2002 BigFlax.com NCAA Tournament Challenge Official Rules
1. Eligibility
a. To be eligible for the 2002 BigFlax.com NCAA Tournament Challenge,
you must be someone known to Robert Flaxman (hereafter "me").
b. This means random people who wander onto the site are not eligible.
c. You must have a way to get me the tournament fee of $5 before the
tournament ends (i.e. before Monday, April 1).
d. Students at Northwestern have no excuse for not getting me the money
before the tournament begins.
e. To further clear up part A, this also means individuals known to me
cannot bring friends not known to me into the fold.
2. Time Frame
a. I will be sending out computerized brackets on or shortly after
Selection Sunday using Microsoft Excel. If you do not have Microsoft Excel, you will
be responsible for submitting a list or some other formatted (and understandable) version
of your picks to me by any method you see fit to use (this may include filling out a
printed bracket and handing it to me, as some chose to do last year).
b. All picks must be delivered to me by midnight Central Time on
Wednesday, March 13, since games start on Thursday, March 14. We will not be picking
the play-in game.
3. Scoring - NEWLY UPDATED (2/26)!!!!!
a. Basic scoring will be conducted identically to last year, viz.: 10
points for each correct first-round game; 20 points for each correct second-round game; 40
points for each correct Sweet 16 game; 80 points for each correct Elite 8 game; 120 points
for each correct Final Four game; 160 points for a correct prediction of the national
championship game.
b. (This portion to be alternately known as the "Temple
Clause.") The "dark horse" rule, having had too adverse an effect on
last year's competition, has been dumped.
c. The new bonus plan is the alliteratively titled "Balls
Bonus." Any player projecting an upset of five seeds or more will receive
points on the following scale:
#11 seed wins: 10 points
#12 seed wins: 15 points
#13 seed wins: 20 points
#14 seed wins: 30 points
#15 seed wins: 40 points
#16 seed wins: 50 points
These apply to wins in any round by a team of these seeds. In the second round and
later, upsets of between five and nine seeds (examples: #7 or #10 beats #2; #8 or #9 beats
#1; #6 beats #1; etc.) that do not involve #11-#16 seeds will also be awarded points on
the following scale:
Five seeds (6-1 [rf], 7-2 [sr], 8-3 [rf], 9-4 [rs], 10-5 [rf]): 10
points
Six seeds (7-1 [rf], 8-2 [rf], 9-3 [rf], 10-4 [rf]): 15 points
Seven seeds (8-1 [sr], 9-2 [rf], 10-3 [rs]): 20 points
Eight seeds (9-1 [sr], 10-2 [sr]): 25 points
Nine seeds (10-1 [rf]): 30 points
Letters in brackets show the rounds in which upsets of these seed pairings could happen.
sr = second round; rs = regional semis or Sweet 16; rf = regional finals or Elite
8. Also be aware that, theoretically, any such upset could happen in the Final Four.
d. Examples of how this scoring would work:
Correctly picking #5 Virginia over #12 Gonzaga earns you ten points.
Correctly picking #12 Gonzaga over #5 Virginia earns you a total of 25 points (10
base + 15 bonus).
Correctly picking #1 Stanford over #9 St. Joseph's in Round Two earns
you twenty points. Correctly picking #9 St. Joseph's over #1 Stanford in Round Two
earns you 45 points (20 base + 25 bonus).
e. Be aware that you do not get points for predicting a seeded upset in
the later rounds if it doesn't happen. For example, last year, Drew picked #10
Georgetown to upset #2 Iowa State and move into the Sweet 16. Georgetown moved into
the Sweet 16. Does Drew receive 45 points for this? No, he receives 20,
because Georgetown beat #15 Hampton in the second round, thus removing the upset.
f. As something of an addendum to (e): for #11s through #16s, you
receive points regardless of who they beat. For #6 through #10 seeds, they must
actually pull the upset. If #11 Temple beats #6 Texas in Round One, you get 20
points (10 base + 10 bonus. If #11 Temple wins in Round Two, you get 30 points (20
base + 10 bonus) regardless of whether their win is an upset over #3 Florida or a
non-upset over #14 Western Kentucky.
By comparison, look again at the Georgetown example. Because
Georgetown is a #10 seed, they must actually pull the second round upset. If they
defeat #2 Iowa State as predicted, you get 45. If they defeat #15 Hampton as not
predicted, you get 20.
Here's one on you: what if you pick Hampton to win and Georgetown to
beat them, but then Iowa State wins and Georgetown beats them anyway? Do you get 45
or 20? Answer: 20, because you didn't pick the upset. You have to pick the
upset and be right.
g. The maximum number of points possible (assuming no upsets are picked
and none occur) is 1,680 points.
h. The two tiebreakers this year will be the same as last year.
First, the score of the title game; if this is the same, I'm asking all entrants to
submit their birthdays. The birthday closest to the birthday of the Final Four MVP
will be the tiebreaker. On the unbelievable chance that this doesn't break it, I'll
flip a coin.
3a. Why the New Scoring?
a. This isn't really a "rule," but a little research
shows us the benefits of using the new bonus system.
b. Here are last year's statistics for points received in games
affected by the dark horse.
Tyler: 770
Flax: 540
Marc: 540
Dad: 540
Jan: 450
Halling: 450
Zack: 450
Drew: 300
Jordan: 120
Bauer: 120
Steve: 120
Rudnik: 60
Rob: 30
Ric: 20
Dave: 20
As you can see, the highest finisher had 230 more dark horse points
than anyone else, and the lowest finishers had well fewer. However, this did not
always hold true: Jordan finished near the top because he had one of (if not the, though
unfortunately that stat is not still kicking around) the highest totals of correct picks,
though his dark horse number was average at best, while Steve had the same number of
points as Jordan yet finished much lower by virtue of having many fewer correct picks.
Tyler and I also finished near the top in both correct picks and total points,
proving that you do still need to pick games correctly.
However, Temple alone was enough to catapult Tyler to the top of the
heap and keep him there, as I recall winning him the title before the final game had even
been played, thus removing any possible suspense associated with the championship game and
its 160 points.
c. I could have just done what ESPN does and go straight points, but
that's kind of boring. So instead I went with the BB. Here are the numbers for
last year's picks if the BB and not the DH had been in effect.
Jordan: 130
Tyler: 125
Flax: 100
Rudnik: 90
Marc: 80
Bauer: 80
Steve: 60
Halling: 60
Rob: 45
Jan: 40
Zack: 20
Drew: 20
Dad: 20
Dave: 20
Ric: 0
Note that Jordan actually finishes first in the adjusted numbers.
He picked several different upsets, whereas Tyler had Temple in the Elite Eight but
not much else. Thus the BB rewards picking upsets without totally throwing the
balance out of whack (Jordan is only five points ahead of Tyler, after all). It also
eliminates what the DH did not, which was (and I'll cop to this too) gutless DH picking
(#2 Arizona and #3 Maryland were the dark horses of a total of six entrants) of a high
seed that was expected to go far, because that earns way more points than picking a #13
seed to go two rounds (about the most that can be expected of a normal one).
However, though I had Arizona as my dark horse, I also picked a lot of
upsets, hence why I still end up third on the adjusted list. My dad, by comparison,
picked Arizona as his DH but only one other correct upset, and then just in the first
round, so he would only have received 20 points.
So unlike the DH, which ended up (unintentionally) essentially
rewarding wusses, the BB would do exactly as its name suggests: reward people for having
balls.
4. Fees and Prizes
a. Tournament entry fee is $5.
b. The first-place finisher will receive all entry fees up to and
including total monies of $75 (15 entrants).
c. If 16 people are entered, the first-place finisher will receive $75
and the last-place finisher will be refunded.
d. If 17-21 people are entered, the first-place finisher will receive
$75, the last-place finisher will be refunded, and the second-place finisher will receive
between $5 and $25.
e. More entrants than this will result in a prize scheme to be
announced. (Don't hold your breath.)