Break out your brackets -- March Madness is in full swing. Spring is the time of year when every college basketball fan is glued to the TV, cheering for his or her favorite teams and cursing the competition. More than just team standing, personal pride is on the line as many University students participate in various NCAA tournament pools.
Pool size can range from hundreds of participants to a mere ten. They also have varied rules and stakes.
The most common type of pool involves each participant filling out a bracket where they must pick a winner for each game. Points are awarded after every game to whoever picked the winner. These points exponentially increase after each round. For instance, one point may be awarded for a correct first-round pick, two for a second-round win and four for a Sweet Sixteen victory. All points are totaled at the end of the tournament, and the participant with the highest score claims whatever pot there may be, in addition to substantial bragging rights.
Non-traditional pools also are popular. Third-year College student Dave Ruback is involved with one of these atypical pools.
"Basically, guys get together in large groups and chip in to get a combined sum of about $2000," he said, "They then meet with other groups and the NCAA teams in the tournament are auctioned off." Two basic strategies can be used in this type of pool. One is to buy many lower seed teams with your money, and then accumulate points by hoping one of them wins a game. The second strategy is to buy one very highly seeded, and therefore more expensive, team and then reap the benefits every time they win.
The college dorm setting lends itself nicely to forming pools. Often, students come together with others from their hall and dorm to form a pool. First-year College student John Tener and his dormmates currently are involved in a 30-person pool. "We've gotten good participation, about 30 people, primarily from the dorm," he said. "It's great because it's sort of a common denominator, in that it brings everyone together."
With so many students participating in tournament pools, methods of picking winning teams abound. Some choose to pore over game summaries and commentaries in the sports page in order to make an informed decision, while others go on loyalties to teams or gut feelings. "I just try to read short summaries about the teams in the Washington Post, and I watch college basketball games throughout the year," Tener said. Ruback, on the other hand, says he generally follows his gut feelings.
First-year College student David Johnston has a logical outlook on picking tournament game winners. "I'm not comfortable picking a lot of upsets," he said. "So I usually pick one dark horse, and then stick to favorites for the rest of my picks."
As the tournament comes to a climactic close, tensions will rise and egos will inflate -- but when it's all said and done, it's just a game ... right?
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