Almost a Shocker, Racist Governors, and some Blowouts

Here are the current standings through all of today's games, along with some of the highlights.

The day started with the Big South and Missouri Valley conference games being tipped off throughout the afternoon.  It was uneventful as teams like High Point, Wichita State, and UNC-Asheville won and moved on to the next round.

Wichita really struggled with Loyola IL, the game came down to the last few seconds, that should not happen.  I thought I was watching the 1963 Loyola team.

In the evening Winthrop, Monmouth, and Evansville all won easily.

But things didn't end well for Coastal Carolina as they were upset by Gardner-Webb.

Now that a third of the conferences are underway, I'm not going to preview each game in each conference, I'll focus on the championship games being played.


Tomorrow's Championship Games (3/5)

Ohio Valley Conference - 5:00 pm CST

In an AMAZING upset, the 8 seed Austin Peay Governors beat the 1 seed Belmont Bruins today to advance to the championship game against Tennessee Martin.  Austin Peay is a pretty racist dude that doesn't believe in evolution, but he did build 4,000 miles of paved roads in Tennessee.  #historylesson #themoreyouknow

The only person with something at stake in tomorrow's championship game is Jack, with Tennessee Martin.  The rest of us will be rooting for the Austin Peay Governors!

Holy Upsets!

Here are the current standings through all of today's games, including Morehead State/Murray State, along with some of the highlights.

Many conferences were in action today, but only 3 conferences had impacts to our pool, Atlantic Sun, Ohio Valley, and Patriot League.  This entire night was full of insane upsets and now we all have at least 1 loss.

Don't get discouraged if you experienced a ton of losses today or are towards the bottom of the standings.  We have a long way to go, and remember, you win this pool with 15-16 winners, you don't need to win all 31 conferences.

• The night started out in the Atlantic Sun with 4 seed FGCU demolishing the 1 seed North Florida, so now the championship game will be between 8 seed Stetson and 4 seed FGCU
• We then moved to the Patriot League, where it was really a bloodbath, the 1 seed Bucknell went down to 8 seed Holy Cross, while 6 seed American took out Boston University
• Finally, we wrap up with the Ohio Valley conference where we saw a popular pool pick, Tennessee State, go down to Austin Peay.

As we head into Friday, we don't yet have any conference champions, 11 conference tournaments are in progress, and 20 have still not tipped off.  The first conference champion will be crowned on Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference.

We have a whole bunch of important games being played Friday as many of these smaller conferences head into the quarterfinals, or even the semi-finals.  Below outlines what impacts our pool and we'll see many more sad basketball teams tomorrow.

The Big South, MAAC, Missouri Valley, and Ohio Valley conferences all continue, while the 3 conferences that tip off tomorrow are the Colonial, Southern, and the West Coast.  The West Coast is one of my favorites since it is played in Vegas!

The Colonial features the 7-10 seeds, which only impacts 1 of us as Jack has Elon.  Not sure why he has Elon, but he does, maybe it was a mistake.  The Southern also has the 7-10 seeds playing, the only difference  is none of us have any of those teams.

Finally, the West Coast conference tips off Friday, but it's only one game between Loyola Marymount and San Diego.  I'll end up watching it just for the shots of Vegas.

Pancake Thomas & Big South, MAAC, and Arch Madness Tip off Tomorrow

Here are the current standing through all of today's games, along with some of the highlights below.  I would like to point out that last year's champion, Chris Galpin, has not started out at the blistering pace he was winning at least year, in fact, he is currently in second to last place with 2 losses already.  Or as we like to call last place in our neighborhood, Fuss place.

In the American East all the favorites won, with the exception of Albany.  Albany lost to Hartford behind one of the best player names so far...

I honestly think this guys name given at birth is Pancake, I cannot find any source that indicates Pancake is some kind of nickname.  I have however found a ton of articles that talk about how he "stacks up" to the competition. 

Similar to the American East, in the Northeast Conference all of the favorites advanced, with the exceptions of Sacred Heart.  Sacred Heart was knocked off by LIU Brooklyn.

Below is a rundown of the action that is coming our way tomorrow.  3 conferences are on to the next round, while 3 new conferences will be tipping off.

Atlantic Sun Semifinals

• The 6 seed Lipscomb plays the 7 seed Stetson, so a 6 or 7 seed are guaranteed to be in the Atlantic Sun finals
• For the game of the night, the one that really matters, North Florida will play Florida Gulf Coast, 57% of us picked North Florida, it's likely the winner of this game ends up being the eventual conference champion

Ohio Valley Quarterfinals

• 1 game will be played in this conference, Tennessee State vs, Austin Peay, and we do have 3 people that picked Tennessee State

Patriot League Quarterfinals

• The remainder of the Patriot League plays tomorrow, and it's possible that we can all make it out of the quarterfinals without losing a team

Big South Preview

• Seeds 8-11 play tomorrow, this has no impact on our pool as the lowest seed taken was UNC-Asheville as the 4 seed

MAAC Preview

• Let's see how many Monmouth pictures I can use for Sohler, this is number 2
• Seed 6-11 play tomorrow, this also has no impact on our pool as the lowest seed taken was Siena as the 3 seed

Missouri Valley Preview

• Seeds 7-10 play tomorrow, this again has no impact on our pool as the lowest seed taken was Northern Iowa as a 4 seed

Day 1 Results & America East, NEC, and Ohio Valley Tournaments Tip off Tomorrow

After day 1 we already have had 2 upsets in the Atlantic Sun conference and 6 people in our pool now have a loss.

• 6 seed Lipscomb beat 3 seed Jacksonville in overtime, and 7 seed Stetson beat the 2 seed N.J.I.T
• North Florida and Florida Gulf Coast advanced to the next round
• No one lost any teams in the Patriot League, Navy advanced

Florida Gulf Coast was led by their star player, and just to be clear, his name is not Antivirus.

Tonight we have learned that the Atlantic Sun is not only full of upsets and a guy named Antivirus, but they have a team with a hat as a mascot, and the fans dress like the game of twister, Building Winners for Life...

Remember, you will want to bookmark this link so you can see up to date standings throughout the next few weeks.  Also, for the next few days I'll be posting updates ion the Blog instead of sending e-mails.

http://2016conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow night, all 8 America East teams will be in action as that conference does not give any teams a bye.

For a second night in a row this means we will all have teams at risk, however we can all escape again without a loss.

Below is a summary of the match-ups in the America East and what to watch for based on the picks in our pool.  Although the games are not on TV, just you can watch them on ESPN 3 through your phone, computer, or Xbox.

• All the games start between 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm CST because the higher seed hosts the game.
• The majority of us (74%) went with the 1 seed, Stony Brook, so a loss to UMBC will put a smaller number of people in a great position, especially those with the 3 and 4 seed.
• Albany has won the past 2 conference tournaments, but only 3 people chose them to win this year as a 2 seed.

Also, all 8 of the Northeast teams will be in action as that conference does not give any teams a bye either.   

Below is a summary of the match-ups in the Northeast and what to watch for based on the picks in our pool.

• All the games start between 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm CST because the higher seed hosts the game.
• The majority of us (61%) went with the 1 seed, Wagner, so a loss to Robert Morris will put a smaller number of people in a great position, especially those with the 3,4, or 5 seed.
• Between Mount St. Mary's (5) and St, Francis NY (4) playing each other, a few of us will come away with losses.

The Ohio Valley Conference will also be in action, but only the lower seeds (5-8), which none of us have.  

Murray State will be playing as a 6 seed, I bet they miss these days...

Conference Tournament Season Tips off Tomorrow with the Atlantic Sun & Patriot League

First, the spreadsheet has been updated with a few new entries, along with the changes sent in by a few people.  Remember, you will want to bookmark this link so you can see up to date standings throughout the next few weeks.

Rabitoy officially has implemented the best strategy, picking 3 seeds across the board, giving him a Max Possible Point total of 62!

Beginning tomorrow night, all 8 Atlantic Sun teams will be in action as that conference does not give any teams a bye.

This means we will all have teams at risk tomorrow night, however we can all escape without a loss.

Below is a summary of the match-ups in the Atlantic Sun and what to watch for based on the picks in our pool.  Although the games are not on TV, you can watch them on ESPN 3 through your phone, computer, or Xbox.

• All the games start between 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm CST because the higher seed hosts the game.
• The majority of us (57%) went with the 1 seed, North Florida, so a loss to S.C. Upstate will put a smaller number of people in a great position, especially those with the 3 and 4 seed.
• We don't have confidence in N.J.I.T as a 2 seed, less than 10% selected them as the champion.
• More people picked the Jacksonville Dolphins as picked N.J.I.T, while some people still believe in Dunk City (FGCU) from a few years ago.

Although it's a little bit less interesting than the Atlantic Sun due to only the 4 lowest seeds playing, the Patriot League will also be in action tomorrow night.

Below is a summary of the match-ups in the Patriot League and what to watch for based on the picks in our pool.  Unlike the Atlantic Sun, you will not find these games televised anywhere, unless you live on the Holy Cross campus.

• Out of the 4 teams playing (7-10 seeds), only one of us has a team at risk, and that team is Navy.
• It's safe to assume that 22 of us will be rooting for Lafayette to take down Navy. 
• Similar to the Atlantic Sun, the majority of us (52%) in the Patriot League are also going with the 1 seed, Bucknell.
• Seeds 1-6 get a bye in the Patriot League, so you gain an advantage here with a higher seed.

Future posts may not be this detailed, especially as more conferences tip off, but at least in the beginning I'll incorporate as many details as possible.

Super excited for tip off tomorrow night!

2016 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Picks Are In!

The picks are in and the spreadsheet is updated with everyone's selections!  

We still have a few more entries coming in tonight/tomorrow morning, so expect an updated spreadsheet from me tomorrow.

Please take a close look at your picks and if anything looks inaccurate, you need to make a change due to seeding updates, you have a DNQ/Ineligible team selected, or you just want to make a change, you will need to let me know before the end of the day Monday, 2/29. 

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.  I essentially dedicate my life to this over the next 2 weeks.

Also, as conference tournaments complete at different dates through Sunday, 3/13, 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.

http://2016conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

To review for any one new to this, because the regular season is still in progress for some 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.

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.

• If you scroll to the right you'll see everyone's picks, tracking for who paid (For Shaming Purposes), how much money is in the pot, and the payouts
• Scrolling down you'll see a summary that shows when each conference tournament starts, the location, projected winners, historical winners, if the seeding is finalized yet, and a link to the TV schedule and bracket

Conference tournament games begin on Tuesday, 3/1.  Prior to the games I will review and send out what to watch for based on our pool picks.  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.

Finally, we technically have standings since we can rank people based on max possible points due to bonus picks.

• Jack has the most upset/bonus picks and is starting with the opportunity to get 47 points, riding teams like Elon and Pepperdine!
• Fonferko is the chalkiest this year, even his upset/bonus picks are teams like Arizona and Maryland
• We all have the same pick in the Southland Conference (Stephen F. Austin), but everything else is pretty well spread out, and no 2 people have all the same picks

And I'll remind everyone again, half the conferences seeding is not yet finalized, the max points for most of you will change as teams jockey for position this week.

Good luck to everyone over the next 13 days! 

2016 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Sign Up Now Live

It's that time of year again...

To make watching the NCAA Basketball 2016 Conference tournaments a little more interesting for the 6th 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, Chris Galpin, who dominated this pool in 2015!  He's never watched a college basketball game in his life, but he sure did beat everyone's ass last year.

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 2017 pool*

*This years free entry is awarded to Young based on his 2015 finish

This Pool Has a Very Easy Scoring System: The person with the combination of most correct picks, including bonus points, wins the pool.  Any tiebreakers will be decided by guessing the score of the Big 10 Championship game. 

Tiebreaker Details:  Predict the combined score of the Big 10 Championship game and the person with the closest score will win any tiebreaker.  

(Example:  If you think Team A will score 60 and Team B will score 58,  you will predict a score of 118).  Do not forget to pick your Big 10 score on the spreadsheet.

Tiebreaker Order:  Overall Points, Wins, Big 10 Championship Score

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 2015 11 out of 31 (35%) conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower.

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, 2/28.  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 may 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.

Additional Ways to Win Money!

The really nice thing about this pool is we now have more 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 $100

2. Most Power Conference Points:  The person with the most Power Conference points will win $100 (The Power Conferences are highlighted in red)

3. Lowest Winning Seed:  The person who has the lowest winning seed conference champion wins $50

4. Closest Big 10 Score:  The person with the closest Big 10 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 your $50!)

As conference tournaments complete at different dates through Selection Sunday, 3/13 I will post updates with the current standing  at:

http://2016conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

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 post numerous updates to the standings here (Bookmark this link for the standings)

Here are some tips (If you care!):  If you are not college basketball savvy, NOT all teams in some conferences 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, many 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.

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 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: 1067 Whirlway Ave.  Naperville, IL 60540  

In Person/Vegas

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, 2/28.