2025 NCAA Conference Championship Pool

Since it's 2025 and the technocrats have promised that we would all be replaced by robotic overlords, I gave AI a chance to write this year's intro:

March is here, and that means one thing—madness! It’s time to put your hoops knowledge (or just your best gut instincts) to the test by picking the winners of the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 tournaments. Will you ride with the blue bloods, trust the Cinderella stories, or just pick based on which mascot would win in a fight? (Spoiler: A wildcat usually has the edge.)

The rules are simple: Select one team from each of the five power conferences. If your teams cut down the nets, you rack up points and bragging rights. Choose wisely—because just like a full-court press, this contest comes at you fast!

So lace up those imaginary sneakers, channel your inner bracketologist, and get ready for some buzzer-beating excitement. Will you be the king or queen of the conference chaos? Or will your picks flop like a bad flop attempt? Either way, let’s have some fun! 

How did the robot do? Do you like it? Guess what? I don't.

First off, and most egregious of the many sins committed, A wildcat usually has the edge. A wildcat!? I immediately hate the incoming computerized hegemony. It also didn't even get the rules right! One team from each conference? You idiot, that's not the rules at all! And, why are the sneakers imaginary? We're not all binary code existing within some cloud...we actually wear shoes computer, I will lace up real sneakers thank you. And the March Madness pun? First off, that's trademarked, now I'm going to be sued thanks to a robot, but even if it wasn't trademarked, can we be more lame and cliche?

Let's be clear on something: People (aka my mother) read these intros and recaps because they are witty, they are heartfelt, and they have real soul...something robots probably don't even have. Unless they do, in which case there are a lot of philosophical questions we need to reckon with in the coming years.

So, that's the intro. Sorry. The actual rules are below. We made some changes this year, dropped some smaller conferences, added more flexibility in the major conferences, again just read the rules! And now it's time to find out if your picks will flop like a bad flop attempt! (That's a terrible joke, robot, but if you have a soul I still love you.)

Now, let's get all the usual links out of the way for the regulars...

• 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
• Zelle: steelcard30@gmail.com
• Checks: PO Box 7022, Louisville, KY 40257 (Address change if you used this last year!)
• Credit Cards: Call 1-800-GAMBLER b/c you need help
• Tournament Bracket Links:
• ACC
  
• B12
  
• BE
  
• B1G
• SEC

This is my umpteenth year of this nonsense. Anything new?

NIL & conference consolidation have really ruined some of the old format - The Pac-12 was dismantled in less time than it takes to bake a potato and every mid-major player with a lick of talent last year is now a seventh man on an SEC team probably. We're keeping the same pick rules as always, but we're blowing up the one pick per conference rule - yeah you can take 8 SEC teams for all I care! That'd be really stupid, but it is an option!

(This does mean that, when filling out the form, you could in theory pick the same team twice. I can't believe I'm being clear about this but since SOMEONE will ask, that is not allowed.)

Also - IF YOU TRY TO PAY ME AS A GOOD/SERVICE, I'M RETURNING YOUR MONEY AND CANCELING YOUR ENTRY UNTIL IT IS PAID CORRECTLY! Look these IRS rules are silly now, and I'm not dealing with a 1099-K that I have to explain to the Tax Man. It's ONE BOX! CHECK IT CORRECTLY! Yeesh.

The Rules

Participants pick teams from each of the 5 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:

• ACC 
• Big 12 
• Big East 
• Big Ten
• SEC

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.
• 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 12th, 2025 at 11:30 AM EDT

$$$ can be sent in one of three ways

• You hand it to a moderator in cash or check form
• Send it via paypal/venmo/zelle to the account listed above - seriously, it's 2025 and by now, you should have an account on one of these services
• Mail a check to the PO Box listed above

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!