2024 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Coming Soon!

Conference tournaments and March Madness starts 1 week later than usual this year, but we're finally getting closer to March. We are now a little over a month away from the college basketball conference tournament season tipping off, which means it's time to fire up our NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament pool! 🏀

During the week of 2/25/2024 I will be sending out the rules and entry sheet for the 2024 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament pool. This is our 14th year of the pool, and it has grown from a small group of us doing it to prepare for March Madness to over 30 entries last year. 😮

Before we dive into the details of the pool, let's first congratulate our 2023 winner, Heffron, who won with 19 points, edging out two other players by only 1 point. Heffron had 17 wins, while two others behind him also had 17 wins, but it was accumulation of 2 bonus points that catapulted him to victory. This shows how important it is to reach for those lower seeded teams. Bonus points matter! 🥇

Top 4 From the 2023 Pool

Below is a preview of the rules for the 2024 pool. As of right now, we have zero rule changes for 2024, but if you have any proposed rule changes or suggestions that you would like to see in 2025, please let me know.

If you are interested in playing this year, please let me know and I will reserve a spot for you as we have been capping the number of entries the past few years. The game is very simple, all you do is pick who you think is going to win each of the 32 NCAA conference tournaments.

The entry fee will remain the same at $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 2025 pool 
• Rory & Webb have the free entry for 2024!

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 using the following tiebreakers:

1. Overall total w/bonus points
2. Total wins
3. Accuracy
4. Least amount of losses
5. Closest SEC championship game total

Bonus points breakdown:

The bonus point scoring is super simple. For every 3 seed of lower conference tournament winner that you pick, you will be awarded 1 bonus point. In 2023, it was very chalky, as only 5 out of 32 conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower. Although it was a down year for lower seeded teams, getting bonus points is important if you want to win the pool.

Win money without winning the pool. Yes! 🤑

The pool is meant to be fun and keep people in it as long as possible, all the way to the last game played on Selection Sunday. No matter where you're at in the standings, you can still win money 4 different ways, even if you're outside the top 3. It's likely we'll have some ties, so the money gets split among all winners in the event of a tie. Technically, you can be towards the bottom of the standings on Selection Sunday, and still win every one of these categories.

1. Most bonus points - The person with the most total bonus points (picking 3 seed or lower winners) will win $150. 

• In 2023, due to it being a down year for lower seeded team, this pot was split among 7 people.

2. Most power conference points - The person with the most power conference points (wins + bonus points) will win $150. The power conferences will be identified on the entry sheet for anyone unfamiliar with which 5 conferences are considered power conferences. 

• In 2023, we had a single winner, Dan Sohler, with 4 points. 

3. Lowest winning seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference tournament champion wins $150. 

• In 2023, thanks to 8 seeded Texas Southern in the SWAC, 3 people split this pot.

4. Closest SEC championship game score - The person with the closest SEC championship game score wins $50. This is typically the last conference championship game, taking place on Selection Sunday, so even if you're in last place with no other wins you will have the opportunity to recoup your $50. 

• In 2023, this was split among 5 people, including the person in last place.

As conference tournaments begin and end at different dates between 3/4/24 - 3/17/24, I will post a daily blog and standings update via the link below.

https://2024conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

Make sure you save this blog link, subscribe, and put it in your favorites so you're always up to date. More details are coming the week of 2/25/24. Get excited! 🎉

Thank You!

Rick Donegan