2020 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Sign Up Now Live

We are a little over 1 week away from the 2020 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments tipping off, which means it is now time to submit your picks!  I have included a detailed rundown of the rules and the excel sheet to make your picks is attached to the email.  Picks need to be sent back to me by the end of the night Sunday, 3/1/2020.  No entries will be allowed after Sunday, 3/1/2020.   

To make watching the NCAA Basketball Conference tournaments a little more interesting, for the 10th year in a row, below are the details of a pool in which you pick the champion for each conference.  This has been a ton of fun the past decade so sign up and pass it along to anyone else that may want to play.  

The game is VERY simple, you pick who you think is going to win each of the 32 NCAA Basketball Conference Championships.

Below is a preview of the rules.  We have zero rule changes for 2020.

The entry fee is $50 with the following payout structure: 

• 1st Place receives a 60% payout
• 2nd Place receives a 25% payout
• 3rd Place receives a 15% payout
• 4th Place receives a free entry for the 2020 pool

This pool has a very easy scoring system. The person with the combination of most correct picks, including bonus points, wins the pool.  All ties in the standings are settled first by "Accuracy" and then by closest to the combined SEC Championship Game Score.

Bonus Points Breakdown:

The bonus point scoring is super simple, for every 3 seed or lower winner that you pick, you will be awarded 1 bonus point.  In 2019, 9 out of 32 conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower.

More Ways to Win Money on College Athletes Outlined Below!

The fun part about this pool is you have tons of ways to win money, so even if you're not towards the top of the standings you can still win money throughout the conference tournament week.  It's likely we'll have some ties, so the money gets split among all winners in the event of a tie.

1. Most Bonus Points - The person with the most total bonus points will win $150

2. Most Power Conference Points - The person with the most Power Conference points will win $150 (The 5 Power Conferences will be highlighted on the entry form sent out later in February)

3. Lowest Winning Seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference champion wins $100 (Last year Oregon paid out as a 6 seed to multiple people)

4. Closest SEC Championship Score - The person with the closest SEC championship game score wins $50 (This is the last conference championship game, so even if you're in last place you have the opportunity to recoup $50!)

As conference tournaments complete at different dates through Selection Sunday, 3/15, I will post constant updates with the current standing via the link below.  Make sure to subscribe by email after clicking on the link.

https://2020conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

As long as you follow the Blog you will be completely updated and informed on how each conference tournament is playing out and the impacts to our pool.  

To get started, fill out the attached spreadsheet with the team you think will win each conference tournament and e-mail it back to me no later than Sunday, 3/1.  You can also, call, text, mail, or e-mail your picks in to me if you prefer not to use the spreadsheet. 

It really shouldn't take longer than 5-10 minutes to fill everything out as I included a drop down list for each conference to allow easy and accurate selections for that conference.  

The seed numbers currently shown in the excel spreadsheet probably will change over the next few weeks as the regular season comes to an end at different dates for each conference.  I will keep the seeds up to date on the master score sheet I send to the group.

I will send out a master spreadsheet with everyone's picks, known bonus points, and conference info prior to the first tournament championship game (Including my picks). 

I would highly suggest to subscribe to the Blog if you want consistent updates as I will avoid sending constant updates to everyone's e-mail.  Every few days however, I will send out a excel copy of the standings.  You can subscribe by entering your e-mail address on the right hand side of the page.

As the tournament gets underway, and we start to have teams eliminated early on, I will consistently post updates to the standings in the link below.  Click on the word "Standings" 

STANDINGS 

Here are some pro tips (If you care):  

If you are not college basketball savvy,  it is important to understand that in some conferences NOT all teams make the conference tournament, so it's a wise move to avoid picking a last place team when viewing the current conference standings on ESPN, CBS Sports, or any other college basketball website.  In addition, some teams this year are ineligible for their conference tournaments, even if they are in first place.  I have marked all known teams as ineligible or DNQ for the tournament in the spreadsheet dropdowns.  Additional teams may be added, but it is currently up to the date of this note.  It is up to you to do the research as no changes are allowed effective Monday, 3/2/2020

More tips and tricks to be aware of - Current standings  can be found  at 
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings which can help show which teams are most likely to win, and you can assume teams in 3rd place and lower are potential Bonus Picks .  But remember, standings may and probably will change between when you submit your picks and when the conference tournament starts for a particular league (i.e. A 4th place team may get hot and jump into a 1 or 2 seed, making them not a bonus pick)

Ensure you fill out your name/nickname, as you want it to appear on the standings, and E-mail address on the sheet prior to sending it back to me to avoid any confusion.

Payment information on where to send your $50.   

• PayPal:  rwdpeanut@gmail.com
• Address: 1140 Venetian Court; Naperville, IL 60540  
• In Person/Vegas

Any non-payment, or attempt to arrange payment, by 3/6, will result in your entry being removed.  I'm not going to spend my time chasing down money this year.  

Thanks!
Rick Donegan