At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
who pick the correct champion.

In my office pool at the elite 8 I was in 13th place out of 15 and I only
had one team left standing in my bracket. That team was Kansas and I had
picked them to go all the way. I ended up winning the pool and it wasn’t
even close. None of my shitty early round picks mattered at all because
being the only one to pick Kansas to win it all was enough to beat everyone
else who didn’t, no matter how good their earlier picks were.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 1:39:20 PM UTC-4, xyzzy wrote:
> At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
> every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
> barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
> who pick the correct champion.
>
> In my office pool at the elite 8 I was in 13th place out of 15 and I only
> had one team left standing in my bracket. That team was Kansas and I had
> picked them to go all the way. I ended up winning the pool and it wasn’t
> even close. None of my shitty early round picks mattered at all because
> being the only one to pick Kansas to win it all was enough to beat everyone
> else who didn’t, no matter how good their earlier picks were.
>

In '08 I won my office pool because I was the only one that picked Kansas. I was way down the list before the final 4, where about half the pool had picked North Carolina. Best way to win a pool is definitely to pick an under picked possibility as champion, and then get it right. A couple years later, I finished 4th (out of the money) when Duke won but I was one of several people who picked Duke.

JGibson <james.m.gibson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 1:39:20 PM UTC-4, xyzzy wrote:
>> At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
>> every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
>> barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
>> who pick the correct champion.
>>
>> In my office pool at the elite 8 I was in 13th place out of 15 and I only
>> had one team left standing in my bracket. That team was Kansas and I had
>> picked them to go all the way. I ended up winning the pool and it wasn’t
>> even close. None of my shitty early round picks mattered at all because
>> being the only one to pick Kansas to win it all was enough to beat everyone
>> else who didn’t, no matter how good their earlier picks were.
>>
>
> In '08 I won my office pool because I was the only one that picked
> Kansas. I was way down the list before the final 4, where about half the
> pool had picked North Carolina. Best way to win a pool is definitely to
> pick an under picked possibility as champion, and then get it right. A
> couple years later, I finished 4th (out of the money) when Duke won but I
> was one of several people who picked Duke.

Kansas does seem to be a team that’s regularly under picked. I mean they
are a #1 seed and no one but me picked them. In my wife’s office pool same,
only one person picked them (and her pool was significantly larger). I
guess they are overlooked on the coasts?

In my office pool the bottom of the final standings is clogged with people
who picked Gonzaga as champions.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 1:53:29 PM UTC-4, xyzzy wrote:
> JGibson <james.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 1:39:20 PM UTC-4, xyzzy wrote:
> >> At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
> >> every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
> >> barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
> >> who pick the correct champion.
> >>
> >> In my office pool at the elite 8 I was in 13th place out of 15 and I only
> >> had one team left standing in my bracket. That team was Kansas and I had
> >> picked them to go all the way. I ended up winning the pool and it wasn’t
> >> even close. None of my shitty early round picks mattered at all because
> >> being the only one to pick Kansas to win it all was enough to beat everyone
> >> else who didn’t, no matter how good their earlier picks were.
> >>
> >
> > In '08 I won my office pool because I was the only one that picked
> > Kansas. I was way down the list before the final 4, where about half the
> > pool had picked North Carolina. Best way to win a pool is definitely to
> > pick an under picked possibility as champion, and then get it right. A
> > couple years later, I finished 4th (out of the money) when Duke won but I
> > was one of several people who picked Duke.
> Kansas does seem to be a team that’s regularly under picked. I mean they
> are a #1 seed and no one but me picked them. In my wife’s office pool same,
> only one person picked them (and her pool was significantly larger). I
> guess they are overlooked on the coasts?
>
> In my office pool the bottom of the final standings is clogged with people
> who picked Gonzaga as champions.

4/17 picked Kansas in Jay Furr's rsfc pool. That was actually the most common pick:

Kansas 4
Gonzaga 3
Tennessee 3
Arizona 3
Baylor 2
Texas Tech 1
Purdue 1

> At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
> every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
> barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
> who pick the correct champion.

That makes sense.
If you pick the winner: 63 points (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32)
If you pick the championship game loser: 31
If you pick both of the semi-final losers: 15 + 15
That's only 61 points for the other three Final Four teams combined.
Every correct game picked is worth 1 point more than every two losers picked in the same round.
Picking all four Elite 8 losers: 28
Picking all eight Sweet 16 losers: 24
Picking all 16 second round losers: 16

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 8:08:18 PM UTC-5, The NOTBCS Guy wrote:
> > At least the way CBS Sports scores it (the point value of each game doubles
> > every round), none of the pre-final four rounds count, and the final four
> > barely does either, except to act as tiebreakers between multiple people
> > who pick the correct champion.
> That makes sense.

I agree, if the per game point value doubles each round, then the total value of each round stays the same.

> If you pick the winner: 63 points (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32)
> If you pick the championship game loser: 31
> If you pick both of the semi-final losers: 15 + 15

Or as we say at the shop:

2^0 + 2^1 + 2^2 + … + 2^(n-1) = (2^n) - 1