toward tiebreaker scores. Example: let's say you get to the Elite Eight and one of your picks loses, but your second pick still has yet to play. That second pick will still count toward your total win count & tiebreaker scores should they win, but you will not be able to make a Final Four pick as you failed to successfully pick two winners.
- Revisions - Round 1 and 2 revisions would be allowed in the event you wanted to change a pick even after your other pick played and won. I'll be honest - I haven't figured out how I want this to look yet. But it will be allowed. If you want to change before both picks have played, the old method of resubmitting will still apply.
Simple enough on the surface, right? RIGHT? I guess there's where you come in. Do you like the idea of picking two games at once? Or do we "not mess with perfection" and keep things the way they are?
Before answering, here are the pros & cons I've considered, along with how a couple rules would change...
- Pro - Simplified strategy - Consideration of just the bracket and not day + bracket makes things much more manageable. Additionally, there was previously a valid strategy to use the calendar to your advantage and play for nobody being alive with a national champion; I like the idea of the championship potentially meaning something every year.
- Con - Simplified strategy - I don't ever think this pool will be "too easy," but removing constraints does simplify things. If you think playing around those extra constraints is to your advantage, maybe you like the old rules.
- Pro - Pool is open longer - We get a lot of entries after tip of the first game up until the final Thursday game. Now, things will be open until the end of Friday. Who knows how many more entries that will attract, but it'll surely fatten the pool even more.
- Pro - Lesser time commitment - filling out as many as nine of these forms is a pain; changing cuts that number in half for everyone involved. It's also far less time on my end, although I'm not sure anyone is factoring that into the equation.
- Con - Less flexibility to adjust for remaining competitors - I know in the past, when there was a bad Elite Eight Saturday that brought the pool down to just a few people, strategies changed to safer picks. That ability to adjust on S16 Friday and E8 Sunday would be out the window.
And with that, it's time to vote! Form is below. I'll keep this form open until Sunday, March 17th 2019, at 6 PM EDT, at which time I will have to decide which is the will of the people. FYI - It will not be a simple majority rules.
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