Our 2026 Conference Tournament Champion: Cox (Pool Closing & Payouts)

A big congratulations goes out to Cox for not just winning but completely dominating this years' 2026 Conference Tournament Challenge! Cox got out to an early lead and never looked back, scoring 18 overall points, 14 wins and a 45.2% accuracy rate. 🎉

We had some really great final games today, starting with (3) Penn knocking off (1) Yale in the Ivy League, tying the game with a 3-pointer to send it into overtime. Fran McCaffrey is back in the NCAA Tournament. Team TNT, Balls Boy and Jack were all able to secure a nice bonus point win. (3) Arkansas, (2) VCU and (1) South Florida won without any real competition. And the last game to wrap up was in the Big Ten and (7) Purdue knocked off (1) Michigan to give SJS the Lowest Winning Seed!

     

As always, click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

Below is the final standing for anyone that has won money or a free 2027 entry, outlining how much money each person won. Please reach out to me and let me know how you would like to be paid. I hope everyone had fun, this year's conference tournament was a wild one, but now it's on to the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Finally, I've included an invitation below for anyone that is interested in a bracket pool. 🏀

Bracket Link: Drais College Basketball Transfer Portal Presented by Vanderpump

Thank you and enjoy the tournament!

Rick Donegan

Happy Selection Sunday 2026!

Happy Selection Sunday!

We finally made it to Selection Sunday, one of the greatest days on the sports calendar, but we still have 5 conference tournament championships that need to be decided today. We have seen eight 3-seed, or lower, teams win their conference tournaments, with Prairie View A&M the lowest as an 8-seed, winning the SWAC. Sunday guarantees that number will get to at least nine, and it could potentially hit double digits. The 2026 conference tournaments have been a complete opposite of last year's and it is fantastic. However, the most important thing is that we will have multiple winners in our pool later this afternoon, bringing everything to a close. 🏀

As always, click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

Spoiler Alert! We do already have a winner in our 2026 Conference Tournament Pool as nobody has enough Max Points and/or unique picks to catch Cox, who has a staggering 18 points. Congrats to Cox on his win! I will break down his stats in the final blog post later this evening. Don't go anywhere yet though as we still have a battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, in addition to several bonus money categories, which means still plenty to watch for in our pool today. All bonus money categories are still up for grabs, even the Lowest Winning Seed with 7-seed Purdue. 💰

Here is a quick overview of the games today. The Ivy League tips off first at 11:00 AM CST today with (1) Yale vs. (3) Penn, and three people in our pool do have Penn. The SEC game starts an hour later as (4) Vanderbilt plays (3) Arkansas, and in this game alone we have bonus points available, Power Conference points at stake, and we all are competing for the closest score. This is a must-watch game in our pool. In the final game of the day, we wrap up conference tournaments with the Big Ten game tipping up at 2:30 PM CST as (7) Purdue takes on (1) Michigan. SJS can swoop in and take that Lowest Winning Seed money with the final game! 😁

I will attempt to keep the standings updated as games end so those in contention for anything will know where you are at, and then I will post one final blog later tonight with the final standings and payouts. Enjoy the last day of conference tournament college basketball games before we head into the 2026 NCAA Tournament! 🎉

The Final 36 Hours of Conference Tournaments

We are down to the final 36 hours of conference tournament basketball and all of us have taken a pounding with losses the last few days. However, some are in a much better position than others. A few notable upsets include, but are not limited to, undefeated and 1-seed Miami Ohio losing in its first round against the Frank Martin led (8) UMass team in the MAC, popular bonus point pool pick (5) UC San Diego losing in the Big West quarterfinals and in the MEAC, another popular bonus pick (4) Norfolk State lost. That was just Thursday! 📅

Friday brought us gifts of even more upsets and losses. Keeping with the theme, a popular bonus point pick (4) Illinois lost in overtime to (5) Wisconsin in the Big Ten, (2) Sam Houston was knocked out of the Conference USA tournament, leaving zero people alive in the pool, and (2) Arizona beat (4) Iowa state on a buzzer beater in the Big 12. Additionally, in the SEC, (2) Alabama was beat by a team that is having a crazy run, (15) Ole Miss, and yes, that is fifteen seed. Finally, extremely late Friday night, and into Saturday morning, in the Mountain West (2) San Diego State defeated our most popular pick (3) New Mexico, potentially reshaping the standings for the final 36 hours. 🏀

Click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

The standings order has not dramatically changed due to not having conference tournament championship games over the last few days, but we now have a better sense of how we all stack up as we make this final push. The key metrics to look at outside of the overall standings are Accuracy and Max Points. Our top 14 is where we should focus, but that doesn't mean that someone outside of this top 14 can't jump into the top 4 spots 📈

• Cox has a commanding lead in every metric, and this is his pool to lose at this point. Key teams for him are (3) Tulsa and (3) Southern, if both those teams win he has a 99.4% chance to win, the pool. I did make that number up, but it is probably true.
• Thomass, Heffron and Novakii are all tied with 10 points and are battling each other for spots two through four. One slip up from one of their teams and they can get left in fourth, or lower.
• Our dark horses to watch are Rory & Webb with 23 Max Points and Corey with 22 Max Points. If they can get their picks correct the rest of the way, with some luck above them, they can finish in the top 4 spots
• Unfortunately, we do have some people eliminated, and that is updated on the spreadsheet. The only reason Balls Boy and Team TNT are not eliminated is they have (3) Penn and can pray their way into 4th place with some tiebreakers.

As a reminder, for those of you that are not doing well in the 2026 Conference Tournament pool, you still can win up to $500 without coming in first place. Zero power conference championship games have taken place, there are still several low seeds in play and the SEC championship game is Sunday afternoon.

• (1) Most bonus points - The person with the most total bonus points (picking 3 seeds or lower winners) will win $150. 💰

• (2) Most power conference points - The person with the most power conference points (wins + bonus points) will win $150. 💸

• (3) Lowest winning seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference tournament champion wins $150. 😍

• (4) Closest SEC championship game score - The person with the closest SEC championship game score wins $50. 😎

Only 15 of the 31 tickets have been punched, which means 16 opportunities are still available in our pool. Every game on Saturday is either a championship game or a semifinal, this should be a great day of basketball games. One last note, I will likely be gone for the majority of Saturday, still peak at the blog once in a while just in case, but don't expect any updates or new standings until later in the evening. 🌜

McNeese, Lehigh and Idaho Punch Tickets

Three more tickets to the 2026 NCAA Tournament were punched Wednesday, and in non championship conference tournament games several favorites were not just eliminated but blown out. Focusing on the championship games first, we start in the Southland where (2) McNeese clobbered (1) Stephen F. Austin in a game that tipped off at 4:00 PM CST for some reason. SFA should be fine though, I assume Thomas Walkup will be back for his 19th season next year. In the Patriot League, (2) Lehigh crushed (4) Boston, handing out three pool wins. Finally, in another massive upset (7) Idaho defeated (4) Montana in the Big Sky championship game, resulting in zero pool wins. If you are a fan of wanting the conference's "best" team to represent them in the NCAA Tournament, this past week has been a nightmare for you, and Jay Bilas. However, none of these teams are considered bid stealers, so all the terrible bubble teams still have a shot. 🏀

  

Some important, pool-related upsets happened on Wednesday, as well as tickets punched. A few key upsets include, but are not limited to, (1) Liberty lost in the Conference USA quarterfinals, knocking out the most popular pool pick, (1) Bethune-Cookman lost in the SWAC quarterfinals, again knocking out the most popular pick in our pool, and staying in the SWAC, popular bonus point pick (7) Jackson State went down. Several other one-off pool eliminations happened as well. 📉

Click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

This may be the last blog post until Saturday morning, as we do not have any championship games, or new conferences tipping off both Thursday and Friday. However, the next 48 hours are the worst 48 hours of this pool, as the only thing that happens is we all rack up losses. My plan is to post standings updates at least twice on Thursday, and at least three times on Friday, so even if you don't see a blog entry, check those standings. I guess we can call this the mid-point. 15 conferences complete, 15 conferences in progress, and the Ivy League does not tip off until Saturday. Enjoy the next brutal 48 hours of elimination basketball. 😰

Big Sky, Patriot League and Southland Championship Game Previews

It is a weird day of conference tournament championship games ahead of us today, from a pool perspective, and this is the last chance to earn wins, and points, until Saturday. Starting with StarchMadness, the Big Sky championship will feature some surprising teams as (4) Montana plays (7) Idaho, no chalk to be found. The impact to our pool is minor, only B.I. and Jack are on Montana, but they are also in 31st and 36th place. In the Patriot League, only three people survived and the matchup is (2) Lehigh vs. (4) Boston, which is not a crazy matchup, but so many of us were on the 1-seed, Navy. All three people in our pool are on Lehigh, and they sit right in the middle of the standings, making this a potentially nice win. Finally, we have our most meaningful championship game in the Southland when (1) Stephen F. Austin takes on (2) McNeese. Except for two people, we are about split between these two teams, making this a really important win as we head into the most brutal part of the conference tournament on Thursday and Friday. 🏀

        

Click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

I ran through the standings and ensured everything was completely updated, and calculating accurately, as I always miss crossing out a few teams that lost earlier in the week. Also, I cannot eliminate anyone from making the Top 4 spots in the pool yet, which is great! That means we have enough unique picks still left that would allow someone at the bottom of the standings to have a nice run to the top, or at least the Top 4. Our current Top 4 are having an impressive run.

• In first place is Cox, dominating the pool with 12 points, 8 wins and a 57.1% accuracy rate
• Second place belongs to Tomass, posting 9 points, 7 wins and a 50% accuracy rate
• Third place is Heffron with 9 points, 6 wins and a 42.9% accuracy rate, holding the max points tiebreaker over fourth place
• Novakii is hanging out in fourth place with 9 points, 6 wins and a 42.9% accuracy rate
• 20 people have between 5 and 8 points, all ready to take those Top 4 spots!

We are on pace to collectively hand out the most bonus points in the history of this pool. Out of 12 completed conference tournaments, we have witnessed wins by Three 3-seeds, and Two 6-seeds, meaning over 40% of conference tournament champions have not been the top two seeds. We are guaranteed another low seed winner tonight and I'm sure we'll have more over the weekend. Today, we have almost 40 conference tournament basketball games, ranging from first round action to championship games, and starting as early in the morning as 10:30 AM CST. Have fun watching! 😻

The Ransom Has Been Paid + Some Championship Games

I don't want to bury the lead, so I'll get right to it. If you have (1) Utah Valley in the Western Athletic, they have paid the $1m ransom and are safe, for today. Assuming the money clears the bank by tomorrow morning (what a wild fucking sentence to write during the conference tournament pool). They still may lose in the actual conference tournament, but we don't have to turn them ineligible, yet. That would have been some really unfortunate luck, but these weird one-off scenarios do tend to show up every 5 years or so. Research Texas Southern and Stephan F. Austin. 💰

We had a packed day of conference tournament basketball games, including some really fun championships, as well as semifinals. Starting with the first block of games, over in the Northeast Conference (1) Long Island fairly easily beat (3) Mercyhurst, giving 66.67% of our pool a win and ultimately not significantly changing the standings. Long Island does not get a picture below because they already clinched a tournament berth a few days ago. The next game to finish Tuesday evening was in the Horizon League where we saw (1) Wright State come back from being down double digits to knock off (3) Detroit Mercy. Only a handful of picks were backing Wright State, making those important points for those who made the wright pick in this conference. After 8 days the Horizon League finally has a conference tournament champion. The last game in this time slot to wrap up was over in the Coastal Athletic. In a crazy back and forth game, bonus point darling (3) Hofstra knocked off Dan Sohler's (4) Monmouth team, handing out 18 wins in our pool. 🏀

     

The second block of games was just as wild and fun. In the MAAC, after getting out to a huge lead and slowly blowing it, (3) Siena was able to hang on to beat (1) Merrimack. Bonus points awarded to those that participated in that pick. Finally, in the West Coast Conference (1) Gonzaga, in their last ever game as a member of the WAC, beat (3) Santa Clara, handing out 28 pool victories. 🏀

Click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅

Everything is up to date in the standing's sheets, with the exception of the Idaho/Eastern Washington game in the Big Sky, that game is going to end well past my bedtime. For those of you that are veterans to this pool, you will know that Wednesday will be our last round of championship games, and then we go dry Thursday and Friday, before the final weekend push. I will spend some time Wednesday morning breaking down the standings and maybe previewing the championship games. 

Utah Valley WAC Tournament Eligibility

The Western Athletic Conference tournament tips off Wednesday, and the 1-seed, Utah Valley may end up being ineligible. The conference is demanding that Utah Valley pay $1m today and if they do not comply, they will be removed from the conference tournament. If they do in fact get removed from the tournament, they will turn "ineligible" in our pool and unfortunately will count as a loss for all 23 of us that picked them. This sort of scenario seems to pop up every 5 years, but it is usually related to grades or violating some obscure NCAA rule, not a team being extorted for $1m. 💸

If you have not been keeping up with the blog, you should, because I put a lot of effort into it, but I have attached the current standing and below is the link. I have not yet removed Utah Valley, they have until 5:00 PM Mountain Time to pay the ransom. ⏲

Click here to see the latest version of the pool standings. 🏅