2022 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Coming Soon!

We are a little over a month away from the college basketball conference tournament season starting which means it's time to fire up our pool!

During the week of 2/20/2022 I will be sending out the rules and entry sheet for the 2022 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament pool. This is our 12th 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 the past few years. With COVID-19 still around it will again be tricky navigating through conference tournaments, but we'll use the same COVID rules we had last year for this pool. Yes, the rules are going to be covered in detail between this post and the post coming in February.

Before we dive into the details of the pool let's congratulate our 2021 winner, Tim Husted (@betswithnumbers on twitter) who won with 17 points, beating the competition by a full 2 points. Tim had the same amount of wins as 2nd and 3rd place, but bonus points made the difference.

Top 4 From the 2021 Pool

Below is a preview of the rules for the 2022 pool. We have zero rule changes for 2022, but if you have any proposed rule changes or suggestions that you would like to see in 2023 please let me know. We will use our same 2021 COVID rules, which will be outlined in detail in February.

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 (or less depending what COVID brings) 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 10% payout
• 4th place receives a free entry for the 2023 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. We may change the tie breaker structure, more to come when the official rules are sent out the week of 2/20/2022

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 2021, 13 out of 31 conference tournament winners were a 3 seed or lower. It happens often.

Win money without winning the pool. Huh?

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 in the standings. 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 and on Selection Sunday 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 2021 we had a 3 way tie, but the 6th and 7th place people ended up with some cash because of this.

2. Most power conference points - The person with the most power conference points (wins + bonus points) will win $150. in 2021 we had a single winner with only 3 points. The power conferences will be identified on the entry sheet for anyone unfamiliar with which 5 conferences are considered power conferences. 

3. Lowest winning seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference tournament champion wins $100. In 2021, 13 people picked (9) Iona causing a crazy large tie. However, even the person in last place won a few dollars because of this.

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 opportunities at wins you have the opportunity to recoup your $50.

As conference tournaments begin and end at different dates from 3/1/22 - 3/13/22 I will post a daily blog and standings updates via the link below. Make sure you save this link, subscribe and put it in your favorites so you're always up to date. More details coming the week of 2/20/22!

Thank You!

Rick Donegan