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It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:12 pm
by Schroberts
Bracketologists, ready your pencils... it's that time of year again!

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That's right, my most favorite time of year, March Madness, is here!
(For those unfamiliar with this most fabulous season, I'm referring to the 2014 NCAA college basketball national championship tournament.)

For the third year in a row, I will be hosting Lux's own Mad Mad Mad Mad March bracket challenge. I'm a little late getting sign ups started this year (grad school/internship is kicking my rear), but I'm hoping there is still enough interest to get a good challenge going. The first round of game play begins Thursday, March 20, so I anyone interested in participating will need to have their brackets filled out by Wednesday, March 19, at midnight EDT. Interested players can either PM me or sign up here to participate. Please don't feel like you have to be a college basketball expert (or even a fan) to play! Even if you've never watched a game of college basketball in your life, you can still have a winning bracket. That's what makes this such an adventure!

Make your picks, using the methodology of your choice (team seed, season performance, jersey color, coolest mascot, college town you've been the drunkest in... all are acceptable methods). I've posted this year's bracket below, and will update throughout the tourney as games are won. Since we're getting a relatively late start this year, I will have all players fill out their brackets on their own on a third party website I set up group bracket challenge for us on, rather than having you all email me your bracket picks one by one (unless there are any significant objections).

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How It Works:
(My apologies to those who are very familiar with the March Madness tourney and how brackets work... I'm trying to explain this as simply as possible for those non college basketball friends who signed up, those adventurous souls!)
The NCAA College Basketball Championship is comprised of 64 teams (I'm not counting those silly "first four" teams in the the play-in games. Silliness, I say!). Those 64 teams play single elimination over 6 rounds, until 1 team is crowned champion. So for our purposes, each player will pick a winner for each matchup, moving those winners on round by round until a champion is picked.

Scoring Rules:
The base score for each correct pick will increase round by round.
  • round --> base score
    • 1 = 1
      2 = 2
      3 = 4
      4 = 8
      5 = 12
      6 = 18
This way, someone who makes a lot of bad picks in the first round isn't necessarily out of the running early on, and still has a chance to catch up if they've made good picks in later rounds. Some bracket challenges increase the base score per round much more drastically, but I like this set up because it doesn't place all the emphasis on correctly picking the championship team. So, say you made many many correct picks, but failed to correctly pick the champion, you could still feasibly win.

This base score for each correct pick will then be multiplied by the seed for the winning team (each team is giving a ranking seed for their region by the powers that be). This helps to reward people for correctly picking an upset, and spices things up a bit.
  • For example:
    In round 3, Andrew23 recklessly picks a #8 seed to beat a #1 seed, and when round 3 comes along, the #8 seed wins! Andrew's score for this pick would be 32 (4 base points for a correct round 3 pick, multiplied for 8 points for the seed of the winning team).

    One more example:
    In round 5, Lantern correctly picks a #2 seed to win. Lantern's score for this pick would be 24 (12 base points for the round X 2 points for the seed).
Each player's points for each round will be added up for their round total, and each round total will be added up for their overall total. The player with the most points after the championship game wins! In case of a tie, every player is required to guess the score of the championship game when they turn in their brackets, and the person closest to the actual score will break the tie.

Feel free to post any questions here, or send me a PM. I'll do my best to clear up any uncertainty!

Bracketologists:
1. Schroberts
2. paranoiarodeo
3. Nimmy
4. Andrew23
5. heartscoffee
6. engie
7. BuyMoria
8. george874
9. AquaRegia
10. plummy
11. Whirlplaid
12.
13.
14.
15.

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March (part trois)

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:14 pm
by paranoiarodeo
∞ paranoiarodeo scribbles his name on the form ∞

(I was beginning to worry; and screw the NCAA; play-in games are play-in games; not round one.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March (part trois)

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:00 pm
by nimrod7
In!

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:03 am
by heartscoffee
In

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:58 am
by engie
You know I'm in!

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:58 pm
by BuyMoria
Count me in. Did I miss the link??

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:03 pm
by George874
in

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:36 pm
by Schroberts
I'll send everyone who signs up a link and password via PM :)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:57 pm
by AquaRegia
*sigh*

Fine, I'll be cannon fodder. The last time I watched college hoops, Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner played for Duke, and UNLV had Stacey Augman and Larry Johnson. But sign me up.

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:57 pm
by plummy
count me in :o

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:01 pm
by WhirlPlaid
I will play but I want a 2.7 million point + handicap

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:03 pm
by WhirlPlaid
Ok, my bracket is complete (I think) and posted (I think). Proceed with caution, I am feeling rather powerful.

Arizona FTW.

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:44 pm
by Capicola
In. Link me, bro.

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:20 pm
by paranoiarodeo
Down goes Ohio State! Down goes Ohio State!

(Nimmy and I grab the way too early lead. Lookin' good, Nimmy! Lookin' good.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:58 pm
by Schroberts
Yeah... I did not except that to happen. I calling that a lucky guess on your parts ;p

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:05 pm
by paranoiarodeo
I had Harvard picked this morning too but changed my mind at the last second.

∞ paranoiarodeo grumbles ∞

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:51 pm
by Schroberts
I also debated really hard on Harvard. Shoulda gone with my gut I guess. And UConn really scared me there...

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:03 pm
by paranoiarodeo
Stoopid St. Joe's. Stoopid NC State.

(Overtime losses after leading almost the entire game are the worst.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 11:43 pm
by jesterme
is this a game or gamble?

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:02 am
by paranoiarodeo
(Freebie.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:49 am
by WhirlPlaid
St00pid Arizona

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:26 pm
by Schroberts
Ahem... Arizona State. You had me really worried for a while there, Whirly! But yeah, I really did not expect Texas to pull the win on that one. Sigh. This is clearly not going to be my year to win. Madness, I say!
:panic:

Score Update!

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:30 pm
by Schroberts
After the first day of games, Capi and George are tied for first, with the mysterious Mr. Freeman on their heels. Yours truly did not fare so well on day one. On to day two!

∞ Schroberts spends the day rooting for her three home state teams! ∞

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Scoring Update!

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:37 pm
by Schroberts
After the 2nd full day of gameplay, the FIRST round is officially over, and George has taken the lead!
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(I will have you all know that I am graciously losing only because it would not be appropriate for the bracket host to beat everyone. You are all welcome.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:31 pm
by George874
who woulda TUNK ??????????? :pirate: :pirate: :pirate:

Scoring Update!

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:46 am
by Schroberts
After the third day of games, Capi has retaken the lead from George. It's a tight right for the top two spots, but as the first few days of gameplay has shown us, anything can happen!

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Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:27 pm
by paranoiarodeo
I picked both of the Villanova and Kansas upsets.

(Unfortunately, I had the wrong teams beating 'em.)

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:40 pm
by Schroberts
∞ Schroberts weeps, is inconsolable... ∞ :cry:

Stoopid basketball. Gotta put all my hopes and dreams on WSU now.

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 1:05 am
by Lantern
UCONN UCONN UCONN

:pirate:

Re: It's a mad mad mad mad March! (part trois)

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:51 pm
by Lantern
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!