Add or multiply the seed number of the winning team.
Add or multiply the seed number of the winning team if the actual result is an upset (higher seed number wins).
For example, if you correctly pick #10 N.C. State and they beat #7 UCLA, you would receive a bonus of 10 either added or multiplied to your score.
To receive this bonus you did not also have to pick the loser of the game correctly, just the winner.
Add or multiply the difference between the seed numbers of the two teams.
For example, if in the first round you correctly pick #12 Mississippi State and they beat #5 Kansas you would receive a bonus of 7 either added or multipied to your score.
Past the first round things get complicated. There are 2 configurable ways to handle this:
Use seed of actual opponents if the actual result is an upset (default).
The seed numbers used for the calculation are the seed numbers of the actual teams that played in the game. For example, if you pick #4 California to win its 3rd round game, and they beat #1 Duke in the actual tournament, you would receive a bonus of 3. If in the actual tournament they beat #8 Wisconsin, you recieve no bonus.
It does not matter which opponent you predict they would play against, or whether that opponent appears in the game, or what seed the predicted opponent would be.
Use seed of best possible opponent.
The seed numbers used for the calculation are the seed numbers of the predicted winner and their best possible opponent. For example, if you correctly pick #4 California to win its 3rd round game, you receive a bonus of 3 because their best possible opponent would be a #1 seed.
It does not matter who California actually beats in that game -- even if they beat a #8 seed, you still receive 3 points because they could have been playing against a #1. It also does not matter which opponent you predict, whether that opponent appears in the game or not, or what seed the predicted opponent would be.
Add a custom number of points based on the round (1 through 6).
Add a custom number of points based on the round if the actual result was an upset.
Each bracket is evaluated using the exclusive PickHoops risk assessor, which computes the risk of each chosen upset versus historical tournament results. The bracket that is deemed riskiest by this methodology wins this tiebreaker.
This tiebreaker evaluates the total number of correct games in the bracket, regardless of round.
This tiebreaker evaluates the number of correct picks in the first round only (32 games).
This tiebreaker evaluates the number of correct picks in the first two rounds (48 games).
This tiebreaker evaluates the brackets by the number of correct games by round, starting with the championship game and working back to the first round games. A bracket beats another when it has more games picked correctly in a later round.
When using this tiebreaker, entrants must enter the predicted score of the championship game.
The bracket with the combined scores of both teams in the championship game closest to the actual combined score wins the tiebreaker.
When using this tiebreaker, entrants must enter the predicted score of the championship game.
The bracket whose difference in points between the two teams in the championship game is closest to the actual difference wins the tiebreaker. The difference is calculated by subtracting the predicted score of the team on the right side of the bracket from the predicted score of the team on the left side. So if you filled 78-66 into your bracket, the point spread would be 12. But if you filled 71-77 into your bracket, the point spread would be -6.
For the purposes of this tiebreaker, it doesn't matter which teams made it to the championship game or which scored more.
