*WNFF MARCH MADNESS 2016 CBS NCAA BRACKET CONTEST - FREE**

[nats2playoffs]

We used this CBS Bracket group in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Go to:
http://wnff.mayhem.cbssports.com

League name: Washington Nationals Fan Forum
Password: zimmerman
League abbreviation: wnff

First Place: Bragging rights only. Second place:  "I could have won if only..." Third  place: I got Third Place.

I set this up with the Add Seed Scoring option, which rewards picking upsets.  Examples: If a 12 seed beats a 5 seed, you add 12 points.  If the 5 seed wins, add 5 points to the basic score (which a commissioner can control, unlike ESPN):

"First" Round:      We don't pick the 4 play-in games
Second Round:    5 points
Third Round:     10
Fourth Round:   15
Fifth Round:      20
SemiFinals:        25
Finals:                30
Tiebreaker: Total score in final
       
I just sent Invitations from the 2012-2015 email addresses CBS had on file. 
Entry must be created before the first game this Thursday March 17, 2015. 
You have to set up or log in to a CBS Sports ID.

In past years I set up brackets publicly posted for celebrities, including ESPN's Joe Lunardi, President Barack Obama, and TV Analyst & NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.

SEND ME A PM (with a valid email address to use) IF YOU CANNOT SIGN UP WITHOUT AN INVITATION. (I can add offline players, if I know their picks, which is how the celebrities are added.)

[nats2playoffs]

U N B E L I E V A B L E  !

Holy Cross Crusaders (Patriot League tournament upset winner over Lehigh)
Play in game Final - Wednesday, March 16, 6:40 PM
University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio
   
16 seed Holy Cross Crusaders (15-19)  59
16 seed Southern University Jaguars (22-13) 55

The Holy Cross Crusaders already are the biggest Cinderella story of March, as the Patriot League tournament champions overcame a 10-19 regular season record to stun four straight opponents and advance to the NCAA Tournament.


No 16 seed has ever beaten a #1 seed...

[nats2playoffs]

Get your bracket in before the first game today at noon!

If you have a link to another bracket, send me the link and I can add it with commissioner power. That's how I post Obama's Picks.
 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Wearing blue instead of green today.  Something about a 5 v 12 today from Providence.  Can't be wearing Baylor colors.

[skippy1999]

Wearing blue instead of green today.  Something about a 5 v 12 today from Providence.  Can't be wearing Baylor colors.

you're gonna get pinched!

If you have a link to another bracket, send me the link and I can add it with commissioner power. That's how I post Obama's Picks.
 

haha I was thinking wow, Obama and Charles Barkley lurk at WNFF
What's weird is I see my actual name listed and that's the bracket I filled out yesterday but I also see one for my name here but I didn't fill one out under that name?

[nats2playoffs]

you're gonna get pinched!

haha I was thinking wow, Obama and Charles Barkley lurk at WNFF
What's weird is I see my actual name listed and that's the bracket I filled out yesterday but I also see one for my name here but I didn't fill one out under that name?

If you have a link to another bracket, send me the link and I can add it with commissioner power.
That's how your bracket from last year was posted; I manually entered it.
 
I already posted Obama's Picks for 2016. He's only picked the correct champion once in seven years. His first round picks are usually very good. He picked Kansas for champion this year... so they won't win.
 
Get your bracket in before the first game today at noon!

[nats2playoffs]

Standings after Round 1
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct   Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
1   Sportsfan882           293   27   766   55   N. Carolina (142)
2   HalfSmokes              265   25   795   56   N. Carolina (145)
3   mickey the dog       225   25  727   52   Kansas (151)
4   RobDibblesGhost(2) 252   24   697   49   Virginia (145)
5   Barack Obama        229   23   641   48   Kansas (149)
6   Jackie Jackrabbit   229   23   673   48   Virginia (139)
7   nats2playoffs           223   23   561   45   Michigan St. (147)
8   Brian Mitchell, CSN    221   23   684   51   Kansas (151)
9   Rob Carlin CSN    221   22   586   45   Michigan St. (150)
10  skippy1999           214   22   548   41   Villanova (129)
11  Nancy the Goose      209   22   613   46   Virginia (112)
12  HTT                     203   20   477   38   Michigan St. (149)
13  Lintyfresh85           180   20   599   45   Virginia (137)
14  RobDibblesGhost   175   19   573   42   Oklahoma (147)
   
15 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (25-9) 90
  2 Michigan State Spartans (29-6)          81
 

[nats2playoffs]

Standings after Round 2
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct     Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
1   Sportsfan882                 434   38   703   51   N. Carolina (142)
2   HalfSmokes                    423   37   716   51   N. Carolina (145)
3   mickey the dog                375   34   556   43   Kansas (151)
4   RobDibblesGhost(2)          371   33   611   44   Virginia (145)
5   Brian Mitchell, former Redskin, CSN    360   34   628   47   Kansas (151)
6   Barack Obama            352   33   602   45   Kansas (149)
7   Jackie Jackrabbit          348   32   559   42   Virginia (139)
8   nats2playoffs             346   33   522   42   Michigan St. (147)
9   Nancy the Goose         333   32   587   44   Virginia (112)
10   Rob Carlin CSN SportsTalk   331   31   483   39   Michigan St. (150)
11   skippy1999                301   29   502   38   Villanova (129)
12   HTT                            289   27   416   34   Michigan St. (149)
13   Lintyfresh85                277   28   525   40   Virginia (137)
14   RobDibblesGhost         275   27   521   39   Oklahoma (147)

[nats2playoffs]

Standings after Sweet 16
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
1   HalfSmokes         546   44   716   51   N. Carolina (145)
2   Sportsfan882         516   43   684   50   N. Carolina (142)
3   mickey the dog(3)   456   39   556   43   Kansas (151)
4   Brian Mitchell, CSN  441   39   587   45   Kansas (151)
5   RobDibblesGhost(2) 419   36   544   41   Virginia (145)
6   Barack Obama        417   37   542   42   Kansas (149)
7   Jackie Jackrabbit     413   36   559   42   Virginia (139)
7   Rob Carlin CSN       413   36   483   39   Michigan St. (150)
9   nats to-playoffs      412   37   503   41   Michigan St. (147)
10   Nancy the Goose   398   36   544   42   Virginia (112)
11   RobDibblesGhost   378   33   502   38   Oklahoma (147)
12   Lintyfresh85          358   33   525   40   Virginia (137)
13   HTT                      354   31   375   32   Michigan St. (149)
14   skippy1999           334   31   462   36   Villanova (129)

CBS Saturday March 26, 2016
6:00 pm ET Oregon vs Oklahoma
8:30 pm Kansas vs Villanova

[nats2playoffs]

7 more Champion picks bite the dust...

Standings after Elite 8
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
1   HalfSmokes         611   47   695   50   N. Carolina (145)
2   Sportsfan882         559   45   616   47   N. Carolina (142)
3   mickey the dog(3)  478   40   478   40   Kansas (151)
4   Brian Mitchell, CSN 462   40   462   40   Kansas (151)
5   nats2playoffs         455   39   482   40   Michigan St. (147)
6   RobDibblesGhost   443   36   502   38   Oklahoma (147)
7   Barack Obama       438   38   464   39   Kansas (149)
8   Rob Carlin CSN     435   37   462   38   Michigan St. (150)
9   RobDibblesGhost   419   36   419   36   Virginia (145)
9   Nancy the Goose   419   37   419   37   Virginia (112)
11   Jackie Jackrabbit  413   36   413   36   Virginia (139)
12   Lintyfresh85        379   34   379   34   Virginia (137)
13   HTT                   375   32   375   32   Michigan St. (149)
14   skippy1999        356   32   415   34   Villanova (129)

[skippy1999]

So wait, I'm one of only 4 people left who's pick to win it all is still in contention but I'm in last place?  This bracket nonsense sucks

[varoadking]

So wait, I'm one of only 4 people left who's pick to win it all is still in contention but I'm in last place?  This bracket nonsense sucks

Only one way to go from here... 

[nats2playoffs]

So wait, I'm one of only 4 people left who's pick to win it all is still in contention but I'm in last place?  This bracket nonsense sucks

You are right - this Bracket gives a lot less weight to picking the Champion than nearly any other bracket contest. There's no money involved here, so picking upsets and getting a lot of things right were given more weight:

First Round: The weight for each correct pick is 5. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Second Round: The weight for each correct pick is 10. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Sweet 16 ® : The weight for each correct pick is 15. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Elite 8 ® : The weight for each correct pick is 20. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Final Four ® : The weight for each correct pick is 25. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Championship: The weight for each correct pick is 30. The seed of the winning team is added to the correct pick total.
Tiebreaker: The total score of the Championship game.

I'm open to suggestions for giving more weight to each subsequent round. Using 5-10-20-40-50-100 might be more typical, and the Add Seed still jumps the score for someone who picks a big upset. CBS Sportsline allows us to set it up with whatever weight we want for each round.
  
There were 8 upsets in the first round. skippy got 10 picks wrong on the first round. sportsfan882 only got 5 wrong of the 32 games in Round 1. He got big Add Seed points for picking #14 SF Austin, #12 Yale, #11 Gonzaga, #11 Northern Iowa, and #11 Wichita State... skippy got 9 wrong in the Sweet 16, she got 6 of the Elite 8 wrong and got 3 of the Final Four wrong...
 
This bracket gives a Plus for picking upsets. If #10 Syracuse beats #1 Virginia, anyone who picked the #10 gets an additional 10 points. Anyone who picked #1 North Carolina to beat #6 Notre Dame got plus 1 for picking NC.

Our leader, HalfSmokes, is the only one who picked Syracuse to go to the Elite Eight. Nobody picked them for the Final Four.

[skippy1999]

Nah no worries N2P, I stupidly fill out one of these brackets every year even though I pay zero attention to college basketball and normally who I pick to win it all gets knocked out fairly quickly and I lose interest, I just never realized how it doesn't really matter who you pick to win as long as most of your teams continue to advance.  But of course now with that knowledge I shall of course dominate this thing next year

[mitlen]

Nah no worries N2P, I stupidly fill out one of these brackets every year even though I pay zero attention to college basketball and normally who I pick to win it all gets knocked out fairly quickly and I lose interest, I just never realized how it doesn't really matter who you pick to win as long as most of your teams continue to advance.  But of course now with that knowledge I shall of course dominate this thing next year

Ignorance is bliss.

[skippy1999]

Ignorance is bliss.

I lead a blissful life

[nats2playoffs]

CONGRATULATIONS to HalfSmokes, 2016 WNFF Champion!
 

FINAL STANDINGS
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
Rank   Team Name   Score   Correct   Best Score   Best Correct   Champion
1   HalfSmokes         637   48   637   48   N. Carolina (145)
2   Sportsfan882         585   46   585   46   N. Carolina (142)
3   mickey the dog(3)  478   40   478   40   Kansas (151)
4   Barack Obama       464   39   464   39   Kansas (149)
5   Brian Mitchell, CSN 462   40   462   40   Kansas (151)
6   nats2playoffs         455   39   455   39   Michigan St. (147)
7   RobDibblesGhost   443   36   443   36   Oklahoma (147)
8   Rob Carlin CSN     435   37   435   37   Michigan St. (150)
9   RobDibblesGhost   419   36   419   36   Virginia (145)
10   Nancy the Goose   419   37   419   37   Virginia (112)
11   skippy1999        415   34   415   34   Villanova (129)
12   Jackie Jackrabbit  413   36   413   36   Virginia (139)
13   Lintyfresh85        379   34   379   34   Virginia (137)
14   HTT                   375   32   375   32   Michigan St. (149)

Even with a change to more traditional bracket scoring, skippy1999's correct pick of Villanova as champion would not have given her enough points to win the WNFF Bracket. HalfSmokes and sportsfan882 did a terrific job racking up points in the early rounds.

[skippy1999]

Whatever, I picked the winner therefore I know more about basketball than all y'all

[mitlen]

Whatever, I picked the winner therefore I know more about basketball than  all y'all   yunz   

[HalfSmokes]

best bracket I ever picked in the year where I didn't watch a single game including the tourney