(Okay, two of those were at KJ's old site. Close enough.)
NOTE: Because of the First Four games, entry closes at tip of the first game Tuesday evening (6:30 ET).
First, the prizes: First place gets their choice of:
- $50 gift certificate for Underground Printing
- A miniature MSU basketball hoop from JustinTymeSports
- A football program from the 1949 MSU-William & Mary game:
Second place gets second choice, third place gets whichever one's left. Additionally, the person who has the best combined finish in this and the traditional contest (to be posted soon), by average ranking, without placing in the top three in either will win a set of 1990 MSU trading cards.
Now, the rules:
- To enter, choose 16 of the 68 teams in the bracket and post your selections as a comment in this thread. Also, as a tiebreaker, enter a prediction for the number of possessions in the championship game. (The count at Statsheet will be considered official for tiebreaker purposes.) If the tiebreaker is not given, it will be assumed 0 (which means unless the title game is Penn State-Wisconsin, you will lose).
- You may change your entry at any time prior to tip-off of the first game. Only the last valid entry made will count. For ease of bookkeeping, please make any changes to your entry by replying to your original comment; this will make it easier to find.
- Scoring: You will earn points for each game won by a team you selected according to the following scale:
First Four: Half of the seed the selected team takes in the round of 64 (i.e. selecting a 16-seed play-in winner is worth 8). In the event that a play-in winner receives an odd seed, this means you can get half a point.
Each round thereafter: The team's full seed value.
Bonuses for Final Four teams: Each team you select that reaches the Final Four earns an additional 1 point. Reaching the final earns you an additional 3 points, and winning the title earns an additional 5. These bonuses are cumulative: a 1 seed that wins the national championship earns 6*1 + 1 + 3 + 5 = 15 points total. - In the event of a tie in number of points earned, the following tiebreakers will be used, in order:
- Closest to correct number of possessions in the championship game
- Highest total number of wins by selected teams
- Individual team scores of teams selected, from highest to lowest
- Random selection
I will post score updates as the tournament progresses. Get your picks in