The 2024-25 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournament is Final: Our Winner is Dan Sohler (Pool Closing & Payouts)

Congrats to Dan Sohler for winning back-to-back early season NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournaments in 2024 and now 2025. He should be the newest Nebraska Cornhuskers fan after that Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game where they knocked off Oregon State 78-66 to secure his win. Sohler put together 13 wins, no tiebreaker needed, and had an accuracy rate of almost 45%. The tournaments this year were much more difficult to predict than last year, as we had 3 people at 50% or higher last year. 🏀🥇

Here is the link to the final standings and they are also attached to this email. Overall, we had 6 people win money with the following payouts. 💰

If you won money, please reach out to me and confirm how you would like to be paid out (I'd be happy to apply any winnings to the conference tournament pool coming up in a few months). Be on the lookout for the first communication on that pool later in January. I hope everyone enjoyed this pool, have a Happy New Year! 🥳

Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Championship Game Preview

It all comes down to the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, on Christmas Day to determine the winner of our 2024-25 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournament pool. The only college basketball being played on Christmas Day will be the 4 tournament games, with the championship game set with Oregon State taking on Nebraska. I love that we have a great battle for first, second, and third place in our pool! 🎅 

Here is the link to the current standings as we prepare to wrap up our pool and the last of the bracketed college basketball early season tournaments. I have outlined the path for each of the top 4 people. 

• Sohler: If Nebraska wins, Sohler wins. If Nebraska loses, Sohler will need to rely on the third tiebreaker to hold off Jenn, which is the closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game total. 🥇🥈

• Jenn: Her only path to victory is a Nebraska loss, and to win the third tiebreaker, which is  the closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game total. Jenn can come in first, second, or third. 🥇🥈🥉

• Tim: The best he can do is 2nd place with a Nebraska win (he would have the 2nd tiebreaker over Jenn). Tim can come in second, third, or fourth. 🥈🥉

• Novak: The best he can do is 3rd place with a Nebraska loss + win the third tiebreaker over Tim. 🥉

For everyone else not in the top 4, you will still want to pay close attention to the championship game, as we are all eligible for payouts. 💰

• Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Winner (Christmas Bonus 🎅) - The person who correctly picks the winner of this Christmas Day championship game will win $150. 4 people are still alive for this, including Ryan in 8th place

• Closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game final score total (More Christmas Bonus 🎅)  - The person with the closest championship game score wins $50. Even if you're in last place, with no other wins, you will have the opportunity to recoup your $50 on this final early season tournament championship game.

Good luck to everyone as we wrap up the 2024-25 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournament pool and move on to conference play after the holidays and gear up for conference tournaments and March Madness! 🏀

Next Up: Don Haskins Basketball Invitational

On Friday, 12/20, the Don Haskins Basketball Invitational will tip off in El Paso, Texas. This is a 4-team tournament featuring Akron, Jackson State, Yale, and UTEP that will be played over two days. Yale and UTEP are the only teams that matter for our pool. 🏀 

A Yale win will knock out Novak from finishing top 3, and allows Jenn, Sohler, and Tim to fight out those top 3 spots. However, a UTEP win will put Novak in a tie for 3rd place with Tim, and on the heels of Sohler and Jenn. With so many unique picks for the last remaining tournament, we could have a fun battle for first place in the pool. 🥇

Here is the link to the current standings as we prepare for this epic Don Haskins Basketball Invitational on Friday. I'll post the next few updates on the blog before sending out the final standings and payouts next week. For everyone else not in the top 4, you will still want to pay close attention to the last tournament taking place over Christmas, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, as we are all eligible for payouts. The details are below:

• Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Winner (Christmas Bonus 🎅) - The person who correctly picks the winner of this Christmas Day championship game will win $150.

• Closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game final score total (More Christmas Bonus 🎅)  - The person with the closest championship game score wins $50. Even if you're in last place, with no other wins, you will have the opportunity to recoup your $50 on this final early season tournament championship game.

We have pool related action on 6 of the 8 teams playing in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, which almost ensures a nice payout for a few people unless we see a substantial upset. Even the bottom feeders like B.I., Balls Boy, and Iannuzzi have a shot at up to $200 on Christmas Day! I will post a future blog entry wrapping up the Don Haskins Basketball Invitational and previewing the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. 🌴

Good luck to everyone as we're at the home stretch of the early season tournaments wrapping up. ☘

Big 5 Classic Championship Game Preview

On Saturday, 12/7, at least one tournament fires back up, and that is The Big 5 Classic championship game in Philly. Saint Joseph's will take on LaSalle, but the only pool significance that this likely has pertains to 3rd place, possibly a run at 1st or 2nd, and maybe some pride for a few others towards the bottom of the standings. 🏀 

Novak is sitting in 4th place with his Saint Joseph's pick, but he is 2 points off 3rd place, and 3 points away from 1st place. Normally, this would be a big hill to climb, but he does have 3 unique picks for the 3 remaining tournaments, which means if he goes 3-0, and wins the tiebreaker, he takes 1st place. I will be rooting for Saint Joseph's just to make Jenn, Sohler, and Tim have to sweat out the final two championship games. 🏆

Here are the current standings as we head into this very important Big 5 Classic championship game, with a lot at stake for 4 people in the pool. I am looking forward to an exciting finish to our pool as we head into conference play and eventually the conference tournament pool! 😄

Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Bloodbath

This blog entry was supposed to be announcing who in our pool won the Bad Bow Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis $150 bonus pot, however we all got this one very wrong. In an upset, Oklahoma/Louisville ended up winning that tournament, leading to a loss for the entire pool. The $150 bonus pot now rolls into the overall payout for the final pool standings. This is what makes college basketball so exciting, it really is very hard to predict most of the time. 🏀

With 24 of the 29 early season college basketball tournaments now complete, we have a clear picture on who can win the pool, and who is eliminated. For anyone that has been eliminated from the top 3, we still have the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Christmas bonus on 12/25, where you can win up to $200. I won't get into the breakdown of that tournament just yet, but we do have 6 of the 8 teams picked for our pool, which makes me hopeful that someone will receive a big payout. 💰

Looking at the updated standings we see that Sohler is in the driver's seat to win this pool, but Jenn and Tim have enough unique picks, plus the tiebreaker, that they are all in contention for first. However, if Jenn and/or Tim slip up, we have 5 people competing to take that 3rd place spot. Accuracy is down this season, last year's pool we had 3 people over 50% accuracy, this year we have nobody near 50% accuracy.

We still have 2 tournaments that are wrapping up on Saturday before we get a break for a week. The first tournament championship to be played on Saturday will be the Arizona Tip-Off (Desert Division) with Weber State vs. Pepperdine. The Final Championship of the day will be played in the evening where Alabama will face Oregon in the Players Era Thanksgiving Festival. 🦃

Gardner-Webb, Auburn, Michigan, SMU, and The LMU Lions Are Early Season Tournament Champions

We had 5 more champions crowned today in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Fort Myers Tip-Off (Beach Division), Acrisure Holiday Invitational, Cancun Challenge (Mayan Division), and Cancun Challenge (Riviera Division). Below is a breakdown of the winners, along with how each one impacted our pool standings. 55% of the bracketed early season tournaments are now complete, 14% are in progress, and 31% have not yet tipped off. 🏀

Reviewing today's action, Auburn beat Memphis in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational this afternoon, giving important wins to Tim, Sohler, and our very own game show host. Over in the Fort Myers Tip-Off (Beach Division) Michigan blew the doors off Xavier, giving Sohler and Grimmer key wins, creating a log jam at the top of the standings. Over in the Cancun double-header, Gardner-Webb won the Cancun Challenge (Mayan Division) while LMU won the Cancun Challenge (Riviera Division). Finally, heading over to the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, SMU knocked off Washington in a fun, face-paced, late-night game.

Here are the updated standings with all of today's tournament championship action, including losses from tournaments that were in progress today, but not necessarily a championship game. The big winners today were Jenn and Sohler, jumping into a 1st place tie with 9 points and a 47.4% accuracy, proving how quickly things can change. Novak and Tim are hanging on right behind them with 8 points and over 40% accuracy. Finally, Freddy Fazbear and the game show host each have 6 points, remaining within striking distance. Those of us with 5 points or less are running out of time and need to essentially go perfect to be in contention.

For the first time in many years, we do not have any championship games on Thanksgiving Day, but we do have a whopping 6 new tournaments tipping off on Turkey Day! Have a great Thanksgiving holiday watching some great college basketball games, saving us from terrible NFL matchups. 🦃

4 More Tournament Champions Crowned Today

We had champions crowned today in the Cayman Island Classic, Fort Myers Tip-Off (Palms Division), Sunshine Slam (Beach Bracket), and Sunshine Slam (Ocean Bracket). Now that I have some more time on my hands, I will break down each of the championship games and preview the Wednesday games. Almost half of the tournaments are now complete. 😮

The first championship crowned today was Miami (OH), as they knocked off Mercer 75-72 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off (Palms Division). Over half the pool walked away with a win, however Tim lost this one which allowed the field to catch up to him, and eventually pass him up in the standings. 🌴

In a championship game where we nobody picked the winner, Boston College knocked out Boise State with a buzzer beating 3-pointer to win the Cayman Island Classic, leaving no impact to our pool besides all red for everyone. It's always amazing to see nobody with a winner with out 8 options, but that is what makes college basketball great, the unexpected! 🏝

Finally, we saw Clemson win the Sunshine Slam (Beach Bracket), and Radford win the Sunshine Slam (Ocean Bracket) in our final championship games of the evening. Novak and Jenn benefited from those wins, leapfrogging Tim for 1st and 2nd place respectively. The rest of the field is starting to fall away from the top 4.

Here are the updated standings with all of today's tournament action, including losses from tournaments that tipped off today. In the Cancun Challenge (Mayan Division) Gardner-Webb stormed back to knock of Southeastern Louisiana, handing out 2 pool losses. While over in the Players Era Thanksgiving Festival San Diego State upset Creighton, knocking out 4 people from our pool. This is just a sample of what happened tonight outside of the championship games. 🏀 

Wednesday will bring us 5 championship games and 1 new tournament tipping off. The new tournament tipping off is critical to our pool as it is the Bad Bow Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, the winner receives $150 (split evenly for any ties). Looking ahead, only 2 people have lone wolf picks, and can take the entire $150. Heffron with Providence, and Iannuzzi with Indiana. An Arizona or Gonzaga win would mean a tie across multiple people, and if another team wins that $150 just rolls into the main pot. 💰