ANOTHER NCAA tourney game
 

A friend of mine posted this game for another message board I frequent, and I thought it might be fun to run it here.

Here are the rules:

The premise is simple: Pick five of the 65 NCAA tournament teams. You'll then get points based on the seeding of the team and how many games they win. So while it's good to pick the winner, a couple of well-placed upset-minded teams going far can be just as valuable.

For each game a team you pick wins, you get the same number of points that matches that team's seed. You also get bonus points equal to what round they won in.

Say you pick Duke... If the Blue Devils win their first game, you get 2 points (1 for being a No. 1 seed, and one for the first-round win). A win in their second game nets you an additional three points (1 for the seed, 2 for the second-round win). Should the Dookies go all the way, that would be worth a total of 27 points (2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27).

You might think that picking a high-seeded upset would get you a lot of points. That's true to some extent, but not always. Last year's two tournament darlings, No. 7 West Virginia (Elite Eight) and No. 12 Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Sweet Sixteen) each netted 27 points. The same exact score as National Champs UNC. In fact, the highest scoring team last year was Final Four-bound Michigan State - the No. 5 seed Spartans racked up 30 points ((5 *4) + (1 + 2 + 3 + 4)) on the way to St. Louis.

So to enter - all you have to do is pick five teams and list them in this thread. You have until Thursday, noon Eastern Time - the start of the first games - to get your picks in. I'll compile the points and give scoring updates at the end of each day.

If you want to change your picks, just edit them in your original post. Any post having an edit time of after noon Eastern time Thursday, March 16th will be ineligible.

Please list your picks as follows:

Name of team (Seed) (Ex: Duke (1))

You have 22 hours... go!

Here's each team's seeds to assist you with your picking:

No. 1 seeds
Connecticut
Duke
Memphis
Villanova

No. 2 seeds
Ohio State
Tennessee
Texas
UCLA

No. 3 seeds
Florida
Gonzaga
Iowa
North Carolina

No. 4 seeds
Boston College
Illinois
Kansas
LSU

No. 5 seeds
Nevada
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Washington

No. 6 seeds
Indiana
Michigan State
Oklahoma
West Virginia

No. 7 seeds
California
Georgetown
Marquette
Wichita State

No. 8 seeds
Arizona
Arkansas
George Washington
Kentucky

No. 9 seeds
Alabama-Birmingham
Bucknell
UNC-Wilmington
Wisconsin

No. 10 seeds
Alabama
N.C. State
Northern Iowa
Seton Hall

No. 11 seeds
George Mason
San Diego State
Southern Illinois
Wisconsin-Milwaukee

No. 12 seeds
Kent State
Montana
Texas A&M
Utah State

No. 13 seeds
Air Force
Bradley
Iona
Pacific

No. 14 seeds
Murray State
Northwestern State (La.)
South Alabama
Xavier

No. 15 seeds
Belmont
Davidson
Pennsylvania
Winthrop

No. 16 seeds
Albany
Monmouth
Oral Roberts
Southern

Connecticut (No. 1)
Texas (No. 2)
UCLA (No. 2)
North Carolina (No. 3)
Pittsburgh (No. 5)

Connecticut (1)
Iona (13)
Florida (3)
Kansas (4)
Arizona (8)

Edited to add seedings

Duke (1)
Uconn (1)
BC (4)
MSU (6)
Florida (3)

Georgetown (7)
West Virginia (6)
Michigan State (6)
UCLA (2)
Connecticut (1)

Syracuse
Michigan State
Villanova
UNC
Pitt

Uconn 1
BC 4
Texas A&M 12
West Virginia 6
Duke 1

Duke (1)
Iowa (3)
BC (4)
Kansas (4)
North Carolina (3)

Duke (1)
Villanova (1)
Gonzaga (3)
Michigan State (6)
Illinois (4)

Duke(1)
Connecticut(1)
Kansas(4)
Florida(3)
Utah State(12)

Connecticut (1)
UCLA (2)
Southern Illinois (11)
Georgetown (7)
Michigan State (6)

Dola...

I've also seen this done with a couple of control teams thrown in:

The Weenies
Duke
UConn
Villanova
Memphis
UCLA (the #2 seed across from the lowest #1)

The Anti-Weenies
Southern
Albany
Monmouth
Oral Roberts
Belmont (the 15 playing the highest #2)

North Carolina (3)
Texas (2)
Pittsburgh (5)
Villanova (1)
Seton Hall (10)

Alabama-Birmingham(9)
Connecticut(1)
Gonzaga(3)
Arkansas(8)
Michigan State(6)

We play a very similar game to this in our group of friends. I never 'fill out a bracket' anymore because I vastly prefer this type of game. However, I think it is much more fun picking 10 teams instead of 5 (this is what we do). Also, we give bonuses for having a final four team and the national champion in your list.

UConn 1

Duke 1

Texas 2

Pitt 5

Michigan state 6

I will stay away from Indiana, way to biased to predict anything for them

Ill take:
Villanova (1)
UConn(1)
Ohio St(2)
Michigan St(6)
Kent St(12)

Duke (1)
UConn (1)
Florida (3)
Gonzaga (3)
Bucknell (9)

Pit (5)
Arkansas(8)
Duke(1)
Villanova (1)
UConn (1)

Texas (2)
Kansas (4)
San Diego St. (11)
Connecticut (1)
Arkansas (8)

UConn (1)
Kansas (4)
Mich State (6)
West Virginia (6)
B.C. (4)

Duke (1)
UConn (1)
UCLA (2)
BC (4)
UNC (3)

My final four and UNC for the hell of it.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11)
Michigan State (6)
Boston College (4)
UCLA (2)
UCONN (1)

Duke (1)
Connecticut (1)
Villanova (1)
Florida (3)
Kansas (4)

I'll take:

UConn (1)
George Washington (8)
LSU (4)
Pittsburgh (5)
West Virginia (6)

Villanova (1)

Duke (1)

Gonzaga (3)

North Carolina (3)

Syracuse (5)

Texas (2)
UCLA (2)
UCONN (1)
Boston College (4)
LSU (4)

UCONN (1)
Illinois (4)
LSU (4)
BC (4)
Winthrop (15)

UCLA (2)
Syracuse (5)
West Virginia (6)
George Washington (8)
Bucknell (9)

UCLA (2)
Seton Hall (10)
Wichita State (7)
Pacific (13)
LSU (4)

Interesting strategy, picking first round opponents.

I'll take
UConn
Iona
Wisconsin Milwaukee
Pitt
Arkansas

The thought there is that I don't think highly of Tennessee, but I think the winner of the 2nd round game has a better chance to get two wins than Winthrop in the first round.

Quik posted in another thread on the notion that there is little value in picking the 15 over the 2, unless it is a weighted pool. Well, this one is weighted and I do think that Tennessee is weak. So I'm taking a shot with the first round teams who would get Tennessee (or perhaps Winthrop) in the 2nd round.

Bottom line, it is a strategy as opposed to a D'oh!

I'm entering too.

Boston College (4)
Kansas (4)
Gonzaga (3)
Utah State (12)
Wichita State (7)

I said interesting, not awful. Thanks for the insight, that always makes these things more interesting.

Just looked at the bracket again and decided I'd like to change my 5th team. Is this allowed?

.

I'll give this a (biased) go...

UNCW (9)
Geargetown (7)
Villanova (1)
Tennessee (2)
Memphis (1)

And a side note:

The brackets that I'm doing with my friends on CBSSportsline use this scoring method for EVERYTHING. So that changes logic for picking your brackets a bit compared to the FOFC Yahoo League, but I just went ahead and copied mine from CBS over to Yahoo.

You can put in 5 teams, Wade.

Villanova (1)
Gonzaga (2)
Florida (3)
Nevada (5)
West Virginia (6)

Oops, thanks, updated my post.

Duke (1)
Boston College (4)
Michigan State (6)
Florida (3)
UCLA (2)

Registration is closed.

Good luck, gentlemen... and oliegirl. :)

w00t!

Easily too.

I will go on record right now, however, as saying Iona was a stupid pick.

Day 1 leaders:

Lathum and ram each have 20, thanks to hitting all 3 of their Day 1 picks, including a sub-10 seed winning. I'm happily 3rd with 17 points, but my Utah State pick didn't pan out.

Most picks come today... but it'll get real interesting after the weekend's games.

Ugh, I might be wishing i picked GMU instead of UNCW.

woohoo go A&M

Butter, Wichita State is looking solid for us so far ...

Just missed on Pacific - would have been a real boost to have them to at least the 2nd round, particularly with Montana as the opponent.

go A&M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to have A&M out (no offense, Lathum) - didn't need to see people racking up points on these guys. I'm in a pay pool for this with the same picks I have here and I expect that some of the others in that one have the Aggies.