Boneyard Tipping Contest 2021-2022

[Lorcan]

I've tried hosting this on other areas, but I'd be curious to hear if there's any interest in a season long tipping contest for games. For example, let's say the slate of games are as follows:

NC A&T @ Duke
High Point vs. North Carolina
South Carolina vs. UConn
Creighton vs. Nebraska
Boise State vs. Idaho State

Each individual would pick who they think would be the winner. For example, Plebe might pick

Duke
High Point
UConn
Nebraska
Boise State

Triad in their infinite wisdom might pick:

NC A&T
North Carolina
UConn
Nebraska
Idaho State

Let's say the actual results were as follows:

Duke
North Carolina
South Carolina
Nebraska
Boise State

Plebe would get 3 points for his correct picks towards his season totals, and Triad would get a paltry 2 points for his brave picks. In this example, Plebe would "win" the current week, and these totals would go towards a cumulative season total for both players.

My thinking is that there would be a slate of games approximately every 2 weeks for people to pick from, with winners being declared for each 2 week period along with a season long cumulative winner for the regular season. We could then seed players into a playoff bracket for March Madness based on their regular season results and have a tipping tournament for the post season, which I'll elaborate on tiebreakers and specific rules when we get there if there's enough interest. Ultimately, we would have a regular season champion along with a post-season champion who won an elimination style tourney.

My thought would be that I would enlist volunteers to pick a slate of 20 games to be PM'd to me so I can post them at the appropriate time. The deadline for picking games would be prior to the first game of the two week period, although I will leave room for discretion to accept picks after a deadline if I feel that there isn't news that would change the course of a pick. The game weeks would look like this:

Week 1: November 9-November 20th
Week 2: November 21st-December 4th
Week 3: December 5th-December 18th
Week 4: December 19th-January 1st
Week 5: January 2nd-January 15th
Week 6: January 16th-January 29th
Week 7: January 30th-February 12th
Week 8: February 13th-February 26th
Week 9: February 27th-End of Regular Season. (We can determine as we get closer how we want to handle conference tournaments)

As an example Week 1 Games would look like. I'd point out the goal is to pick games that might be difficult to choose between.

Charlotte vs. Richmond
Green Bay vs. South Dakota State
Quinnipiac vs. Fordham
Oklahoma vs. South Dakota
Denver vs. Air Force
Princeton vs. Villanova
Creighton vs. Drake
Colorado vs. Oklahoma State
Houston vs. Stephen F. Austin
Northern Colorado vs. Colorado State
Florida Gulf Coast vs. LSU
Kentucky vs. Indiana
South Florida vs. Tennessee
Arizona State vs. Brigham Young
Toledo vs. Dayton
James Madison vs. Liberty
Wright State vs. Milwaukee
Cincinnati vs. Utah
Southern Cal vs. Missouri State
Presbyterian vs. St. Thomas (MN)

Ideally, we'd cap the games at 20 for a two week period -- with exceptions that can be made of course.

I'd love to hear everyone's feedback and see if anyone has any suggestions or questions about the rules. Thanks to Plebe and Triad for being excellent unwilling volunteers for my example. If anyone wants to volunteer to select games for a particular week, let me know. There are no rules on which games you can pick, I just generally ask that you try to pick games of interest along with games that you view as competitive, which, unfortunately rules out some games with top teams.

 

[Lorcan]

reserved post for standings and admin for results.

 

[Lorcan]

reserved post for schedule of games

 

[undersized]

I'll play!

 

[CL82]

I would only get one point a week because my ballot would look something like this:

Don’t care
Don’t care
UConn
Don’t care
Don’t care

Still, this game actually sounds like fun. I’ve done other things like this on The Boneyard, usually off season, and have enjoyed them.

Not for me, but I’ll peak in every now and again to see how people are doing.

 

[triaddukefan]

I'll play, though be forewarned.... I'm not always the most gracious loser.

Fun idea! I'd be down, though I think fewer (and higher quality) games would be better, as I suspect most folks would have easily informed views on most Top 25 matchups, whereas my reaction to "Presbyterian vs. St. Thomas (MN)" is "do those schools even have basketball teams?"

Watch it now.... My Blue Hose are an up and coming squad.

 

[Lorcan]

Fun idea! I'd be down, though I think fewer (and higher quality) games would be better, as I suspect most folks would have easily informed views on most Top 25 matchups, whereas my reaction to "Presbyterian vs. St. Thomas (MN)" is "do those schools even have basketball teams?"

I hear your point, and I'll counter. I think one of my primary goals as a follower of the sport has been to try and get people engaged with teams they might not normally follow. As I said above, I'll happily accept volunteers later in the seasons to select games so they might have a different methodology than I do and focus only on Top 25 matchups. I think the beauty of this is that no two weeks should look alike with the teams. For example, Triad might make us pick an entire slate of games solely consisting of teams from the Big South. I would say that 20 games is the absolute maximum for a two week period -- but some weeks will, and should, be fewer teams. Especially at the beginning of the season, it might be fun to pick more games.

If people simply pick based on who has a better mascot, they've still learned something about a particular school. In my mind, it also gets boring picking the same teams every week -- even if we might know the outcome due to our familiarity with the Top 25.

 

[futuretitles]

Talaysia Cooper announces tomorrow. Have to believe it’s between Tennessee and Georgia. Thinking GA but TN could snag her as well.

 

[Geew1992]

I’m down

 

[Geew1992]

Talaysia Cooper announces tomorrow. Have to believe it’s between Tennessee and Georgia. Thinking GA but TN could snag her as well.

Tn is praying it’s them. Or they only have Pissot for 2022

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Great idea, but I also would limit the more obscure teams / matchups. That is a compelling list of games, but I'm not sure I would enjoy guessing winners between 2 teams that I have absolutely no "feel" for. Perhaps, even, just limit it a bit "early" and gradually expand it.

As the season goes on, you sort of get ideas as to who is any good.

Still, I'm game to try.

 

[Zanzman]

I've tried hosting this on other areas, but I'd be curious to hear if there's any interest in a season long tipping contest for games. For example, let's say the slate of games are as follows:

NC A&T @ Duke
High Point vs. North Carolina
South Carolina vs. UConn
Creighton vs. Nebraska
Boise State vs. Idaho State

Each individual would pick who they think would be the winner. For example, Plebe might pick

Duke
High Point
UConn
Nebraska
Boise State

Triad in their infinite wisdom might pick:

NC A&T
North Carolina
UConn
Nebraska
Idaho State

Let's say the actual results were as follows:

Duke
North Carolina
South Carolina
Nebraska
Boise State

Plebe would get 3 points for his correct picks towards his season totals, and Triad would get a paltry 2 points for his brave picks. In this example, Plebe would "win" the current week, and these totals would go towards a cumulative season total for both players.

My thinking is that there would be a slate of games approximately every 2 weeks for people to pick from, with winners being declared for each 2 week period along with a season long cumulative winner for the regular season. We could then seed players into a playoff bracket for March Madness based on their regular season results and have a tipping tournament for the post season, which I'll elaborate on tiebreakers and specific rules when we get there if there's enough interest. Ultimately, we would have a regular season champion along with a post-season champion who won an elimination style tourney.

My thought would be that I would enlist volunteers to pick a slate of 20 games to be PM'd to me so I can post them at the appropriate time. The deadline for picking games would be prior to the first game of the two week period, although I will leave room for discretion to accept picks after a deadline if I feel that there isn't news that would change the course of a pick. The game weeks would look like this:

Week 1: November 9-November 20th
Week 2: November 21st-December 4th
Week 3: December 5th-December 18th
Week 4: December 19th-January 1st
Week 5: January 2nd-January 15th
Week 6: January 16th-January 29th
Week 7: January 30th-February 12th
Week 8: February 13th-February 26th
Week 9: February 27th-End of Regular Season. (We can determine as we get closer how we want to handle conference tournaments)

As an example Week 1 Games would look like. I'd point out the goal is to pick games that might be difficult to choose between.

Charlotte vs. Richmond
Green Bay vs. South Dakota State
Quinnipiac vs. Fordham
Oklahoma vs. South Dakota
Denver vs. Air Force
Princeton vs. Villanova
Creighton vs. Drake
Colorado vs. Oklahoma State
Houston vs. Stephen F. Austin
Northern Colorado vs. Colorado State
Florida Gulf Coast vs. LSU
Kentucky vs. Indiana
South Florida vs. Tennessee
Arizona State vs. Brigham Young
Toledo vs. Dayton
James Madison vs. Liberty
Wright State vs. Milwaukee
Cincinnati vs. Utah
Southern Cal vs. Missouri State
Presbyterian vs. St. Thomas (MN)

Ideally, we'd cap the games at 20 for a two week period -- with exceptions that can be made of course.

I'd love to hear everyone's feedback and see if anyone has any suggestions or questions about the rules. Thanks to Plebe and Triad for being excellent unwilling volunteers for my example. If anyone wants to volunteer to select games for a particular week, let me know. There are no rules on which games you can pick, I just generally ask that you try to pick games of interest along with games that you view as competitive, which, unfortunately rules out some games with top teams.

You lost me with triad picking North Carolina can’t fathom that happening

 

[LETTERL]

Sounds fun

 

[Rooster C.]

Tn is praying it’s them. Or they only have Pissot for 2022

Whitehorn is still an outside possibility

 

[undersized]

Wow, some fans of blueboods and select P5 schools certainly do a great job of pretending that other schools don't matter!

I love OP's idea of mixing the marquee games with some interesting/competitive games of lesser known teams. To everyone objecting to picking between less well known teams -- you're missing one of the important purposes of the game! If you don't want to put in the time to learn about some of the smaller conferences out there, then just guess. This stuff is mostly based in luck anyway.