2017 NCAA Conference Championship Pool Final Standings and Payouts

Selection Sunday is over and the last few conference championship games of the day really determined the final standings.  Winning games early this year in this pool is key as the people that won games early went to the top of the standings and stayed at the top of the standings.

We also had some very close games throughout the past 2 weeks with some bonus point teams that would have completely changed the standings, (3) Siena in the MAC and (3) Weber State in the Big Sky.

The final standings and payouts are attached and located via the link below, congrats to Dan Sohler for taking 1st place with the Michigan win!

1st Place:  Sohler
2nd Place:  Joe Co
3rd Place:  Safka
4th Place:  TJH (Free Entry 2018!)

Link to the Standings

Please confirm your PayPal address and I will send your money to you today.  If you choose cash/check I likely won't get to it until the end of next week when I get back from Vegas.  A few of you I will see over the next few days so I can pay you in person.

Also, still have 3 people that did not pay, so if you have not made arrangements to pay me please pay up.

Below are the final pool payouts, which include the final standings as well as all the bonus categories.  Amanda spent most of the time at the bottom of the standings, but with the last game of the day she correctly guesses the total of the Big 10 championship game an recouped her $50!

Thank you everyone for playing, it was a fun 2 weeks of conference championship games, now on to the brackets and Vegas!

Selection Sunday Championship Games Pool Preview

We have 6 conference championship games happening today, with 5 of them having an impact on our pool.  The race for the top spot is essential between the 7 people below.

Link to the Standings

Still need payment from 3 guys, you can send to rwdpeanut@gmail.com

Below are the conferences in action, in order of top time, and the impact they could have on our pool.

Ivy League

• The first ever Ivy league championship game is today with (3) Yale vs. (1) Princeton, not super impact to anything in the standings
• We'll either see Princeton win and a few mid pack people jump up a little bit and potentially steal a 4th spot or Yale wins and the standings don't change

Atlantic 10

• This will have some major impacts to our pool with (4) Rhode Island playing (2) VCU for the conference championship
• A Rhode Island win puts Joe into the running for the win as he would get bonus points and the 3 guys above him don't have a team in the race
• Additionally with Rhode Island, we may see some middle of the pack people jump up and make a run at 3rd or 4th place
• If VCU wins it is a lot less impactful, but then we're at the point where if you combine a Princeton and VCU win together more mid pack people start making a run at 3rd and 4th place

 

SEC

• (3) Arkansas takes on (1) Kentucky, so bonus points are available and this game could have a big impact on our pool
• 3 out of the top 5 in the standings have Kentucky, so a Kentucky wins strengthens their position, however Andrew has Arkansas and with the bonus points available could jump into contention for a top spot
• As with the A10 game, a (3) seed win here could also send a few middle of the pack people into contention for 3rd or 4th place
• Next year, I need to create a scenario tool that allows everyone to model out their path to victory

Sun Belt

• Nobody cares, we all lost this one!

Big 10

• This is a championship where everyone has something at stake with the outcome of the game when (8) Michigan takes on (2) Wisconsin 
• 3 people have (8) seed Michigan, with a Michigan win those 3 people split $50 for the lowest winning seed; we have people currently in 14th and 23rd place that can still win money on the last day of the pool
• Additionally, $50 is up for grabs for the person(s) who most correctly predicted the combined score of the Big 10 game
• Finally, depending how the earlier games go, Sohler can win the pool with a Michigan and Kentucky win, it's great with so many things in our pool coming down to one of the last games of the day

American Athletic 

• Not sure that this conference championship will have much of an impact on our pool since most of us picked (2) Cincinnati over (1) SMU
• Ryan will be rooting for SMU since he is already out of this conference and will avoid the guys above him getting a point

I will be updating the standings after each game or set of games ends today, so you should see 3 or 4 updates if you check the link after each game.

14 Conference Championships and the Home Stretch

This pretty well sums up how most of us are feeling after the amount of our teams that lost today and after looking at the updated standings.

Link to the Standings

I will post another standings update in the morning as we're going to have a few more games wrapping up really late tonight.

14 Tickets Punched Today

The conference championship games started really early today with (3) Albany taking on (1) Vermont.  Albany looked like they were going to run away with the game, but Vermont made a late run and won, even with the awkwardly bad reffed ending.

Another early afternoon championship game was more chalk, it was (2) Norfolk State vs. (1) NC Central with NC Central winning easily once the 2nd half got started.

(2) Villanova easily hammered (6) Creighton in the Big East conference championship game, 70% of the pool picked Villanova.  This win ended up being important as a few mid pack guys had Butler.

Nevada won the Mountain West conference championship and Texas Southern won the SWAC conference championship.  Middle Tennessee State won the Conference USA conference championship.  Nothing too exciting with these wins and didn't have a huge impact on the standings, so I am not even going to include a picture of these teams.

I am going to call this a complete shocker, and no one can debate me because 27 of us did not select them.  (4) Iowa State beat (2) West Virginia in the Big 12 championship. So, nobody got any points in the pool.

In the MAC championship game, with (6) seed Kent State winning over (1) seed Akron, this gives us our lowest winning seed to date, too bad none of us picked Kent State!

Over in the Big Sky, a game that really could have turned the standings upside down, (1) seed North Dakota took (3) seed Weber State to overtime and won the game.  A Weber State win would have given bonus points to many people in the middle of the pack.  This is North Dakota's 1st time in the Big Dance.

The ACC championship game saw (5) Duke beat (3) Notre Dame to change the top of our standings and gave many people a low seed winner for some bonus money.  Overall, the game was great/fun to watch!

Get Ready for 20 Championships in 48 Hours!

The past few days we have only had 1 championship game, but over these LAST 2 days we will see 20 conference championship games.  We have also seen a ton of upsets the past few days, with many 1 and 2 seeds going down.

Your Max Points will really give you an indication on how likely you are to finish towards the top of the standings.  If you're below 20 Max Points you're likely not going to finish in the Top 4 by Sunday afternoon.

Link to the Standings

I will post another standings update in the morning.

I'm still waiting to be paid for 4 entries, please send via PayPal to rwdpeanut@gmail.com or make arrangements to get me the money so I can pay out our winners this upcoming Sunday.

Championship Games Tomorrow

America East - 74% of our picks are on Vermont, but we do have 4 people that picked Albany, which would be bonus points;  Team Rankings had Vermont with a 73% chance to win the conference tournament, so our pool was aligned with that

Big 12 - With 1 seed Kansas out, the 2 seed West Virginia can now give many people a point with a win, they are playing Iowa State, which nobody picked

Big East - 70% of our pool picks are for Villanova, we have 1 lone pick for (6) seed Creighton, which a win would result in Bonus Points

Big Sky - Games still in progress

Big West - Games still in progress

Conference USA - 63% of our picks are for Middle Tennessee State and no one picked Marshall, so we have the potential to see a conference champion with none of us getting points.  

MAC - Another game featuring a low seed that none of us picked with (6) Kent State taking on (1) Akron.  37% of the pool picks were for Akron.

MEAC - 63% of our pool picks are on (1) seed NC Central, but we do have a few people that went with (2) Norfolk State, so this ends up being another important conference to create some separation in the standings

Mountain West - Games still in progress

PAC 12 - Games still in progress

Southland - 5 pool picks are for (1) seed New Orleans while 5 pool picks are for (2) Texas A&M CC;  Everyone else is eliminated.

SWAC - 25 of us have Texas Southern, that's all the analysis I am doing on this one.

WAC - Games still in progress

Bucknell Bison are the Only Team Dancing Tonight

We only head 1 championship game today and that was in the Patriot League, the Bucknell Bison easily defeated Lehigh.  19 other conferences we're also in action tonight, many were lower seeded games, but we did have plenty of pool impacting losses tonight.

Link to the Standings

I know this sounds crazy, but we do not have ANY championship games tomorrow or Thursday!  

However, by the time we get to Friday we'll have plenty of losses handed out.  I likely won't Blog tomorrow, but I will update the standings and plan on having a lengthy Blog update Friday night.

Finally, if your picks are crashing and burning like the Michigan Wolverine's plane, don't worry, we have plenty of time left for you to climb the standings.

Additionally, even on the last day you have a chance to win money with a low seed winning or the total on the Big 10 championship game.

Northern Kentucky Clinch's 1st Bid in 1st Year and Gonzaga Cruises

We had 4 more tickets punched tonight including a 1st time team, some bonus points, and chalk.  We have some people performing VERY well in this pool winning at above 50% which is amazing, more amazing than this picture.

Horizon League Tournament Champion

• (4) Northern Kentucky

Northeast Conference Tournament Champion

• (1) Mount St. Mary's

Summit League Tournament Champion

• (3) South Dakota State

West Coast Conference Tournament Champion

• (1) Gonzaga

Link to the Standings

I'm still waiting to be paid for 4 entries, please send via PayPal to rwdpeanut@gmail.com or make arrangements to get me the money so I can pay out our winners this upcoming Sunday.

Championship Games Tomorrow

The Patriot League is the only conference championship game tomorrow night with (3) Lehigh vs. (1) Bucknell

48% of our pool pick Bucknell, however Lehigh was the other popular choice, so we have the potential to see even more Bonus Points awarded tomorrow.

Multiple Bonus Point Teams Win Tonight as 3 More Tickets are Punched

Tonight brought us 3 more conference tournament champions, 2 of those conference champions awarded bonus points which really started to separate the standings.  The Iona/Siena OT game was fun to watch!

Colonial Conference Tournament Champion

• (1) UNC-Wilmington

Southern Conference Tournament Champion

• (3) Eastern Tennessee State

MAAC Conference Tournament Champion

• (3) Iona

 

Link to the Standings

I'm still waiting to be paid for 5 entries, please send via PayPal to rwdpeanut@gmail.com or make arrangements to get me the money so I can pay out our winners this upcoming Sunday.

Championship Games Tomorrow

• Horizon League (10) UW-Milwaukee vs. (4) Northern Kentucky
• B.I. is the only person that can win this conference with Northern Kentucky, and would also get a bonus point

• Northeast (4) St. Francis PA vs. (1) Mount St. Mary's
• Mount St. Mary's was one of the more popular picks with 7 selections, however Jack alone has St Francis PA, which also would award a bonus point

• Summit League (4) South Dakota State vs. (3) Nebraska Omaha
• Bonus points will be earned with this game, either for Jack with Omaha or Sally and Safka with South Dakota State

• West Coast Conference (2) St Mary's or (3) BYU vs. (1) Gonzaga
• 96% of the pool picked Gonzaga, so nothing really to be gained here, with the exception of Tina who went St. Mary's

3 More Tickets Punched Today, Nothing Shocking

I want to get this in front of everyone first.  In the Big West it was announced late last night that Hawaii's post season ban has been REVERSED.  Hawaii is now in the Big West Tournament and eligible for Post Season play.  

Hawaii is a (5) seed and if anyone would like to change their pick to Hawaii please let me know by the end of the day on Monday, March 6. No other changes are allowed.


Additionally, in the SWAC, Alcorn State is still ineligible to represent the SWAC in the real tournament, but they are eligible to play in the SWAC conference tournament.

Alcorn State is a (2) seed and if anyone would like to change their pick to Alcorn State please let me know by the end of the day on Monday, March 6.  No other changes are allowed within the conference.

Link to the Standings

The Big South, Missouri Valley, and Atlantic Sun Conferences all sent a team to the Big Dance today, it was all chalk running away with the games.  Although Wichita was a 2 seed, Vegas still had them as a 7 point favorite.

• In the Big South (1) Winthrop beat Campbell by 17
• Missouri Valley (2) Wichita State beat Illinois State by 20
• Atlantic Sun (1) FGCU beat North Florida by 16

This right here is why Campbell was blown out by Winthrop today:

We did have some notable upsets and pool impacting losses throughout today since we had so many teams in play.

• Continuing the craziness in the Horizon League (6) UIC knocked off (3) Green Bay

• In the MAAC (1) Monmouth lost to Siena, knocking out 70% of the picks in our pool

• Also in the MAAC (2) St Peter's lost to Iona

Everyone has at least 1 point so early on, we usually have a few stragglers that struggle to get a point early on, so everyone is still very much alive to win it all.

Championship Games Tomorrow

• Colonial (2) Charleston vs. (1) UNC-Wilmington
• 24 out of 27 are still in this conference and in the championship game, with 63% of the picks on UNC-Wilmington

• MAAC (4) Siena vs. (3) Iona
• This will be our 1st guaranteed bonus point game as we have a few people with Siena and a few people with Iona, so everyone else is kinda screwed no matter the outcome
• This is a conference championship that can really separate some people so it's one to watch for sure

• Southern (3) ETSU vs. (1) UNC-Greensboro
• This was an interesting conference as we were all pretty spread out between the 1-4 seeds
• 30% of us had (4) Chattanooga, that was our pools favorite, but they were eliminated
• Bonus points are available if ETSU wins, but either way points are going to be handed out for this conference

The Blog may be shorter/condensed over the next few days, but I will continue to post updated standing on at least a daily basis.  All conferences except the Big 10 now have finalized seeding, so max points may have changed for some people.

Jacksonville State is Our First Champion and Nobody Gets Any Points

After 6 days of conference tournament basketball we finally have our first conference champion, Jacksonville State.  Nobody in our pool picked Jacksonville State so no points are awarded.  And being a (4) seed, this would have been a bonus point too!

Link to the Standings

We did have some notable upsets and pool impacting losses throughout today since we had so many teams in play.

• In the Horizon League (2) Oakland went down to (9) Youngstown State by 1 point, 44% of our pool picked Oakland to win

• Also in the Horizon League (1) Valparaiso LOST to (10) UW-Milwaukee, opening up bonus points to whichever team wins the conference tournament

• In the Southern Conference (4) Chattanooga was defeated by (5) Wofford, this is notable because Chattanooga was the popular low seed pick by 30% of the pool

• Sticking in the Southern Conference (2) Furman lost to (7) Samford, this leaves the 1 seed in that conference an easy path to the championship

• In the Northeast Conference another popular low seed (3) Wagner lost to (4) St. Francis PA, knocking out 6 of our picks

• In the Summit League we saw (2) North Dakota State get destroyed by (7) IUPUI

Losses are racking up quickly, this is normal, so for those of you that are new to this pool don't get discouraged like the UT-Martin Players.  Until your Max Points fall below 20, everyone from the 1st place spot to the 27th place spot are still in this.

Championship Games Tomorrow

• Atlantic Sun (3) North Florida vs. (1) Florida Gulf Coast
• Young stands alone with North Florida, while 23 others picked Florida Gulf Coast

• Big South (7) Campbell vs. (1) Winthrop
• 7 picks were for Winthrop, which is low for a (1) seed, so this can be a big win for 7 people
• While with (7) seed Campbell, no one picked them, so most of the pool will be Camel fans for this game

• Missouri Valley is showcasing the tops seed with (2) Wichita State vs. (1) Illinois State
• 2 people had Northern Iowa, sorry B.I. and Grimmer, but other than that 15 people picked Wichita and 10 picked Illinois State so most of us are up for a point with this game

Belmont Goes Down and Tomorrow the First Ticket Will be Punched

For the most part this day went as expected with our picks winning, with the exception of the Ohio Valley Conference, the Belmont Bruins went down to Jacksonville State.  The Jacksonville State logo will haunt your dreams.

Link to the Standings

The Missouri Valley Conference had an upset with Missouri State knocking off Northern Iowa, taking away some bonus opportunities from B.I. and Grimmer

Honeycutt and Amanda are leading the pack with 4 losses, thanks for occupying the cellar for us!

13 Conferences will be "In Progress" beginning tomorrow and it only ramps up from there, so losses for everyone will rack up quickly.  

Championship Games Tomorrow

• Ohio Valley Conference (4) Jacksonville State vs. (2) UT-Martin
• No one in our pool has Jacksonville State, so 26 people are going to be Gamecock fans tomorrow

Not much else to say tonight, so we'll keep this one short.  

Big South Upsets and Atlantic Sun Championship Match-Up Set

The Big South saw seeds 2 and 3 go down this afternoon, with the biggest upset being a Camel beating UNC-Asheville.  Chris Clemons on Campbell went off for 51 points!

The Atlantic Sun is the first conference with the championship match-up determined with (1) Florida Gulf Coast taking on (3) North Florida on Saturday night.  85% of the pool picked FGCU so the win is not going to separate many people, but a win is a win and they're all important.  

Only Young has North Florida, which will give him a bonus point.

Link to the Standings

4 more conferences tip off Friday, so we'll have a total of 12 conferences in play, with 20 conferences yet to begin conference tournament play.

• Colonial League:  Only 4 teams in action, but Amanda does have (7) seed James Madison, they're favored to win the game
• Horizon League:  Only 4 teams in action, 0 impacts to our pool 
• Southern League:  Only 4 teams in action, 0 impacts to our pool
• West Coast Conference:  Only 4 teams in action, 0 impacts to our pool (But if it is on TV I'll be watching since it will be in Vegas)

We still have 9 entries that have not yet paid, if you have not paid please pay or make arrangements to pay.  I want to pay everyone out quickly on Selection Sunday, 3/12.