2021 NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool

Time for the 2021 Survivor Pool Kick Off Post!

If you've done this before, we always kick this off with a ridiculous post full of nonsense, followed up by the information and actual rules. Before reading this aforementioned ridiculous post in narrative form, please know that nothing I'm writing is intended to belittle the year we have all just experienced. I have basically lived in a cave this entire year, haven't been to a restaurant, only went into a grocery once every at risk person in my life was vaccinated, I have taken and still take this pandemic with the utmost seriousness. I am truly sorry to everyone this past year has impacted, whether it's the loss of a loved one, the loss of income, the physical toll of dealing with illness, the mental and emotional toll of dealing with loneliness, anxiety, etc, It's impacted us all in ways we realize now, but also in ways we may not realize for months or even years to come. And, I have the utmost compassion and empathy for everyone out there, this year has been terrible, and it is not something to make light of.

That said, the narrative introduction to this year's Survivor Pool is an absurd and farce that does reference Covid's impact in a ridiculously over the top narrative that is as stupid as it is poorly written. Here it is. Read it. Or Don't. My mom might read it, she will certainly not enjoy it:

The year was 2020, in a lab deep underneath Indianapolis the Tournament Bracket Challenge Committee was holding a special meeting. "Over the past few years we have faced an increasing threat. The NCAA Tournament Bracket Pools are losing their luster," spoke the Chairman, "we have to do something!"

A skeptical member of the committee looked at the Chairman, nonplussed, he said, "Tournament Bracket Pools have always been the key to March Madness, and they always will be. Nothing is better than sitting down and filling out your bracket. Who's my 12 over 5 upset? Can I pick the Final Four correctly? This is how Tournament pools have always been done! Since the beginning. These upstarts have no chance of defeating us and our brackets!"

Higgins looked on, this was his first year on the Committee, a spot he had always coveted. Like most children, bracket pools had always been important to him. He grew up filling out brackets. He filled them out in class at school. Then, at his former job, everyone in the office would fill out a bracket. This was how NCAA Tournament pools were done, this was the only way.......wasn't it? He spoke up, "But, there is no other way, bracket pools are how NCAA Tournament Pools are done. What is this talk of upstarts?"

Higgins heard a few muffled laughs while others gave him looks ranging from disappointment to shock. 

The Commissioner quieted the room forcefully. "Sumpter, will you fill in the new guy on just how dire the situation is."

Sumpter was sitting in the corner disheveled. As the Bracket Threat Advisor, these last few years had been especially tough on him. He adjusted his glasses as he stood, and brought up a PowerPoint on the screen. 

"So, it is true that for decades our dominance was unquestioned. But, of late there have been..." he gathered his thoughts and a grimace appeared on his face, "Complications."

Higgins: "Such as?"

Sumpter: "Everyone in this room has level 7 clearance, but what I'm about to say has not even been heard by some of these ears. The threat is more dire than even many of you realize."

Gasps spread through the room. The level headed Sumpter was known for being a meek and humble man, even keeled through his 10 years on the Committee. These words from him put them all on edge.

Sumpter: "There is a growing threat to the Bracket Pools dominance. Upstarts have created a new way of playing Tournament Pools. They call it a 'Survivor Pool' where contestants need only pick one winner per day."

Higgins: "But, these exist in other sports, surely they pose no threat to us, this is the NCAA Tournament!"

Sumpter: "NO THREAT!? Higgins you damned fool, they not only pose a threat, but a dire threat at that! Their power grows each year, while we rely on school children filling out brackets to win a pack of gum, these Survivor Pool participants play a game requiring skill, game theory, cunning. Some are saying that bracket pools are *Sumpter winced* outdated."

The Commissioner surveyed the room. The faces he saw were shocked by what they heard. Could bracket pools reign of dominance truly be threatened. He knew what he had to do.

Commissioner: "Perhaps it is time for Plan Z."

Sumpter looked on aghast. "But, we never intended to actually use Plan Z, it was a thought exercise, it wasn't ever a real option. This could lead to the downfall of not only college basketball but of society itself!"

Commissioner: "AND WHAT CHOICE DO WE HAVE SUMPTER!" The Commissioner's face was bright red, the veins in his neck and forehead bulged. "These upstarts have us facing the end of everything we hold dear. The bracket challenge is not some game to me. The bracket challenge is my life!"

Higgins: "Wait, are you suggesting that we release a virus that shuts down this year's NCAA Tournament? That would be insane!"

Sumpter now looked shocked.

Sumpter: "Higgins, what the hell are you talking about?"

Higgins: "Well, I mean, you just said that this Plan Z could lead to the fall of society itself. So, I thought you might mean like, and I'm spitballing here, a novel coronavirus or some such event that would shut down commerce for a while and shut down the Tournament...."

Everyone in the room looked at one another confused.

Commissioner: " Wait, who invited this idiot? We're nine guys in a basement talking about how to make the bracket challenge cooler. Plan Z is trying to get CBS to bump up their Perfect Bracket Challenge Payout to $25 Million. How would no Tournament help brackets? We would all miss out on the Tournament? What kind of idiotic plan would that even be? Besides, how....would we create a virus? I dropped out of college and was a Journalism major. Sumpter over there is a 24 year old accountant. What, you think the guy living in a 2 bedroom house in Indianapolis has a secret lab where he builds viruses?"

Higgins sputtering: "It's....Plan Z...it all....sounded so....ominous...and on Facebook I saw...conspiracy..."

Commissioner: "All in favor to kick Sumpter out of The Bracket Boyz Crew?"

The Aye's were unanimous that day. Sumpter was kicked out of the club. Two weeks later the NCAA Tournament was canceled. Try as they might, The Bracket Boyz Club has not killed the Survivor Pool. The Survivor Pool will live on for another 127 years!

Ok, that was the introduction. It doesn't really make sense. It doesn't give out rules. It's just sort of a thing that happened. Sort of like life when you think about it.

So, here's the rules:

 

!!!! COVID Rule !!!!

What we've been seeing by and large with COVID cancelations is that they are known pretty much at the start of the day. Therefore, We can hopefully assume that our true schedule will be known by gameday morning. If you choose to pre-pick and pick a game that is uncontested due to COVID, you will be expected to submit a new pick! If you fail to resubmit a pick, it will be treated like a non-pick and you'll be out.

!!!! Pick Form Change !!!!

Pretty minor update but just as an FYI, instead of making forms for every day, I'll just be repopulating the same form Day 2 and onward. It's just far easier to manage that way, and I have a small child nowadays and really should not be running this nonsense anymore, so this is my simpler compromise.

Without further ado, all 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 for Day 1. The Day 2+ form will be linked to the scoreboard post on Friday.
• 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.
• Zelle - steelcard30@gmail.com - a lot of banks use Zelle, so if you're terrified to give your information to anyone else, Zelle probably has it already, so feel free to use that if you're extra nervous about anything.

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 Baylor to beat Hartford in round 1, you cannot use Baylor 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 release 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.  

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.  (You'd be surprised how often we get this granular, 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.  You can do this one of five 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!!!
• Zelle - I'm still not totally sure what Zelle is, but people asked for it, so here ya go.
• 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 10 spots, but who knows.