We are back for year 2 of the NCAA Basketball Tip Off Pool. It is only 1 week away from the start of the 2024-25 college basketball season tipping off, which means early season bracketed tournament time is around the corner! 🎉
If we have enough interest for this pool again, then next week, the week of 11/3/2024, I will send out the rules, and entry sheet, for the 2024-25 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournament pool. This will be our 2nd year of running this pool for a larger group. I'm also open to any feedback or proposed rule changes you may have after last year. 🏀
Below is a preview of the rules for the 2024-25 pool. If you are interested in playing, please let me know and I will reserve a spot for you. The game is very simple, all you do is pick who you think is going to win each of the 29 NCAA early season bracketed tournaments.
These early season tip-off tournaments are similar to conference tournaments, as they are teams that play in a bracket style pool. The difference is that these are teams from all different conferences, typically limited to 4-8 teams, and no team is seeded.
Even if you're not a die-hard college basketball fan, these are fun tournaments to watch throughout November and December as they are played in fun locations, mid-majors are mixed in with the major programs, and it's a good way to learn about the teams before conference tournaments and March Madness!
Last season Dan Sohler took home $390 with his 1st place win. 💸
The entry fee will be $50 with the following payout structure:
- 1st place receives a 60% payout
- 2nd place receives a 25% payout
- 3rd place receives a 15% payout
This pool has a very easy scoring system. The person with the most correct picks, wins the pool. Since these teams are not seeded, bonus points are not a thing like in our conference tournament pool. All ties in the standings are settled using the following tiebreakers:
- Overall total
- Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship winner
- Closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game total
Also, you can win money without winning the pool. 🤑
The pool is meant to be fun and keep people in it as long as possible, all the way to the last game played on Christmas Day. No matter where you're at in the standings you can still win money 3 different ways even if you're outside the top 3 in the standings. It's likely we'll have some ties, so the money gets split among all winners in the event of a tie. Technically, you can be towards the bottom of the standings and still win every one of these categories.
- Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis (Black Friday Bonus 🦃) - The person who correctly picks the winner of this HUGE Black Friday championship game will win $150.
- 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.
As these early season tournaments begin and end at different dates between 11/12/24 - 12/25/24, I will post a weekly, and sometimes daily, blog and standings update via the link below.
Make sure you save this blog link, subscribe, and put it in your favorites so you're always up to date. More details coming the week of 11/3/24.🏀
Thank You!
Rick Donegan
