Pick one winner per day, survive the longest, be crowned Champion
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. There are few events on the sports calendar better than March Madness: the pageantry, the controversy, the emotion, the buzzer-beaters, John Calipari being over-ranked and still getting knocked out early. Even though the Horned Frogs men’s team won’t be dancing this year, Tournament time still gives you the opportunity to compete against your friends, family, co-workers, and random strangers on the internet to prove your superior college basketball knowledge.
Everyone will fill out a bracket and every bracket will ultimately look approximately the same – you and 10 million other people will pick Duke or Auburn or Houston to win the National Championship, which is the correct and rational choice, but not very interesting. What if there was a bracket challenge that required a bit more strategy and skill to emerge victorious?
Welcome back to the 7th annual Frogs O’ War NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool. The objective is simple: select one winner per day of the Tournament and be the last one standing when the nets are cut down in San Antonio. Easy enough, right? Well, the challenge is that you can only pick each team one time for the entire Tournament – once you select a team, you cannot select that team again for the remainder of the Tournament.
In 2018 the champion was crowned during the Elite 8 as early upsets quickly narrowed the field. In 2019 the trophy was earned in the Final 4 on tiebreakers. In 2021 two competitors made in all the way to the Championship game and the winner was decided on a head-to-head prop pick off. In 2022, the Saint Peter’s Peacocks decimated the field through it’s Elite 8 run. Purdue’s stunning loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson eliminated a chunk of 2023 entries before our winner was eventually crowned in the Final Four. In 2024, TCU’s First Round loss to Utah State and Kentucky’s loss to Oakland shrunk a field, eventually crowning four entries reaching the Final Four, with a prop showdown to determine the winner.
Will the 2025 Tournament be filled with Cinderella stories or will the best teams roll through the field? What will your strategy be – take the big favorites and avoid any shocking upset or save those top seeds for later rounds?
Rules and guidelines:
- You must select one team per day, starting with the round of 64. If you are still alive, you’ll only need to pick one team per round during the Elite 8 and beyond
- If the team you select wins, you advance to the next day. If your selection loses, your Cinderella run has ended.
- Entries must be submitted prior to the first game of that day. Selections for Round One March 20 & 21 are due by March 20 at 11:15 AM Central.
- Keep track of what teams you used – if you select the same team twice, you’ll be eliminated; if you have no remaining selections available, you are eliminated.
- As the field dwindles, the entry form will include a tiebreaker to determine a winner if all remaining entries lose in the same round
- Only one entry accepted per email address. You must use the same entry name and email address throughout the tournament.
- An optional field is provided on the form for your Twitter handle, so we can shout you out when you win
Fill out the form below (or follow this link if your browser does not show the form below) with your picks for the games of March 20 & 21. The game is open to anyone, so share freely with everyone you know. If you have any questions, leave a comment here or reach out on Twitter: @FrogsOWar or @north_anthony. Good luck and enjoy!
