The Pool Week 2 - or - Hope For The Best, Plan For The Worst.

 UPDATE 12/31: Game page is up and live! Good luck!

"Start The Pool™ back up," they said. "It'll be fun," they said. 

Our streak of incredibly poor timing notwithstanding, the show must go on. What say we go out there & have a helluva year!?

Below are the potential games for Saturday & Sunday this week. The games in italics will likely be on the sheet if it looks like they'll play. We'll try to monitor potential cancellations and post/e-mail/text the game page Friday afternoon. Again, any canceled games after posting will just be a win for everybody.

• Memphis @ Wichita St. - Noon - CBS
• Creighton @ Marquette - Noon - FS1
• E. Carolina @ S. Florida - Noon - ESPN+
• Baylor @ Iowa St. - 1 - ESNPU
• Villanova @ Seton Hall - 1 CBS
• Western Kentucky @ Louisiana Tech. - 1 - CBSSN
• Providence @ DePaul - 2 - FOX
• Butler @ U.Conn - 3 - FS1
• Florida St. @ N.C. State - 3 - ACCN
  
• San Diego St. @ UNLV - 3 - CBS
• Boise St. @ Wyoming - 3 - CBSSN
• Virginia @ Syracuse - 5 - ACCN
• San Francisco @ St. Mary's - 7
• Weber St. @ Montana - 8
• Utah @ Oregon - 9:30 - PAC12

Sunday

• North Carolina @ Boston College - 11am
• Richmond @ St. Louis - 1 - CBSSN
• George Mason @ Duquesne - 1
• Michigan St. @ Northwestern - 1 - BTN
• Central Florida @ Southern Methodist - 1 ESPNU
• Evansville @ Northern Iowa - 1
• Davidson @ Virginia Commonwealth - 1:30
• Indiana @ Penn. State - 3 - BTN
• Loyola Chicago @ Southern Illinois - 4 - ESPN2

Stay tuned and happy new year and whatnot!

Week 1 Results -or- It's All About Timing

 What a great time to start a basketball pool! Regardless, here's some notes from this week:

• Lisa & Chad Payton can not manage to pick games independently, but who are we to throw shade as the combo came out of the box quick with a 12-0 start. Impressive.
• 11 entries picked W. Kentucky to beat Louisville. We thought we were being different!
• 8 folks took Missouri to beat Utah. We're going to pretend like you knew that Utah's 7-footer & best player was out for the game, and NOT that it was dumb luck. (Illinois by a million o'er Mizzou today)
• That game was the only real "upset" of the week. Well, aside from that nightmare that we wouldn't be able to spend the 1st two days of March Madness drinking & gambling to disturbing levels. That is an upsetting dream.
• 3 folks shot their shot and took Utah State's Fightin' Bean's to beat Iowa. I admire your moxy, folks. But Justin Bean can do only so much.
• For the bonus question, 3 folks took IU's Assembly Hall, 3 took UK's home (although 2 of them called it a very nasty name), 2 took Duke's floor & 2 took UE's home advantage - though one specified Roberts Stadium when Olaf Blab was there. 

I'm greatly pleased to see all the old-school Poolsters involved yet again. Should be some quality entertainment/shit talking for the rest of the year.

Couple updates:

• If you missed the updates to the rules, any games canceled after the games are posted will be counted as a win for all. If the tie-breaker is canceled (as it was this week), and we have more than 2 people tie we will roll the weekly money over to the following week.
• Due to the nature of the world we live in, game pages won't be posted until Friday. If cancellations become far less common We'll start posting earlier.
• Weekly & Year-End prizes will be announced after Week 2 when we know how many we have paid for the year.
• Payton's will receive the Week 1 1st place prize, the rest will be rolled to Week 2.
• No games this weekend. Not Covid related, a guy named Jesus is having a birthday party.

Merry Christmas and what not. We'll see you next week.

Week 1 -or- I Don't Feel So Good

 

UPDATE 12:57 PM - 12/17. The Pool™ is here!

*If any games are cancelled everyone will get a win for that game.

You can fill your games right here or via the links sent out.

The Pool For Dummies (Radio Edit) - Or - Week 1!

 Here's The Pool™ in a tidy little summary:

• Pick winners for 12 college basketball games weekly for 12 weeks, starting December 18th.
• Weekly & Year end winners. Results & standings published weekly.
• Cost: $10/week OR $100 for the year (due by Week 2)
• Payment via PayPal, Venmo, or Cash-App. (Contact info given on weekly games sheet.)
• Special arrangements for one time yearly payment may be accommodated.
• Use the same name each week!
• Link to game sheet sent out each week via e-mail and/or text and posted on this blog.
• See this post for the long version of the rules.

Week One is Here!

The Pool For Dummies (Live Version) - or - Rules are Rules

Welcome back to The Pool™. If you have never been a part of The Pool™ or if you've forgotten how we do things (it has, after all, been like 8 years since the last one), then this is the place for you. Because this place, it has the rules. If you don't want to read all of this crap, please see this post with a brief description. Text in red updated from original post 12/15. Text in orange updated 12/17.

What is it? 

• It's a college basketball pool in which each week we pick the winners to 12 games and a tie-breaker. 
• No, it's not against the spread. It's the winners. Money Line for you gamblin' types.

What do we win? 

• Standings will be kept and we will pay weekly and year-end prizes. 
• How much those prizes are will depend on how many players we get. 
• Payouts will be posted here once we figure that out. Since we haven't done this in a while, we're not sure how many we'll get. 

When is it? 

• We'll start the 2021-2022 edition on Saturday, December 18th.
•  It'll continue for twelve weeks and finish the weekend of March 5th. 
• Afterwards we'll have a party celebrating the winners and making fun of the losers.

How much? You have two options here: 

• Pay $10 weekly. 
• If you want to pay weekly you MUST send payment via PayPal, Venmo, or the Cash App. The handles to send the money via those apps are included on the weekly games page.
• Pay $100 up front. 
• You have until Week 2 to pay for the year and get the discount. If you plan on paying for the year in week 2, please pay $10 for week 1 and then the other 90 before week 2.
• If you are paying up front we STONGLY ENCOURAGE you to pay via one of the apps, but if you contact us alternate payments may be arranged.
• If you are late to the party and want to be eligible for the year-end prizes you will be given a 6-6 record for the 1st and/or 2nd week. After week two if you miss a week you'll be given a record equal to the last place sheet of that week.

How do I play? 

• Each week we'll send out a link to that week's games. We've tested this on a focus group of mentally challenged primates, and it was determined that it is both fun and easy. 
• The form works just fine on smart phones and tablets.
• Here is a link to Week One, check it out yourself. 
• Please don't submit your picks until you have paid. 
• Make sure you enter your name or team name and use the same one each week. 
• When you submit your picks you will get a message saying, "Your picks are in."
• You are required to enter an e-mail address. This allows us to e-mail you your picks after you have made them (just click the "send me a copy of my picks" button at the end). 
• If you'd like the game sheet texted to you enter your phone # in the appropriate field. 
• If you are late with your picks go ahead and submit them. The entries are time stamped and you'll receive losses for any games that have begun before your entry.
• Any games cancelled after the game sheet is posted will be graded as a win for everyone.

Let us know if you have any questions and I'll update any needed information here.

Good luck, and enjoy the games, kids!