The Best March Madness Pool Ever ... 2014 Edition

Due to a Vegas run last week, I didn't have time to get this sorted out before the first round of the tournament. That said, I'm guessing that most of you have already failed miserably in your bracket prognostications and are looking for a second chance at glory.

Here's a quick overview of the rules:

1. Each person gets a budget of $100 each week (this year, that's this week before the Sweet 16/Elite 8, and before the Final 4/Championship).

2. Each person will select as many teams as they desire as long as said teams can fit in their budget.

3. Teams will earn points as follows:

Sweet 16 win = 2 points
Elite 8 win= 6 points
Final 4 win = 3 points
Championship win = 9 points

4. The most points at the end of the tournament wins. The winner will take 60% of the pot, second will take 30%, and third will take 10%.

5. The entry fee will be $30.

If you're wondering how the price per team will be created, I'll simply use a proprietary spreadsheet that gives each possible outcome in the tournament a percentage.

The idea is to use these percentages to price each team based on their likelihood of making it through the weekend unscathed. For instance, I give Florida roughly a 53% chance of making the Final Four (I have them beating UCLA about 66% of the time and beating Stanford/Dayton about 80% of the time).

So, without further ado, here is the price list for the Sweet 16 weekend:

FLORIDA 53
LOUISVILLE 51
ARIZONA 49
VIRGINIA 34
MICHIGAN ST. 27
IOWA ST. 25
UCLA 23
WISCONSIN 23
MICHIGAN 22
STANFORD 17
SAN DIEGO ST. 17
TENNESSEE 16
CONNECTICUT 14
KENTUCKY 12
BAYLOR 10
DAYTON 8

Again, you can construct a squad of however many teams you would like AS LONG AS YOU STAY AT OR UNDER $100. You could take Dayton, Baylor, Kentucky, Connecticut, Tennessee, San Diego State and Stanford AND potentially (but probably not) score as many as 36 points (more likely under 10 if we're being honest with ourselves)! Or you could just take Louisville and Arizona and more likely score 16.

Whatever you do, remember that even if your teams flame out this week, you'll be supplied with new team prices next week and could still have a small chance to win regardless of what happened.

You can have as many entries as you want. Feel free to share with friends, but if we get above 20 entries somehow, I'm keeping 5% for myself for doing the legwork.

If you want to be in, send me an email at bobwothe@gmail.com titled 2014 NCAA POOL WEEK 1 TEAMS with your teams and $30 via PayPal gift (bobwothe@gmail.com) or check (2190 Willow Hill Dr., Neenah, WI 54956) by Thursday, 3/27, at 10 a.m. CST. If you haven't gotten me the money or made other arrangements by then, your entry will not count, PERIOD.

Last thing: In order to remove any issues with me knowing other people's picks before giving my own, I will send my picks to a new email account each week before 11:59 p.m. CST Monday of that week. You will then need to get your picks to me by 11:59 p.m. CST Wednesday of that week. Then, on Thursday morning of each week, I will send out an email with a spreadsheet containing everyone's picks AS WELL AS the login credentials to the email account that I create. This will provide a timestamped version of my picks so that you can rest assured that I am not cheating.

As for this week, I have already sent my entry on to this new email address, so you may send in your entries whenever you wish.

Let me know if you have any questions. Again, feel free to share this with others!