Rules for March Madness Picks
Making Your Picks
Each player must completely fill out the entire NCAA tournament bracket before 12:00 noon ET on Thursday, March 15, 2007.
The "play-in" game will not be included in the bracket. Each player will also need to predict the score of the National Championship
game.
Scoring
Each round is worth an increasing amount of points. For each correct pick in the first round, players earn 1 point. Each correct pick in
the second round earns 3 points, etc. Refer to the table below for complete point breakdown.
| Round |
Points |
| Round 1 |
1 |
| Round 2 |
3 |
| Round 3 |
5 |
| Regional Finals |
7 |
| Semifinals |
10 |
| Championship |
15 |
Tie-Breakers
Each player will need to predict the final score of the national championship game, to prevent ties. If two or more players tie for first,
the following procedure will be used to eliminate one or more players at a time until there is one winner.
1) Correct pick on National Championship game
The first tie-breaker is to eliminate all players who picked the wrong team to win. If there are still others tied, go to #2.
2) Closest to both teams' scores
Add the difference between the predicted score for each team and the actual score for each team. Refer to the following example, assuming S Illinois beat Stanford for the championship:
| Player |
S Illinois |
Stanford |
Pts Off |
| Actual |
75 |
69 |
-- |
| Player A |
57 (-18) |
55 (-14) |
32 |
| Player B |
78 (-3) |
48 (-21) |
24 |
| Player C |
100 (-25) |
71 (-2) |
27 |
Player B wins the tie-breaker because his prediction of 78-48 was three points closer to the actual score than Player C's pick of 100-71.
There is no penalty for "going over" on the score.
3) Closest to the winner's score
If there is still a tie after #2 above, the winner will be the player who came closest to the winning team's score. In the example above, if
players B and C had tied, Player B would win because his score was only three points off the winner.
4) Closest to actual margin of victory
The next tie-breaker is to compare the actual margin of victory with the predicted margin of victory for each player. The winner is the player
who came closest to the game's actual margin of victory.
5) Most points last two rounds
If there is still a tie, the player who earned the most points in the last two rounds is the winner.
6) Most points last three rounds
Next, if there is still a tie, the player who earned the most points in the last three rounds is the winner.
7) Most correct picks of lower-seeded upset wins
A lower-seeded upset win is any time that the lower seeded team wins. If Player A correctly picked a lower seed to win 5 times, and Player B
correctly picked a lower seed to win 7 times, Player B is the winner.
8) Finally, if there is still a tie after this process, both players will be declared the champion.
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