2026 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament Pool Picks Are In

The 2026 NCAA Conference Tournament pool picks are in, and the master spreadsheet is updated with all our selections! Please look very carefully at all your picks, and if I made an error that needs to be changed reach out to me by the end of the day today, Monday, 3/2/26. 🏀

If you're reading this via e-mail, the master spreadsheets are not attached, but instead located via this link. If you run into any issues accessing the standings, please reach out to me and I'll attach a copy for you. Click on and bookmark this link as I will update the standings multiple times each day, when possible. Also, the blog link is below, as e-mail updates will be rare. I will attempt to post 1-2 blog entries each day, when necassary. ✍

https://2026conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

Let's get some of the basics out of the way...

I know many of you are challenged by technology and spreadsheets, so I will always have 2 versions of the spreadsheet posted. 

• Fun Version: 2026 Conference Tournament Championship Master (This has all the features and functionality to show things like "Accuracy" and "Max Points Available")

• Boring Version: 2026 Conference Tournament Championship Master Light (This will error out many of the added features that I worked hard on, but at least you can still see standings and picks)

Hint when opening: Make sure when you open the excel document you are clicking on "Enable Editing" and "Enable Content" to ensure everything loads and you have all the fun features enabled. If you're accessing the document from the standings link I would recommend downloading the excel file and then opening the document. If you don't, when others look at it, they will see "So and so is editing this file" and then I'll have to refresh it.

We technically have standings already as we have separation based on Max Points due to people that picked more teams eligible for bonus points. Ballincat starts out in 1st place with 50 max points, followed by B.I., Conservative Doug and Patriotic Doug tied for 2nd place with 49 max points. Brad and Sohler both start out dead last with only 35 max points due to picking mostly 1 & 2 seeds.

The spreadsheet will outline your overall standings, Wins, Losses, Bonus Point Wins, Bonus Point Losses, and Max Bonus Points, which all calculate into your Accuracy, Max Points Available, and Your Projected Total. You will always have a clear picture of where you stand, in the standing. 🏅

If you scroll down past everyone's picks, you will see a conference snapshot that includes valuable information about each conference tournament such as:

• Tip-off, championship, and other key dates
• Location
• Pool favorites (Our picks)
• Projected winner (Computer picks)
• Past champions
• X (formerly Twitter) information

Please look very carefully at all your picks and if I made an error that needs to be changed reach out to me by the end of the day today, Monday, 3/2/26. A change can only be made if a mistake was made by me when entering your picks, no going back to change your picks because you realize how terrible they are now. No changes will be allowed after Monday, 3/2/26.

The regular season is still in progress for many conferences, meaning updates will take place on the master spreadsheet over the next several days until all seeding is finalized across all conferences. This may impact your potential bonus points and max possible points, so when you see standings changes with no games being played, that is likely the reason why you are moving up or down in the rankings. The Big 12 is a great example of this as the top 10 teams are jockeying for position, they still have a week of regular season games and constantly rotating around the 2-10 seeds. Arizona may be safe at the 1-seed.

Payment information on where to send your $50. 💰

• Zelle (Preferred): Rick Donegan 630-885-2873
• Venmo: @Rick-Donegan
• Cashapp: $RickDonegan
• Address: 1140 Venetian Court; Naperville, IL 60540  
• PayPal (Not preferred): rwdpeanut@gmail.com

Any non-payment, or attempt to arrange payment, by Sunday, 3/8/26 will result in your entry being removed and a permanent pool ban. I'm not going to spend my time chasing down money.

We have conference tournament basketball tonight! 🎉

The Horizon League opening round starts tonight, with 1 "play-in" game being played between seeds 10 and 11, ultimately having absolutely no impact to our pool. The game starts at 7:00 PM CST and features (10) Cleveland State vs. (11) IU Indianapolis. No teams are left out of the Horizon League conference tournament. That's about all I can say about tournament games tonight, but tomorrow night we have much more action.

Good luck with your picks and enjoy watching wall to wall conference tournament games starting today through Selection Sunday! 😮

Thanks!

Rick Donegan