Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals Bloodbath

The Northeast Conference was the only conference in play tonight, but it destroyed many people tonight.  As I previously stated, never take any St. Francis team, glad to see them both gone since it confuses me.  

14 people in the pool racked up a loss tonight between Mount St. Mary's, St Francis Brooklyn, and St. Francis PA losing.  1 seed Wagner was the only team that came through in the pool tonight.

Link to the Standings

 

 

On Thursday we will have a total of 8 conference tournaments now underway with games all morning, afternoon, and night.  New conferences tipping off tomorrow include the MAAC and Missouri Valley.

MAAC

• The only seeds in play are 6-11, so no impact to our pool

Missouri Valley

• Only seeds 7-10 are in play, however we do have pool picks at stake with both 9 seed Northern Iowa and 7 seed Missouri State.  Will be fun having 32 people root against 2 people tomorrow, especially since they did not suffer a Northeast Conference loss today

The entire Big South will be playing throughout the day tomorrow, majority of the Big 10 has action, Ohio Valley playing, Atlantic Sun with important games, and Patriot League playing.

I will pull together a longer blog tomorrow and Friday, but the important piece is complete, standings are update.  The losses are going to pile up over the next 4 days, with a bunch of championship games on Sunday, then a little break as the rest of the conferences get started, good luck to everyone!

3 More Mid-Major Conferences Tip Off Wednesday: Big 10, Northeast, and Ohio Valley

Link to the Standings

We do have some changes to the standings due to additional seeding being finalized, what a way to lose ground.  😂😂😂

This really impacted the Grimmer's, Jenn jumped up 5 spots to the Top 10 and John fell down 6 spots.  For those new to this, it literally means nothing, this is normal as conference seeds are finalized and teams that were a bonus 3 seed are now a 2 seed and teams that were a 2 seed are now a bonus 4 seed.

Nothing of any value happened tonight with the 2 conference tournaments that were in action tonight, everyone in our pool was too afraid to reach for a 7-10 seed.  The excitement will pick back up tomorrow as 3 more conference tournaments tip off, which means we'll have a total of 6 conference tournaments in progress.

We'll cover the Big 10 first, they are one of the mid major conferences tipping off Wednesday, however only seeds 11-14 are playing so no impact to our pool.  Nothing else to cover with the Big 10, hope you're into Illini, Rutgers, Indiana, or Hawkeye basketball.

LOOK HOW BORING THIS LOOKS

The Northeast Conference also tips off Wednesday night, which brings much more excitement as all our teams are in play.  The thing that pisses me off the most about this conference is they have 2 teams named St. Francis, it always takes me a moment to figure out which one won or lost, hopefully they just both lose and make it easy for me.

• 20 (59%) are riding 1 seed Wagner to the conference championship, a Wagner loss would take over half of the pool out; they are 10 point favorites so I am thinking this game will be an easy Wagner win; Team Rankings gives Wagner a 49% chance to win the conference tournament so we have over reached on them as a group

• The other picks are more spread out across Mount St. Mary's and the St. Francis teams; I am surprised no one is on LIU-Brooklyn or Bob Morris as those teams have had recent conference tournament success

• Everyone can make it through without a loss on Wednesday in this conference, but that won't be any fun, so I hope a lot of people lose

The Ohio Valley Conference will not have any impact on our pool as it is the 5-8 seeds playing, no one has a seed lower than a 3 in this conference.  

Everyone Survives Day 1 of ASUN Madness

Everyone survived the opening day of the conference tournament pool, we didn't even have any close calls.  The closest game of the night was between North Florida and NJIT, but nobody picked either of those teams.

Florida Gulf Coast, Lipscomb, and Jacksonville all won by 20+ points tonight.  The Atlantic Sun does not play again until 3/1, and we are guaranteed to see someone in this pool lose as Lipscomb is playing Jacksonville.

I updated the spreadsheet with a few more finalized conference seeding, nothing really changed that impacted our picks, and I have updated who has paid.  Please make sure if you paid I have you marked down as paid.

Link to the Standings (Literally click on the word Standings).

 

Tomorrow (2/27) we have 2 more conference tournaments tipping off:  Big South and Patriot.

The 2 Big South games tomorrow will have no impact to our pool as they are the 7-10 seeds, no one picked any seed higher than a 6 in the Big South.  UNC-Asheville won the conference during the regular season and is favored by Team Rankings as a 36% favorite to win the conference tournament, however 41% of us are on the 2 seed Winthrop to win.  The rest of the Big South will play on 3/1.

The 2 Patriot League games tomorrow also have no impact to our pool with the 7-10 seeds playing.  On 3/1 the 1 seed Bucknell will play, 82% of the pool picks are on on Bucknell and they have a 74% chance to win the conference tournament. 

So after having a day of action, really not much going on tomorrow in terms of conference tournament games that impact our pool.  #marchsadness

Conference Tournament Season Tips off Tonight with the Atlantic Sun Conference

We'll keep the important stuff on the top so you don't have to work your way through the e-mail to find it.  I've included the Blog link and the Standings (Literally click on the word Standings).

https://2018conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

Remember, you can subscribe to the Blog on the right hand side of the Blog page so you'll always be notified when I post an update. 

As expected, we received a few more entries.  Those are now updated in the spreadsheet.

It all starts tonight, all 8 Atlantic Sun teams will be in action as that conference does not give any teams a bye.  This means all of us will have teams at risk tonight.  We have 14 days of this ahead of us! #ASUNMBB #BUILDINGWINNERSFORLIFE

We're only concerned about 3 of the 8 teams in this conference based on how we picked, everyone in the pool can escape without a loss tonight, however that will be no fun if that happens.

• 19 (56%) are riding 1 seed Florida Gulf Coast to the conference championship, a FGCU loss would be devastating tonight; they are 19 point favorites so I am thinking this game will be uneventful; Team Rankings gives FGCU a 70% chance to win the conference tournament so surprised more of us are not on this one

• 12 are on 2 seed Lipscomb, similar to the FGCU game, Lipscomb is a heavy favorite at 13 points so it would be a major upset if the Bison lost tonight

• Amanda, Chris Galpin, and John Naz are all on the 3 seed Jacksonville; I know Amanda picked them because the mascot is a Dolphin, so we're also going to assume Chris and John make picks based on mascots!

These are the kind of picks that early on could disrupt the standings if they end up winning the championship, 3 people getting a win plus bonus points with everyone else losing.  However, based on how fucked up looking these Dolphin mascots are we shouldn't be too worried.  Actually, Jacksonville's mascot looks like Sam Eagle.

      

Below are the actual Atlantic Sun match-ups tonight, all stream-able on ESPN3/Watch ESPN.  After the games wrap up tonight I'll update any impacts to standings and post a new blog with a Atlantic Sun recap/preview of tomorrow's action as more conference tournaments get underway.  I'm not planning on sending any e-mails for a while, so the Blog will have updates, sometimes multiple updates each day.



Last reminder to check your picks for accuracy, we already had some errors corrected, I want to make sure we're not making corrections after today. 

Also, as you're watching your teams lose, remember that 16-19 total points wins the pool, so you're trying to win about 40% of your picks, with a few bonus picks mixed in.

Good Luck!

2018 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Picks Are In

The tournament picks are in (almost) and the master spreadsheet is updated with everyone's selections!
  

I know many of you are challenged by technology and spreadsheets (I guess that is the nice way to put it), so I'll always have 2 versions of the spreadsheet posted.  Hint:  Make sure when you open the excel document you are clicking on “Enable Editing” and “Enable Content”

• 2017 Conference Tournament Champions Master (This has all the features and functionality to show things like "Accuracy" and "Max Points Available")

• 2017 Conference Tournament Champions Master Light (This will error out many of the added features that I worked hard on, but at least you can still see standings and picks)
  

We likely have a few more entries coming in tonight, they will be part of the next spreadsheet update prior to the Atlantic Sun games tipping off tomorrow night.

Please also look very carefully through your picks, if I made an error and something needs to be changed due to a mistake, please let me know by the end of the day on Monday, 2/26.  No changes to the Atlantic Sun conference will be allowed after 6p CST on Monday, 2/26.

With the recent college basketball FBI probe, if teams such as Arizona become banned from conference tournament play, those picks will count as losses.  Additionally, teams such as Grambling State may be banned from conference tournament play for violations, if that happens those picks also count as losses.

Remember, you will want to bookmark this link so you can see up to date standings throughout the next few weeks.  Standings will be updated a few times each day, or as games complete.

Also, as conference tournaments complete at different dates through Sunday, 3/11, I will post updates along with the current standing on the blog via the link below.  I'll also send e-mail updates periodically for those that refuse to use the Blog.  Typically for the first few days I'll send information in e-mail, but I'll back off of that once things get going.

This Blog is a great way to pass time during the day...

https://2018conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

The master spreadsheet has a ton of information to help you track the games, below is a preview of what you will see on the attached spreadsheet.  I keep this up to date on a daily basis.

• We technically have standings as we have separation based on Max Points due to people that picked more teams eligible for bonus points; as with every other year, B.I. starts out in 1st place and Tina makes the top 4 by putting Aardvark in her name for alphabetical sorting

• The spreadsheet will outline your overall standings, Wins, Losses, Bonus Point Wins, Bonus Point Losses, and Max Bonus Points, which all calculate into your Accuracy, Max Points Available, and Your Projected Total;  you will always have a clear picture of where you stand

• The bottom right now is rounded off by Chris, Joel, and Steve as they have the chalkiest picks

• If you scroll down past everyone's picks, you will see a conference snapshot that included tournament start dates, our pool favorite (most popular pick), the "Vegas" favorite from TeamRankings, and other important dates

To review for any one new to this, because the regular season is still in progress for many conferences, updates to the Master Spreadsheet will continue to happen over the next several days as conference tournament seeding is finalized for the different conference tournaments.  This may impact your bonus points and max possible points.

Conference tournament games begin tomorrow, Monday, 2/26!  The first few days are tough because you can't rack up any wins, you can only get losses until an actual championship game takes place.  So the game right now is to minimize the number of losses.

Before games tip off tomorrow I will break down the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and how it impacts our pool. I love that this conference tips off Conference Tournament season as all 8 teams play, no bye, so the potential for upsets exist! #ASUNMBB #BUILDINGWINNERSFORLIFE

Payment Reminder!

Money can be sent the following ways:

PayPal:  rwdpeanut@gmail.com

Address: 1140 Venetian Court; Naperville, IL 60540  

In Person/Vegas

Any non-payment, or attempt to arrange payment, by 3/4, will result in your entry being removed.  I'm not going to spend my time chasing down money this year. 

2018 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Sign Up Now Live

We are about 1 week away from Conference Tournaments tipping off, time to make those picks!

To make watching the NCAA Basketball Conference tournaments a little more interesting, for the 8th 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 few year's so sign up and pass it along to anyone else that may want to play.  

Congrats to last year's champion, Dan Sohler.

Below is the overall Top 10 from 2017, this will give you an idea of what kind of totals are needed to compete.

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

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 2019 pool*

*This year's free entry is awarded to TJH based on his 2017 finish

This Pool Has a Very Easy Scoring System: The person with the combination of most correct picks, including bonus points, wins the pool.  

Bonus Points are Available:  The bonus point scoring is simple, for every 3 seed or lower winner that you pick, you will be awarded 1 bonus point.  In 2017 11 out of 32 conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower.

*Minor Change for the 2018 Pool*
Instead of using the Big 10 Championship game as a tie breaker and a Bonus Payout, we will now be using the SEC Championship game.  This is due to the Big 10 conference tournament starting and ending earlier this year.

Also...

More Ways to Win Money!

The fun part about this pool is you have alternative 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(s) with the most total bonus points will win $150

2. Most Power Conference Points:  The person(s) with the most Power Conference points will win $150 (The 5 Power Conferences will be highlighted on the entry form)

3. Lowest Winning Seed:  The person(s) who has the lowest winning seed conference champion wins $100 (Last year Michigan paid out as an 8 seed)

4. Closest SEC Score:  The person(s) 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, 3/11, I will post constant updates with the current standing at:

https://2018conferencetournamentchallenge.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.  It also gives you some fun stuff to read during your work day. 

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, 2/25.  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 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 here (Bookmark this link for the 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, 4 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, 2/26

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.   

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). 


$$$$$

Money can be sent the following ways:

PayPal:  rwdpeanut@gmail.com

Address: 1140 Venetian Court; Naperville, IL 60540  

In Person/Vegas

Any non-payment, or attempt to arrange payment, by 3/4, will result in your entry being removed.  I'm not going to spend my time chasing down money this year. 

If you have any questions or want to forward this to anyone that may be interested, feel free to do so, just ensure they send the spreadsheet back to me by Sunday, 2/25.