Official Rules:

This is a standard bracket pool - you pick who you will think will win each game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. In order to allow people time to make their picks, we will not pick the 4 play-in games. Thus, entries must be received by the start of the first game on Thursday, March 21st (based on past years, usually around Noon EST).

You are allowed to enter two brackets. Each bracket has a chance to win in both pools - the standard pool and upset pool. There is also the opportunity to win in the second chance pool. If you are having trouble with the site, you can also enter by sending me an e-mail with your picks at thomas@tehodgson.com. Just realize that I have little access to this e-mail while I am at work, and so I will only be checking e-mails each evening up until the tournament starts.

Scoring Rules

The Standard Pool is a classic scoring system where you receive points for each winner in a round. The Upset Pool rewards picking upsets by assigning points based on the team's Seed multiplied by Round. For example, if you correctly pick that the 12 seed goes to the Sweet 16, you will receive 12 points for their first round win, and 24 points for their second round win.

Entry fees:

The money pool is $5 for one entry, and $10 for two entries.

Because this was initially set up for fun to prove that you can beat the Lunatic (and I have lots of friends who would like to participate but don't want to have to figure out how to get money to me), I allow people to play for fun. Just un-check the money pool box on the Entry Form.

However, there are no changes once the tournament starts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, it is assumed that you will be entering the money pool unless you tell me (whether that is through the form or in a frantic e-mail saying you accidentally hit the wrong key.)

Second Chance Pool:

How many of us after the first week wish we had not gone with our guts on that 13 seed getting to the Sweet 16, or had not made their picks at 2 am on Thursday morning. Well, this is going to give everyone a second chance.

Once the Sweet 16 is set, I will put the second chance entry form on the site - you can get to it by logging in and getting to this page. Each person who registers will get one chance to pick those teams (regardless of if you have one or two entries in the main pool). The second chance pool will use the same scoring method as the standard pool. Most importantly, there is no additional cost to enter the second chance pool - it is truly meant as just another opportunity to win.

Your second chance entry will have to be entered before the Sweet 16 games begin - this year, the NCAA has announced those are scheduled on Thursday, March 28th (based on past years, usually starting around 7 pm EST). Only people who are in the money pool for one of their picks are eligible for winning the prizes in the second chance pool.

Prizes:

This pool was initially set up for fun - so my goal is to offer more prizes than most pools. Final prizes will be based on all of the entry fees collected.

However, I will guarantee the following number of prizes:

Standard Pool - Top 10 and ties

Upset Pool - Top 5 and ties

Second Chance Pool - Top 3 and ties

LAST in Standard Pool - $5 - you shouldn't have challenged the Lunatic

I am currently targeting about 65% of the prize fund to the Standard Pool, 25-30% of the prize fund to the Upset Pool, and 5-10% of the prize fund to the Second Chance Pool. If we need prize money to pay for ties, that comes from the people who finished 2nd and 3rd in the standard pool, and 2nd in the upset pool. Since there are the possibility of lots of ties while doing the Second Chance Pool, I reserve the right to change these percentages in order to make sure we appropriately pay the winners of the standard and upset pools. The prize fund will be announced as soon as possible once all entries are received.

Important note on prizes - There are no tie-breakers when it comes to the prizes. If the 2nd place and 3rd place finishers tie for the same amount of points, they will split the 2nd and 3rd place prizes.

Insane upset pool rule!!!!!! In past contests, we have had entries that picked all upsets (no better than a 9 won a game) in an attempt to win the upset pool. However, history has shown that this strategy normally finishes in last in the standard pool. This is felt as an unfair attempt to win the upset pool - knowing that if you lose, you will get your $5 back. I don't want to discourage people from making creative picks in order to win the upset pool. However, to be eligible for the LAST in Standard Pool prize, your picks must have a final four that consists of at least 1 team that is in the top 4 seeds, and 1 additional team that is in the top 6 seeds (something that has happened in every tournament since 1979).

Ties:

There is a tie-breaker in order to be able to create a final winner of the pool. However, as mentioned above. as far as prizes are concerned, anyone tied will split the prize funds for those places.

Forfeits:

Before the pandemic, I never would have imagined needing to state this. But 2021 had a team that was unable to continue. If a team is unable to continue and has to forfeit the game, it will still count as if the game had been played and the winner will get credited for the points of that game for all the pools.

Disclosure:

I hope upon hope that we never end up in the horrible situation of 2020 where the tournament had to be cancelled. But sadly, the pandemic has also made me realize that the Lunatic needs to have the following disclosure.

The Lunatic reserves the right to cancel the Lunatic contest if the NCAA Tournament does not complete, or the bracket gets changed in a way where the new structure makes it impossible to predict the remaining games. If there is a reasonable way to continue, the Lunatic reserves the right to make the necessary changes so that we can declare a winner. In any case where the Lunatic has to cancel the contest, all collected entry fees will be refunded.