2023-24 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Pool Coming Soon!

We are a week away from the start of the 2023-24 college basketball season tipping off, which means early season tournament time! I'm sending this out to see if there is any interest for an early season tournament pool, ran similar to the conference tournament pool.🏀

If we have enough interest, then next week, 11/6/2023, I will send out the rules and entry sheet for the 2023-24 NCAA Basketball Tip Off Tournament pool. This will be our 1st year of running this pool for a larger group.

Below is a preview of the rules for the 2023-24 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 35 NCAA early season 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!

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:

1. Overall total
2. Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship winner
3. Closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game total

Win money without winning the pool. Yes! 🤑

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 on Selection Sunday and still win every one of these categories.

1. Hall of Fame Classic Winner (Thanksgiving Bonus 🦃) - The person who correctly picks the winner of this Thanksgiving Day championship game will win $150.  

2. Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Winner (Christmas Bonus 🎅) - The person who correctly picks the winner of this Christmas Day championship game will win $150. 

3. Closest Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic championship game score - 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 11/10/23 - 12/25/23 I will post a weekly blog and standings update via the link below.

https://2023-24ncaabasketballtipoffchallenge.blogspot.com/

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 11/6/23.🏀

Thank You!

Rick Donegan