Our 2022 Conference Tournament Champion: Pizzy (Pool Closing & Payouts)

Congratulations to Pizzy for an incredible run in the 2022 Conference Tournament pool challenge, he led the field for over a week and ended with 18 total points to take sole possession of 1st place, no tie breaker needed. Over the past few days Pizzy, Robb and Patrick were jockeying for position and Pizzy was able to hold on with Iowa beating Purdue in the Big 10 Championship game late on Selection Sunday.

 

Let's take a look at a breakdown of our top 4:

• Pizzy did not need a tiebreaker and won this pool because he took a chance on lower seeds with those bonus points paying off. His accuracy plummeted over the past 4 days, but the hot start and bonus points helped him to victory.
• Robb and Patrick had the best accuracy, these guys are the best at picking winners, but the lack of hitting on the lower seed bonus points cost them. Robb takes second place due to the SEC score tiebreaker.
• Tim came into Sunday with a chance at first place, things did not play out in his favor, but he does get a free entry in 2023.

One of my favorite parts of this pool is that everybody, regardless of where they finish, has the ability to win money. This year the pool is paying out $1,700 to 7 people ranging from 1st place to 25th place. Curt, Sam, Iannuzzi and Ryan all won money based on games that occurred within the past 24 hours. Winners: Please reach out to me and let me know how you would like your money paid out.

Below are the final standing with the payouts included. Thank You and enjoy the NCAA Tournament!

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

Selection Sunday 2022 Preview

We made it to Selection Sunday and this pool is wide open with so many unique selections in today's conference tournament championship games. We're down to our last 5 championship games today and every single game is important to our pool. Although not all can come in 1st place, we do have 20 people that can finish somewhere in the top 4.

Ivy League (11:00 AM CST)

We start off our morning with Ivy League chalk as (1) Princeton plays (2) Yale in a matchup that helps set up the remaining four conference tournaments later today. Heffron, Lundo and Matthew are all on Yale while everyone else is on Princeton, giving the 3 of them the ability to jump up in the standings before more games tip off. Analytics give Princeton a 45% chance to win the conference tournament, but the spread today only favors Princeton by 3.5 points. As always, if I am out of it my stance is to root for chaos, so go Yale!

SEC (12:00 PM  CST)

It seems as though these games are lining up perfectly for those that need wins to stay in contention later today. (8) Texas A&M matches up against (2) Tennessee and absolutely nobody picked Texas A&M. Both Tina and Matthew are on Tennessee and a Tennessee win allows them to climb over multiple people in the standings. A Yale and Tennessee win moves Matthew from 17th to 4th place. Tennessee is favored by 6.5 points which should mean an easy win, but Texas A&M is hot right now. 

Reminder: This is the conference that is both a final tiebreaker, if needed, as well as awards bonus points for the person who gets the final score correct or closest.

Atlantic 10 (12:00 PM CST)

The Atlantic 10 is important today for only 1 guy, Tim Husted. A Davidson win, along with a Princeton win early in the day, allows him to jump into 3rd place and sets up for an exciting finish with the last two games. This game is (6) Richmond vs. (2) Davidson and don't let the seed numbers throw you off, this will be a close game with Davidson only favored by 3.5 points.

American Athletic Conference (2:15 PM CST)

This is the championship game that can clinch 1st place for Pizzy and 2nd pace for Tom if (1) Houston loses to (3) Memphis. Pizzy and Tom are riding Memphis, while everyone else has Houston. The 2 points for them would clinch everything. Lundo also has Memphis, with a Memphis win and a few other games going in his favor early in the day would put him in contention for the top 4. The lines are very similar today, Houston is favored to win by 3.5 points.

 

Big 10 (2:30 PM CST)

The entire pool may potentially come down to the B1G, which makes me very happy. (3) Purdue takes on (5) Iowa and we are on both these teams, bonus points will be awarded. If Iowa wins and everything falls in line for Tim today, he can tie Pizzy for 1st place and the SEC score becomes a tiebreaker. Additionally, Curt has Iowa and if things fall in line for him he would be flirting with the top 4. 9 of the top 20 are on Purdue, meaning a Purdue win would put Robb, Whit, Iannuzzi, Sam, Corey or Matthew into a top 4 finish. This potentially becomes a huge game.

The standings are now updated through the Big West Conference Championship game from late last night where (2) CS Fullerton came back and beat (1) Long Beach State, bumping up Whit and Curt to be able to make a run today.

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

I likely will not post a final standings update until late tonight, way after the selection show, as I need time to verify that everything is calculating accurately before announcing winners. Not only do we have payouts for the top 4 in this pool, but up and down the standings we have bonus point payouts that I need to ensure are correct.

27 Conference Tournaments Complete & (7) VA Tech Knocks of (1) Duke

After an entire day filled with wall to wall championship games we now have 27 out of 32 conference tournaments complete with 5 left to finish up on Selection Sunday. OK, almost 27 conferences complete as the Big West conference tournament championship game is being played as I publish this blog entry. However, it does not look like the Big West will have any impact to the top half of the standings. I'm too exhausted to do a detailed update so hopefully this graphic of all the tickets punched will suffice.

We saw some very exciting finishes and a few upsets today with the biggest one being (7) Virginia Tech blowing out (1) Duke and the Coach K faces were on brand. (4) Texas A&M-CC knocked off (2) SE Louisiana in the Southland Conference and in the Mountain West we saw a great finish between (1) Boise State and (3) San Diego State.

We have the standings cut by the top 12 this time so we catch everyone tied with 14 points. Pizzy did an excellent job of hanging on to first place today, but Tom and Robb are right on his tail. All 3 have an incredible accuracy percentage for this late into the conference tournaments. Pat, Tim and Sam should be fighting for 4th place on Sunday as we're going to see anyone in the yellowish color fall down in the standings based on max possible points. I'm excited to watch the finish for 1st place on Sunday!

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

We have made it to Selection Sunday, one of the best days of the year!

Prepare for 15 Conference Tournament Championship Games Today (Part 2 of 2)

We'll now continue where we left off and look at the remaining 10 conference tournament championship games taking place tonight. In addition to the 15 conference tournament championship games today, a few other conferences are playing in the semi-finals and the Ivy League tipped off this morning, meaning more losses coming.

SWAC (5:00 PM CST)

All chalk here as (1) Alcorn State plays (2) Texas Southern in yet another important game in the conference tournament pool. While 60% of our picks are with Texas Southern, Pat who is currently in second place is riding Alcorn State making this a big game for him. Texas Southern is favored by 4 points and with a win we could continue to see a log jam at the top of the standings.

Big East (5:30 PM CST)

(2) Villanova plays (4) Creighton in a game where Villanova is favored big. It's hard to tell how this game will impact our standings, but I can tell you that 6 of our top 10 are already eliminated from this conference. Only Jack, who is way down at the bottom of the standings, is on Creighton meaning a Creighton win won't have much of an impact on the pool.

MAC (6:30 PM CST)

Based on how the morning and afternoon games play out, this could end up being a significant pool impacting conference when (2) Kent State matches up against (4) Akron. Tom is all alone with Akron, a win would give him 2 points that nobody else would get, while 40% of our pool is on Kent State. I might have to root against Tom on this one if I am really trying to root for chaos, although Pizzy has Kent State so now my brain is in knots. Kent State is favored by 3 points so let's hope for a buzzer beater or something to make this one exciting.

Big Sky (7:00 PM CST)

(1) Montana State will play (3) Northern Colorado in yet another game that may end up being extremely important to out pool. B.I. and Jack are the only ones on Northern Colorado, but they're so far down the standings a win won't mean much to the overall standings. Only 4 of the top 10 are on Montana State, making a win here important to the top half of the standings. Montana State is favored by almost 5 points so I'm not sure what to expect with this game, looks like it may be an easy win for Montana State.

I'm at the point where I am exhausted from analyzing all these conferences, we still have 6 left to go through and I'm not going through them. I'll continue to post standings and maybe a blog entry or two throughout today and then tomorrow morning we'll see where everyone stands. Good luck today!

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

Prepare for 15 Conference Tournament Championship Games Today (Part 1 of 2)

Today will be an absolutely insane day for our conference tournament pool with 15 championship games starting as early as 10:00 AM CST and as late as 10:30 PM CST. This blog entry would be 25 pages if I tried to summarize each one so I'll keep it abbreviated as we really only care about the standings. I'll go in order of tip off time and if it has significant relevance to our pool then I'll go into further detail. I'll break this into multiple parts throughout the morning.

America East (10:00 AM CST)

(1) Vermont will take on (2) UMBC with Vermont favored by an incredible 15.5 points making me think the result of this game is not in doubt, but UMBC has overcome big spreads in the past. It is hard to believe that no one in our pool picked UMBC and 83% of our picks are on Vermont. A Vermont win will catapult a bunch of people over Matthew and Iannuzzi, making them huge UMBC fans this morning.

MEAC (12:00 PM CST)

How nobody decided to roll with Juan Dixon and (7) Coppin State vs. (1) Norfolk State still amazes me in this conference. Similar to the America East, the majority of our picks are on Norfolk State, 77% to be exact. While the spread is not as large as we saw in the American East, Norfolk State is still significantly favored at 7.5 points. I love that this game is on earlier in the day as a Norfolk State win means a loss for Pizzy and will tighten up the top of the standings. However, a Coppin State win puts Pizzy in a great position for the remainder of the day.

MAAC (3:00 PM CST)

The majority of us are dead in this conference, but we do have people on both sides when (2) Saint Peter's takes on (4) Monmouth today. Looking at the top half of the standings Iannuzzi and Matthew are on Saint Peter's and a win would be huge for them to be able to stay in contention for the remainder of today. Lundo and Evan are on Monmouth which is equally as big since bonus points can be won. Saint Peter's is favored by 3 so I am hoping we see a close game.

Big 12 (5:00 PM CST)

(1) Kansas will take on (3) Texas Tech in a game that is so huge for our pool considering Pizzy has Kansas, but everyone behind him has Texas Tech and those bonus points. Unlike the previous conferences I'm not sure the outcome means much here as the standings could get bunched up either way weather or not Kansas or Texas Tech wins. This game is almost a pick from a spread perspective so at least it will be fun to watch.

Mountain West (5:00 PM CST)

(1) Boise State plays (3) San Diego State in yet another game that has huge impacts to our conference tournament pool. 34% of our pool picked San Diego State and a few notable exceptions to that are Pizzy, Pat, Robb, Sohler and Sam, who are all in the top 10. Of course it depends what happens in the earlier games, but a San Diego State victory can completely change the standings. San Diego State has been on fire and are favored by 2.5 points today. Since I am pretty much out of it I am rooting for chaos today and want to see a log jam at the top of the standings going into tonight and tomorrow.

Our standings are completely up to date through all conference tournament action as of late last night. As expected, accuracy percentages and max points have completely plummeted over the past few days. Pizzy and Robb are the only ones remaining over 40% in terms of accuracy and Robb and Tom are tied with 28 max points. I like Robb's chances of winning this pool or at least being competitive over the next day and a half.

 

Below is our top 10 headed into today...

 

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

Part II coming later this morning before the America East championship ends... 

Big Pool Favorites Baylor, Southern Utah, UC Irvine and Southern Go Down

I wanted to ensure I pushed out a short entry today with all the losing that is happening in our pool. Without any championship games today the losing will continue so hang on. Pizzy, Pat and Tom are in fantastic shape with an accuracy percentage greater than 50% but we have watched overall pool accuracy plummet the past few days and are now in much more normal range. Starting Wednesday morning our overall pool accuracy was at 42.7% and only 48 hours later we're down to 35.5%

The night started off in the Big 12 where (2) Baylor was defeated by (7) Oklahoma in a quarterfinals stunner. Although Kansas is the one seed, 51% of our pool picks were on Baylor and the analytics favored Baylor to win the Big 12 conference. 

In the Big Sky we had less of a pool upset since we're a bit more spread out, but still worth calling out that (2) Southern Utah went down to (7) Portland state, knocking 9 people out of that conference. This is a conference to watch for our pool as (1) Montanan State is the analytics favorite, but (4) Weber State is our pool favorite. This looks to be a pivotal conference for our pool depending how today's games turn out.

Moving to the Big West, pool favorite (4) UC Irvine was beat by (5) UCSB. To the rest of the sports world that is not an upset, but in our pool 54% of our picks were on the Anteaters making this conference wide open now. 

Finally, in one of my least favorite conferences, yet another bonus point team went down when (6) Grambling State beat (3) Southern, causing 11 losses in our pool. Not to be confused with (2) Texas Southern that is still alive, which is a pool favorite to win at 60% and an analytics favorite to win with a 33% probability.

The top 10 is super interesting to look at with all the losses that have occurred over the past few days. Pizzy and Pat are obviously in great shape based on total points, but down in 5th place Tom has the overall max points available meaning he could jump to the top quickly. Tim and The Gruesome Threesome are sitting in 3rd & 4th place and both have some unique picks that can separate them, for good or bad. Finally, looking at 6 through 10 it's going to be hard for Sohler as his max points are the lowest of the top 10, meaning most upsets hurt him as he is a chalk guy.

Our standings are completely up to date through all conference tournament action last night.

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX

No Conference Tournament Championship Games Until Saturday

For those new to this conference tournament pool this is the stretch that is hard to stomach as we're going to have 48 hours with zero championship games and excruciating losses. Accuracy is going to plummet, bonus points are going to disappear, favorites will be upset, max points are going to drop down and we're all trying to stay mathematically alive for Saturday and hopefully Sunday. Unless I get really bored or something huge happens I won't post a blog update until Saturday morning where I will attempt to write out a preview of what to watch for on Saturday.

It's been an eventful last few days in the conference tournaments starting with the Wagner/Bryant brawl, Buddy Boeheim taking cheap shots and Rick Pitino getting bounced in the opening round of the MAAC conference tournament. Every conference is now complete or in progress with the exception of the Ivy League, I'll be spending the next 48 hours adding a lot of red to the standings.

We're seeing accuracy percentages drop, max points drop and projected totals drop as we gear up for power 5 quarterfinals over the next 48 hours. It's always fun to watch if the people on the top of our standings that started out hot can hang on or if they start to regress back to the pack. Every year this pool provides exciting finishes. Keep an eye on the standings over the next 48 hours!

Link to Standing

Click HERE or use the full URL below. 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsXZYEv74FyvhuUNqFVB8_-W7TeBlQ?e=gDAbuX