The Day 8 Pick Form is live below. Good luck!
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
2019 NCAA Survivor Pool Day 5 Pick Form
Ok, time to get down to the real business at hand. Sweet 16 Thursday is live!
Also, remember, PICKS ARE DUE BY TIP OF THE FIRST GAME!! Good luck!
Also, remember, PICKS ARE DUE BY TIP OF THE FIRST GAME!! Good luck!
Saturday, March 23, 2019
2019 NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool Day 3 Recap
Leaderboard
Day 4 Pick Sheet
Well, once again Day 3 started with a bang. LSU, once again playing while being coached by a mascot Tiger, pulled out a victory with a layup with just 1 second left on the clock. That layup moved 23 brave geniuses on to day 4 while sending a mere two entries home. So, we only lost two people to start the day. But, it's early, and there's a lot of great games left. Clearly, this was going to be the first of many great games on the third day of the Tournament! It's not like the rest of the day would be incredibly boring with every favorite winning. This is the NCAA Tournament. THIS. IS. MADNESS! Right?
Wrong.
The rest of the day was basically too boring to recap. Really, the only game that did any real damage to the Survivor Pool was Florida State dismantling Murray State. Unsurprisingly the actual state State was able to upend the fake state of Murray. But, this game did knock out 20 believers in the hype of Ja, so, for that reason alone, it was by far the most interesting game of the day. It was a low bar.
Look, it's late, and I've done literally no research to back this up. But, I'm just going to go ahead and say that this is the first time in NCAA Tournament history that every 2nd Round game in a day was won by 1-4 seeds. It's never happened before. Don't fact check it...I didn't...just roll with it.
Remember last year? We had nuns coaching 11 seeds to Final Fours. We had 9s and 7s beating 1s and 2s. We had FUN. This year...what do ya got? Nothing. Just a bunch of 1s and 2 seeds winning by 50 and moving everyone on to the next day.
Basically I should've just made THIS VIDEO the recap of today and been done with it.
We started the day with 251 live entries, we ended the day with 209 entries as just 42 people were unable to pick favorites and advance. That means that we still have 33% of our pool alive heading into Day 4.
Day 4 Pick Sheet
Well, once again Day 3 started with a bang. LSU, once again playing while being coached by a mascot Tiger, pulled out a victory with a layup with just 1 second left on the clock. That layup moved 23 brave geniuses on to day 4 while sending a mere two entries home. So, we only lost two people to start the day. But, it's early, and there's a lot of great games left. Clearly, this was going to be the first of many great games on the third day of the Tournament! It's not like the rest of the day would be incredibly boring with every favorite winning. This is the NCAA Tournament. THIS. IS. MADNESS! Right?
Wrong.
The rest of the day was basically too boring to recap. Really, the only game that did any real damage to the Survivor Pool was Florida State dismantling Murray State. Unsurprisingly the actual state State was able to upend the fake state of Murray. But, this game did knock out 20 believers in the hype of Ja, so, for that reason alone, it was by far the most interesting game of the day. It was a low bar.
Look, it's late, and I've done literally no research to back this up. But, I'm just going to go ahead and say that this is the first time in NCAA Tournament history that every 2nd Round game in a day was won by 1-4 seeds. It's never happened before. Don't fact check it...I didn't...just roll with it.
Remember last year? We had nuns coaching 11 seeds to Final Fours. We had 9s and 7s beating 1s and 2s. We had FUN. This year...what do ya got? Nothing. Just a bunch of 1s and 2 seeds winning by 50 and moving everyone on to the next day.
Basically I should've just made THIS VIDEO the recap of today and been done with it.
We started the day with 251 live entries, we ended the day with 209 entries as just 42 people were unable to pick favorites and advance. That means that we still have 33% of our pool alive heading into Day 4.
Friday, March 22, 2019
2019 NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool Day 2 Recap
Links for the lazy:
Leaderboard
Day 3 Pick Form
Well, day 2 began in much the same way day 1 began...a lot of people losing. Fifty of our lovely participants decided that Cincinnati would surely have gotten over blowing a 22 point lead to lose in the 2nd round last year. Obviously, they would be able to handle Iowa. Those 50 people were very wrong. Cincinnati did do a little better, this season they only blew a 13 point lead...progress! Iowa was only picked by THREE people, and in the next game Oklahoma losing sent 7 people packing while only three move on with Ole Miss...I'm starting to think the hive mind might be broken.
The wisdom of crowds finally got back on track with Texas Tech beating Northern Kentucky in a match up that didn't knock out a single competitor and 37 chalk eaters move on to pick another day.
The match-up between UC Irvine and Kansas State was one I expected to draw some interest from people looking for those sweet tie breaker points, but only 12 people jumped on the Ant Eater bandwagon that rolls on to Saturday, while nine losers got sent packing after trusting K State. Five geniuses strung together Murray State and UC Irvine and are sitting at a lofty 25 point tie breaker score through two days. Will they start chalking out, or keep trying to fly close to the sun?
Colgate and Tennessee actually ended up interesting giving the 11 warriors that chose Tennessee some anxious moments. But in the end Tennessee pulled it out and left me coming up blank on a good toothpaste related joke for Colgate. I mean, I know there should be a way to use that in a somewhat humorous way, but it eluded me...oh well.
Virginia v Gardner Webb was actually a pretty fun game in the first half. But, it was like Virginia didn't even care about the meme potential of a second straight 1 v 16 loss. So, instead of doing the noble thing, they killed our fun and advance to Saturday, and they advance Michael Smith along with them as he was the only person...brave?....enough to pick this game. Duke's similar win later in the day over North Dakota State also advanced one person as Devin Cousins decided he didn't need Duke again after today.
The match-up between Buffalo and Arizona State had a little extra twist since Bobby Hurley left Buffalo a few years back to take the Arizona State job. It was a real Aniston v Jolie situation here. And I, for one, was happy to see Aniston score the win today. Also happy were the 31 selectors who believe in a little thing called loyalty. Five entrants lost there spot in the Survivor pool by siding with some harlot from Tempe over a nice, loyal gal from upstate New York.
Oregon's utter destruction of Wisconsin sent another 20 loyal soldiers on to Saturday while sending six dummies packing. Ya know, Manute Bol's son, Bol Bol played for Oregon before he was injured. His name is Bol Bol, here's him signing a bowl thus creating the Bol Bol Bowl, an item that will likely be revered three thousand years from now as one of the most important artifacts from the early 21st century. Washington kept the Pac-12 party rolling as they crushed a Utah St. team that 20 people were silly enough to believe in, just two fair scholars advanced by picking the Huskies.
Houston was today's big, "oh damn, maybe I shouldn't have used them already" pick as the Cougars crushed Georgia State by 31 advancing 45 lovely souls. Georgia State not only lost the game, they could also lose Ron Hunter, their coach, who gets into a lot of wacky situations....a lot of them. The state of Georgia just isn't big enough for a bunch of memes from two coaches.
Big news for Donald Trump today as well, as his buddy Jerry Falwell Jr. got his daddy's school, Liberty to advance to the second round. Why is this big for Trump? Well, Liberty is the only college basketball team likely to accept an invitation to the White House if they win the Championship...fire up the grills McDonald's, might have a big order coming your way. I'm loving it! Also loving it were the two human entrants that threw their faith Liberty's way, the 29 suckers that thought Jesus wouldn't care about basketball today were clearly mistaken. I'm sure somewhere Jerry Falwell himself is smiling...like, definitely not in Heaven...but somewhere maybe.
The biggest game from the night session featured Iowa State and Ohio State, two States that are actually states facing one another to determine which Midwestern State would be crowned the okayest this spring. Thirty-five of us believed the hype after Iowa State's run through the Big 12 Tournament, and 35 of us were mistaken. A mere three entries will move on to Saturday thanks to Ohio State's win, once again proving the hive mind is struggling this season!
Meanwhile Tacko Fall and 11 of his Fall-owers will move on to tomorrow as well after Central Florida knocked out the two suckers that still remembered that one time VCU was good like 10 years ago. Three people moved on with UNC burning a one seed. And Virginia Tech advanced a remarkable 66 survivors who jumped on board that train now that Buzz Williams is sporting a fresh hairdo.
All in all it was another eventful day as we lost 166 of the 417 wonderful entrants that began the day with their hopes and dreams in tact. We have just 251 of the 639 entries still alive to make a pick for Day 3 of the Tournament. For those keeping track, that means we have eliminated over 60% of the original pool in a mere 2 days. Not so easy, is it?
Leaderboard
Day 3 Pick Form
Well, day 2 began in much the same way day 1 began...a lot of people losing. Fifty of our lovely participants decided that Cincinnati would surely have gotten over blowing a 22 point lead to lose in the 2nd round last year. Obviously, they would be able to handle Iowa. Those 50 people were very wrong. Cincinnati did do a little better, this season they only blew a 13 point lead...progress! Iowa was only picked by THREE people, and in the next game Oklahoma losing sent 7 people packing while only three move on with Ole Miss...I'm starting to think the hive mind might be broken.
The wisdom of crowds finally got back on track with Texas Tech beating Northern Kentucky in a match up that didn't knock out a single competitor and 37 chalk eaters move on to pick another day.
The match-up between UC Irvine and Kansas State was one I expected to draw some interest from people looking for those sweet tie breaker points, but only 12 people jumped on the Ant Eater bandwagon that rolls on to Saturday, while nine losers got sent packing after trusting K State. Five geniuses strung together Murray State and UC Irvine and are sitting at a lofty 25 point tie breaker score through two days. Will they start chalking out, or keep trying to fly close to the sun?
Colgate and Tennessee actually ended up interesting giving the 11 warriors that chose Tennessee some anxious moments. But in the end Tennessee pulled it out and left me coming up blank on a good toothpaste related joke for Colgate. I mean, I know there should be a way to use that in a somewhat humorous way, but it eluded me...oh well.
Virginia v Gardner Webb was actually a pretty fun game in the first half. But, it was like Virginia didn't even care about the meme potential of a second straight 1 v 16 loss. So, instead of doing the noble thing, they killed our fun and advance to Saturday, and they advance Michael Smith along with them as he was the only person...brave?....enough to pick this game. Duke's similar win later in the day over North Dakota State also advanced one person as Devin Cousins decided he didn't need Duke again after today.
The match-up between Buffalo and Arizona State had a little extra twist since Bobby Hurley left Buffalo a few years back to take the Arizona State job. It was a real Aniston v Jolie situation here. And I, for one, was happy to see Aniston score the win today. Also happy were the 31 selectors who believe in a little thing called loyalty. Five entrants lost there spot in the Survivor pool by siding with some harlot from Tempe over a nice, loyal gal from upstate New York.
Oregon's utter destruction of Wisconsin sent another 20 loyal soldiers on to Saturday while sending six dummies packing. Ya know, Manute Bol's son, Bol Bol played for Oregon before he was injured. His name is Bol Bol, here's him signing a bowl thus creating the Bol Bol Bowl, an item that will likely be revered three thousand years from now as one of the most important artifacts from the early 21st century. Washington kept the Pac-12 party rolling as they crushed a Utah St. team that 20 people were silly enough to believe in, just two fair scholars advanced by picking the Huskies.
Houston was today's big, "oh damn, maybe I shouldn't have used them already" pick as the Cougars crushed Georgia State by 31 advancing 45 lovely souls. Georgia State not only lost the game, they could also lose Ron Hunter, their coach, who gets into a lot of wacky situations....a lot of them. The state of Georgia just isn't big enough for a bunch of memes from two coaches.
Big news for Donald Trump today as well, as his buddy Jerry Falwell Jr. got his daddy's school, Liberty to advance to the second round. Why is this big for Trump? Well, Liberty is the only college basketball team likely to accept an invitation to the White House if they win the Championship...fire up the grills McDonald's, might have a big order coming your way. I'm loving it! Also loving it were the two human entrants that threw their faith Liberty's way, the 29 suckers that thought Jesus wouldn't care about basketball today were clearly mistaken. I'm sure somewhere Jerry Falwell himself is smiling...like, definitely not in Heaven...but somewhere maybe.
The biggest game from the night session featured Iowa State and Ohio State, two States that are actually states facing one another to determine which Midwestern State would be crowned the okayest this spring. Thirty-five of us believed the hype after Iowa State's run through the Big 12 Tournament, and 35 of us were mistaken. A mere three entries will move on to Saturday thanks to Ohio State's win, once again proving the hive mind is struggling this season!
Meanwhile Tacko Fall and 11 of his Fall-owers will move on to tomorrow as well after Central Florida knocked out the two suckers that still remembered that one time VCU was good like 10 years ago. Three people moved on with UNC burning a one seed. And Virginia Tech advanced a remarkable 66 survivors who jumped on board that train now that Buzz Williams is sporting a fresh hairdo.
All in all it was another eventful day as we lost 166 of the 417 wonderful entrants that began the day with their hopes and dreams in tact. We have just 251 of the 639 entries still alive to make a pick for Day 3 of the Tournament. For those keeping track, that means we have eliminated over 60% of the original pool in a mere 2 days. Not so easy, is it?
Thursday, March 21, 2019
2019 NCAA Survivor Pool Day 1 Recap
First things first...
Leaderboard Link
Day 2 Pick Link
Day 1 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament is in the books and we have 636 entries into the Survivor Pool...SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX! That means we have $12,720 in the prize pool this year. When we got to $5K a few years ago I really didn't know how much bigger this could get, last year we fell just short of the $10K mark, and I thought we would have a real shot at breaking it this year, and break it we did. Honestly, early in the day I thought we had a shot at getting to 700 entries after a certain team lost causing many entrants to lose with them...but, you nerds slowed down.
Anyway, the tournament itself started with a pretty uneventful game that I don't want to talk about where 82 people had their hopes and dreams crushed. I feel bad for Carson Jones who really put a ton of faith in my beloved Louisville Cardinals and lost 10 entries just like that. I feel your pain bro, I feel your pain.
As a quick aside, you know what is a lot of fun? Having your favorite team lose in the FIRST FREAKING GAME of the entire Tournament! That's just great, because it makes the next 12 hours of basketball so much fun to watch. It's not like it completely ruins one of my favorite days of the year. It's not like that at all. Because I'm a mature adult that can get over disappointment, I'm fine. It's not like I hate the six of you that picked Minnesota and laughed as the gilded rodents suddenly decided the 50 games they played this season where they couldn't hit a jump shot were all just kind of tom foolery, and today they decided the ruse was over and it was time to make everything. That was great. Congrats you six, the other 82 of us are FINE!
Anyway.
The other early games were more interesting and not as terrible. LSU's paid team of mercenaries with no coach knocked of some Ivy League nerds moving 18 entries on to Friday. Yale meanwhile knocked out six entrants as they shot 8/37 from 3 point range. Yale a team that was a very good 3 point shooting team on the year, just needed a few more to spring the upset....meanwhile, a terrible shooting team, MINNESOTA, was 40% today. I'm not bitter, just pointing that out, it's kind of weird though, right? That a great shooting team chokes and loses, and an awful shooting team suddenly makes a bunch of shots? It's kind of stupid even when you think about it. But, I'm not bitter, don't worry about me...totally not upset about this.
The unluckiest people today? The seven of you that picked New Mexico State. Auburn didn't exactly look great for the last four minutes or so, yet somehow held on for the 1 point victory moving on 21 entries that probably deserve to be packing. And, there wasn't a single Vermont pick, so FSU moving on 36 entries didn't knock out anyone.
Bradley hung with Michigan State for a while, but, ultimately a school named Bradley will never win a meaningful basketball game, maybe stick to sports that sound appropriate for Bradley...I'm thinking rowing and water polo maybe? There were 10 people that moved on with Sparty.
Maryland v Belmont was the premiere sexy upset pick of the opening day. A lot of the smart players smelled an opportunity for tie-breaker points and hopped on the Belmont train. But, Maryland showed how stupid they truly were and sent 41 people packing while moving just 9 warriors on to Friday.
Meanwhile 50 lovely contestants were left saying, "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have used Kansas already" as they beat Northeastern by 70 or so, proving once again why I always say that Northeast is the worst of the ordinal directions.
The other sexy upset pick of the day was Murray State over Marquette. Despite the fact that Murray isn't a state, 32 geniuses believed the legend of Ja Morant and were justly rewarded. This is the type of pick that I always overthink, everyone liked Murray State, Marquette has looked like a dumpster fire for a month, Ja Morant is everyone's favorite guy not named Zion. It all just seemed too obvious...and, that's why I'm losing, because I overthink crap like this. Oh, what a huge surprise, the second best player in the NCAA Tournament posted a Triple Double and was able to beat 4 white guys from Milwaukee....who could have ever seen that coming? This sent 12 people packing, by the way.
I expected Florida v Nevada to be the most contentious pick of the day, and it was up there. 33 contestants believed in my man Mike White and they were right to do so. Meanwhile 20 losers picked Nevada and aren't picking anyone tomorrow. But, give it up for Nevada, it's really hard for a mid-major team to have the most disappointing season in college basketball, but they pulled off the feat! These guys returned basically everyone from last season's Cinderella run, they were Top 10 pre-season, and they end up going home on Day 1 after not even winning the Mountain West Tournament. I can't think of any other fanbase that could be this disappointed.
Gonzaga didn't give their 7 selectors any anxious moments in an easy win. There were 5 picks on Kentucky from people smart enough to burn them before they lose to Wofford this weekend. UK narrowly avoided the upset eeking out a 35 point win over Abilene Christian in a game that could have gone differently had Abilene been a completely different team that didn't suck at basketball. Turning to the most successful Wildcats over the past 10 years, Villanova also won, moving 40 brave souls on to Friday while knocking out 10 dorks who thought This Guy could beat Jay Wright.
The late games started with another fairly contentious 7 v 10 match-up with Seton Hall drawing 19 suckers and 46 survivor pool geniuses using Wofford a game too soon. It was the kind of great match-up you get in the NCAA Tournament with two teams featuring stars with two last names, Myles Powell vs Fletcher Magee. Seton Hall, a team that lost to Depaul twice this season, couldn't handle Wofford despite the Terriers (that's their mascot, seriously) shooting a pedestrian 13/28 from 3 point range, oh Wofford...what could have been?
Michigan over Montana was uneventful moving on 23 chalk eaters and defeating no one. Purdue knocked off Old Dominion moving on 61 people that either, A - felt like Purdue will definitely choke like they always do, but might get one win (me) or B - lost on a lot of these other games today and just wanted a little more action before bed (also me). Good job Purdue. And, nice try Wildturkeydaughter, the only ODU selector, you probably just expected the annual Purdue choke a game too early. Oh, and Purdue.
Finally, we had Baylor knocking off Syracuse in the last meaningful game of the night. There were 16 Baylor Bear Believers that live to pick tomorrow. Meanwhile, 24 dummies decided Syracuse losing one of the 4 guys that actually plays for them probably wouldn't matter and they could win anyway. Those 24 people were wrong, apparently it helps to have five actual scholarship players on a team after all.
Overall, it was a bloody Day 1 in the Survivor Pool. Out of the 636 entries that began the day full of hopes and dreams, only 413 will make it to Day 2. We've already eliminated 35% of our original entries, last year on Day 1 we lost just 27%, so today was tough for the Survivor Pool Hive Mind. If you're still alive, good luck tomorrow, after all...we've only just begun.
Leaderboard Link
Day 2 Pick Link
Day 1 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament is in the books and we have 636 entries into the Survivor Pool...SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX! That means we have $12,720 in the prize pool this year. When we got to $5K a few years ago I really didn't know how much bigger this could get, last year we fell just short of the $10K mark, and I thought we would have a real shot at breaking it this year, and break it we did. Honestly, early in the day I thought we had a shot at getting to 700 entries after a certain team lost causing many entrants to lose with them...but, you nerds slowed down.
Anyway, the tournament itself started with a pretty uneventful game that I don't want to talk about where 82 people had their hopes and dreams crushed. I feel bad for Carson Jones who really put a ton of faith in my beloved Louisville Cardinals and lost 10 entries just like that. I feel your pain bro, I feel your pain.
As a quick aside, you know what is a lot of fun? Having your favorite team lose in the FIRST FREAKING GAME of the entire Tournament! That's just great, because it makes the next 12 hours of basketball so much fun to watch. It's not like it completely ruins one of my favorite days of the year. It's not like that at all. Because I'm a mature adult that can get over disappointment, I'm fine. It's not like I hate the six of you that picked Minnesota and laughed as the gilded rodents suddenly decided the 50 games they played this season where they couldn't hit a jump shot were all just kind of tom foolery, and today they decided the ruse was over and it was time to make everything. That was great. Congrats you six, the other 82 of us are FINE!
Anyway.
The other early games were more interesting and not as terrible. LSU's paid team of mercenaries with no coach knocked of some Ivy League nerds moving 18 entries on to Friday. Yale meanwhile knocked out six entrants as they shot 8/37 from 3 point range. Yale a team that was a very good 3 point shooting team on the year, just needed a few more to spring the upset....meanwhile, a terrible shooting team, MINNESOTA, was 40% today. I'm not bitter, just pointing that out, it's kind of weird though, right? That a great shooting team chokes and loses, and an awful shooting team suddenly makes a bunch of shots? It's kind of stupid even when you think about it. But, I'm not bitter, don't worry about me...totally not upset about this.
The unluckiest people today? The seven of you that picked New Mexico State. Auburn didn't exactly look great for the last four minutes or so, yet somehow held on for the 1 point victory moving on 21 entries that probably deserve to be packing. And, there wasn't a single Vermont pick, so FSU moving on 36 entries didn't knock out anyone.
Bradley hung with Michigan State for a while, but, ultimately a school named Bradley will never win a meaningful basketball game, maybe stick to sports that sound appropriate for Bradley...I'm thinking rowing and water polo maybe? There were 10 people that moved on with Sparty.
Maryland v Belmont was the premiere sexy upset pick of the opening day. A lot of the smart players smelled an opportunity for tie-breaker points and hopped on the Belmont train. But, Maryland showed how stupid they truly were and sent 41 people packing while moving just 9 warriors on to Friday.
Meanwhile 50 lovely contestants were left saying, "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have used Kansas already" as they beat Northeastern by 70 or so, proving once again why I always say that Northeast is the worst of the ordinal directions.
The other sexy upset pick of the day was Murray State over Marquette. Despite the fact that Murray isn't a state, 32 geniuses believed the legend of Ja Morant and were justly rewarded. This is the type of pick that I always overthink, everyone liked Murray State, Marquette has looked like a dumpster fire for a month, Ja Morant is everyone's favorite guy not named Zion. It all just seemed too obvious...and, that's why I'm losing, because I overthink crap like this. Oh, what a huge surprise, the second best player in the NCAA Tournament posted a Triple Double and was able to beat 4 white guys from Milwaukee....who could have ever seen that coming? This sent 12 people packing, by the way.
I expected Florida v Nevada to be the most contentious pick of the day, and it was up there. 33 contestants believed in my man Mike White and they were right to do so. Meanwhile 20 losers picked Nevada and aren't picking anyone tomorrow. But, give it up for Nevada, it's really hard for a mid-major team to have the most disappointing season in college basketball, but they pulled off the feat! These guys returned basically everyone from last season's Cinderella run, they were Top 10 pre-season, and they end up going home on Day 1 after not even winning the Mountain West Tournament. I can't think of any other fanbase that could be this disappointed.
Gonzaga didn't give their 7 selectors any anxious moments in an easy win. There were 5 picks on Kentucky from people smart enough to burn them before they lose to Wofford this weekend. UK narrowly avoided the upset eeking out a 35 point win over Abilene Christian in a game that could have gone differently had Abilene been a completely different team that didn't suck at basketball. Turning to the most successful Wildcats over the past 10 years, Villanova also won, moving 40 brave souls on to Friday while knocking out 10 dorks who thought This Guy could beat Jay Wright.
The late games started with another fairly contentious 7 v 10 match-up with Seton Hall drawing 19 suckers and 46 survivor pool geniuses using Wofford a game too soon. It was the kind of great match-up you get in the NCAA Tournament with two teams featuring stars with two last names, Myles Powell vs Fletcher Magee. Seton Hall, a team that lost to Depaul twice this season, couldn't handle Wofford despite the Terriers (that's their mascot, seriously) shooting a pedestrian 13/28 from 3 point range, oh Wofford...what could have been?
Michigan over Montana was uneventful moving on 23 chalk eaters and defeating no one. Purdue knocked off Old Dominion moving on 61 people that either, A - felt like Purdue will definitely choke like they always do, but might get one win (me) or B - lost on a lot of these other games today and just wanted a little more action before bed (also me). Good job Purdue. And, nice try Wildturkeydaughter, the only ODU selector, you probably just expected the annual Purdue choke a game too early. Oh, and Purdue.
Finally, we had Baylor knocking off Syracuse in the last meaningful game of the night. There were 16 Baylor Bear Believers that live to pick tomorrow. Meanwhile, 24 dummies decided Syracuse losing one of the 4 guys that actually plays for them probably wouldn't matter and they could win anyway. Those 24 people were wrong, apparently it helps to have five actual scholarship players on a team after all.
Overall, it was a bloody Day 1 in the Survivor Pool. Out of the 636 entries that began the day full of hopes and dreams, only 413 will make it to Day 2. We've already eliminated 35% of our original entries, last year on Day 1 we lost just 27%, so today was tough for the Survivor Pool Hive Mind. If you're still alive, good luck tomorrow, after all...we've only just begun.
2019 NCAA Survivor Pool Leaderboard
Leaderboard is live!
Leaderboard
If you see any issues, first confirm that I've actually updated the sheet since you entered. I'll be updating throughout the day and, as you can see, we are heading toward a record number of entries, so don't be surprised if my quick checks didn't yield the expected results.
Leaderboard
If you see any issues, first confirm that I've actually updated the sheet since you entered. I'll be updating throughout the day and, as you can see, we are heading toward a record number of entries, so don't be surprised if my quick checks didn't yield the expected results.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
2019 NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool - Rules and Day One Entry Form
(Entry form is at the bottom for Thursday)
Last year - 485 entries; winner earned $5,000. We almost reached $10K in the pool last year, I expect you all to make it happen this year.
Now, onto the completely true story about how our NCAA Survivor Pool began, and (less interestingly) how you can enter and become a part of the magic:
The year was 2010, and the Ides of March were upon us. The elder brother awoke in a cold sweat. He looked to the clock with eyes accustomed to the night, 3 am. He sighed. Another nightmare. Each March these horrors descended upon him. He was haunted by a sense of dread and emptiness, by a feeling that there was something more. Something just waiting to be discovered to make the lives of everyone around him complete. An end to the suffering and injustices his people endured each year.
He tossed and turned, but once again 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 overtaken by a sense of calm and understanding...And, he knew he had the answer they had been seeking all these years.
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 68 team single-elimination blowout, was turned into a glorified lottery. Since the dawn of man this is how it had been, and in the eyes of many...including the corrupt sheriff, this is how it would, nay, how it SHOULD always be. Yes, throughout the years some foolish souls had brought up alternatives. But, they were typically hung in the town square for witchcraft. The brothers saw others endure this fate, yet they persisted, knowing in their hearts that their mission was pure and noble.
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, nine years ago, much to the chagrin of the evil sheriff, we hastily threw together the greatest pool ever - The NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool! Years ago we thought we had maxed out when we had over 100 entries. Boy were we stupid. Each year more people awaken to the Survivor Pool Revolution. Burn down your brackets and pick up your...Survivor Pool! Tell your friends, tell your family (even that one super creepy uncle...you know the one), and let's get this thing started.
As always 100% of the entry money is paid out...we just run this pool because no one else has ever come up with anything this awesome for us to enter...
SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES:
Last year - 485 entries; winner earned $5,000. We almost reached $10K in the pool last year, I expect you all to make it happen this year.
Now, onto the completely true story about how our NCAA Survivor Pool began, and (less interestingly) how you can enter and become a part of the magic:
The year was 2010, and the Ides of March were upon us. The elder brother awoke in a cold sweat. He looked to the clock with eyes accustomed to the night, 3 am. He sighed. Another nightmare. Each March these horrors descended upon him. He was haunted by a sense of dread and emptiness, by a feeling that there was something more. Something just waiting to be discovered to make the lives of everyone around him complete. An end to the suffering and injustices his people endured each year.
He tossed and turned, but once again 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 overtaken by a sense of calm and understanding...And, he knew he had the answer they had been seeking all these years.
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 68 team single-elimination blowout, was turned into a glorified lottery. Since the dawn of man this is how it had been, and in the eyes of many...including the corrupt sheriff, this is how it would, nay, how it SHOULD always be. Yes, throughout the years some foolish souls had brought up alternatives. But, they were typically hung in the town square for witchcraft. The brothers saw others endure this fate, yet they persisted, knowing in their hearts that their mission was pure and noble.
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, nine years ago, much to the chagrin of the evil sheriff, we hastily threw together the greatest pool ever - The NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool! Years ago we thought we had maxed out when we had over 100 entries. Boy were we stupid. Each year more people awaken to the Survivor Pool Revolution. Burn down your brackets and pick up your...Survivor Pool! Tell your friends, tell your family (even that one super creepy uncle...you know the one), and let's get this thing started.
As always 100% of the entry money is paid out...we just run this pool because no one else has ever come up with anything this awesome for us to enter...
SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES:
- You are allowed UNLIMITED entries (some have suggested we cap it, but that's a bad suggestion because it's impossible to police, and buying 200 entries is a completely reasonable strategy)
- Entries are open until the tip of the last game on day one. Even if you have 50 entries already you can buy more until that game tips off (we had a proposal to allow people to pick two games on Day 2 which would have pushed the entry count higher, but too many people are too lame to see how cool that would've been)
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 - all subsequent forms will be posted here and emailed out. Forms are already scheduled to post at the following times:
- Week 1 forms - 5PM EDT the day before
- Week 2 forms - 10PM EDT the day before
- 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. All forms this year ask for email addresses so you can receive a receipt of your pick. If you got that receipt back, then I have your pick.
- Paypal ID: paypal.me/philipcrone
- Venmo ID: @Philip-Crone - 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. Any changes are underlined below.
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 or try to pick the same team again, you're out. Look, I've made this shit as automated as possible; I can't hold your hand on everything.
- 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 Davidson in round 1, you cannot use Kentucky again for the remainder of the tournament. 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, and your pick. Entry names will be in a drop-down list, so simply find your remaining entry (or entries) name(s) and then make your selection.
- 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 EDT. If you lose at noon, go ahead and re-buy on day one - you will not be alone. AGAIN YOU CAN RE-BUY UNTIL THE LAST GAME TIPS OFF ON DAY ONE!!!
- 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!!!
- Mail - For everyone scared of computers but somehow doesn't mind the footwork of finding a check, finding a stamp, finding an envelope, and combining all these things to pay, you can send that to 1601 Beechwood Ave, New Albany, IN 47150.
- Find me or one of my designated trusted goons (whoever told you about this pool is probably one of them) and physically hand one of us 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 have never paid beyond 7 spots, but depending on entry count may go to 10.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
2019 NCAA Conference Tournament Leaderboard
Here it is!
Leaderboard
I will be validating entries over the next few hours. Also note I added a timestamp so everyone is aware of the last time I updated. Payouts will be posted on a payout tab when I add it. Good luck!
Leaderboard
I will be validating entries over the next few hours. Also note I added a timestamp so everyone is aware of the last time I updated. Payouts will be posted on a payout tab when I add it. Good luck!
Leaderboard Update
Just an FYI, Leaderboard will be up a little later than 6 pm. And, with Louisville starting at 7 that might push it back a bit more. Will have it posted as soon as possible!
Monday, March 11, 2019
2019 NCAA Conference Tournament Pool!
It's the most wonderful time... of the year!
With the kids basket balling
And everyone playing in our Tourney Pooooools…
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
It's the champ-championship week of March
With those roundball greetings and long lunch meetings
At your favorite sports baaaaar
It's the champ-championship week of March!
Oh, you're still doing this, huh?
Yep.
At least I know this song and not that abomination last year.
You're welcome!
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:
- Buy-in: $20/entry
- Entry Form – Embedded at the bottom. You're welcome. Do not email, text, call, direct message, or facebook message me picks. I will ignore them.
- 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, b/c odds are it’s here.
- Email: tourneypools@gmail.com – I’m constantly monitoring this and can get back to you fairly quickly.
- Paypal ID: paypal.me/PhilipCrone
- Venmo ID: @Philip-Crone
- Tournament Bracket Links:
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!
Nah, I've perfected this finally. Just head on down to the bottom and make your picks!
The Rules
- Participants each pick one team from each of the 8 conference tournaments specified below. Who you can pick will be based on seed in the tournament. Participants can pick only one 1 seed, 1 2 seed, 1 3 seed, 1… you get the idea. Here’s the conference tourneys we will be choosing from:
- A-10 (Who has gotten very bad)
- AAC (Who has somehow gotten good)
- ACC (where shoes go to die)
- Big 12 (which has 10 teams; counting is hard)
- Big East (Where X is gonna have it given to them)
- Big Ten (Thank you for moving your tournament to a normal week)
- Pac-12 (Look just make this your 8 seed)
- SEC (Where somehow a coach got pinched in the FBI sting and it WASN'T ol' "two time final four repealed winner" Calipari)
- You may replace a better seeded team w/ a worse seeded team in your 8 team entry if you so choose. For example, if you do not like any 3 seeds in any conference tournament, you can replace your “3 seed” slot with any other team seeded 4 or higher. Likewise, this also means that teams higher than an 8 seed are eligible to be used in any slots.
- Scoring will be as follows:
- Championship win – 4 points
- Semifinal win – 3 points
- Quarterfinal win – 2 points
- “Quarterquarterfinal”? win – 1 point
- This scoring means that only four games maximum will be counted. Teams playing in a fifth game will not have those wins counted.
Entry Fees & Payouts
- Buy-in price is $20
- Multiple entries are allowed
- Pool will be paid out 100%. The only way the moderators make money is if we are smart enough to beat you fools down. Which happened last year. Win your pride back dammit!
- The number of places to be paid out and the allocation of the prize pool in those paid out places will be determined by the moderators once numbers are final and published before the end of the first day of the contest.
- In the event of a tie, participants will split any winnings evenly. I know I’m famous for my obtrusive tiebreaker rules – I’m taking the lazy way out until someone complains and I fix it next year.
Deadlines
- All entries & $$$ must be submitted by Wednesday, March 13th, 2019 at 6 PM EDT – There are a handful of games before that, so if you want those games counted, get your entry in! You may use these teams after they tip and before the deadline, but their points in these games will NOT count toward your total! Here's the games that you could miss out on getting a point in...
- ACC: NC St. vs Clemson
- ACC: Virginia Tech vs Miami/Wake Forest
- P12: USC vs Arizona
- P12: Colorado vs Cal
- The first of these games tips off at Noon EDT, so if you want to be 100% sure, just get entries in by then.
- $$$ can be sent in one of three ways
- You hand it to a moderator in cash or check form\
- Mail a check/cash to 1601 Beechwood Ave., New Albany, IN 47150
- Send it via paypal/venmo to the account listed above – this is by far the easiest method for all involved. If you don’t have a paypal account, sign up for one. I set up an experiment where I asked a dimwitted chimpanzee to sign up for a paypal account, and it took the chimp 2 minutes and 28 seconds. I bet you can easily finish under 3 minutes. Or are you dumber than a dimwitted chimpanzee? I don’t know, I guess it’s possible.
- No IOU’s will be accepted. This isn’t a charity. Maybe when UNICEF gets into the tournament pool business, you can go there and give them your IOU. Until then, we’re the guys to talk to.
Congrats on making it to the end! Your prize? An entry form!