Welcome!

Welcome to the home page of the 2011 NCAA Tournament Contest, organized by David Williams for the entertainment of his friends and colleagues. If you are one of those people, then you can use this site to submit your entry into this year's contest. I reserve the right to refuse any entry for any reason, in order to keep our little game among friends, so to speak.

How does the contest work?

Starting with the field of 64 teams, each player predicts which team will win each of the 63 games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. You must choose a winner for every game of every round -- your "picks." You then submit those picks via this web site, along with a prediction of the score of the championship game (for tie-breaking purposes), your name, and your e-mail address.

As the tournament progresses, you will receive daily e-mail reports of the standings in the contest, showing how you are doing with respect to the other players.

When the National Champion has been crowned, then the top three finishers in our contest will receive the usual fare of fabulous prizes that this contest is famous for awarding.

Tournament Changes for 2011

Since 2001, the NCAA added a 65th team to the tournament, which created a single-game "Opening Round" whose winner became the 16th seed in one of the four regional brackets. Beginning in 2011, the NCAA has added three more teams to the field, for a total of 68. The Opening Round has been renamed the "First Round", and will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday before the traditional First Round begins on Thursday. (The old First and Second Rounds are now (you guessed it) the Second and Third Rounds). Two of the four games of the First Round will match up seeds 65-68, and the winners will become 16th seeds in two of the regions (much like the old play-in game of the Opening Round). The other two games will feature the four of the at-large teams, and the winners of those games will enter the bracket at a seed to be determined on Selection Sunday (probably something like a 10 or a 12 seed).

However, the picks and the scoring for our contest will begin where they always have: with the field of 64 teams that start play on Thursday. So we will be picking the new "Second" round onward, even though some of our terminology might still refer to the old "First" round in our brackets. I hope it will not be too confusing.

Scoring

The contest uses the following scoring method: Each round of the tournament is worth 32 points. In the first (now, second) round (32 games), each game is worth one point. In the second (now, third) round (16 games), each game is worth two points, and so on, so that the final game is worth 32 points. There are six rounds, making the maximum possible score 192 points. If a team you have picked to win a game loses, you lose the points for that game, as well as the points for all the future games that you had picked that team to win.

How do I enter?

Following the instructions in your invitation e-mail, visit the My Picks section of the web site to create your account. Once your account is set up, you will be presented with a page of brackets. Starting with the first round games, select the team you pick to win for each game by clicking on the drop box. In the fields provided, type the final score of the last game. Be sure to press the Save Entry button when you have completed your picks.

Please note that when you start, there will be no teams displayed on the form. Starting with the first round, when you click on the down arrow of the drop box for a game, you will be presented with the two teams that you can pick from for that game.

Note that there is no error checking of your entry. Make sure you have picked winners for all the games, and have completed all the text fields, before submitting your entry. Incomplete entries will not be accepted.

If you want to, after you have saved your picks, you can make changes to them, up to the start of the tournament on March 17th. Simply return to the My Picks page, login to your account, and press the Edit button. Be sure to press Save Entry to keep whatever changes you have made.

When using the My Picks page, avoid using the Back or Refresh buttons of your browser. Navigate through the page using only the buttons you see on the forms. It's a good idea to press the Logout button when you have finished with your picks.

If you have any questions or problems, e-mail me at drw@davidrwilliams.com.

All entries must be submitted in final form no later than the start of the first game (approximately 12:15pm EDT) on Thursday, March 17th.

Good luck, and may the most powerful prognosticator prevail!