And since I\'m a long-time pool commissioner and numbers geek, I would like to break down and analyze Yahoo\'s scoring system. The scoring system is 1-2-4-8-16-32 points per round.
Good side:
-Nice balance between first 3 rounds and last 3 rounds. Later games are generally worth appropriately more.
-Equal points available each round...consistancy.
-You could argue that there is too much weight in the last 2 rounds. Having one extra team sneak into the Final Four and/or the finals could nullify your opponent\'s consistent dominance in rounds 1-3. However, I like the extra weight because it keeps everyone in it. Nothing makes for a boring pool more than having people basically out of it after the first weekend. Even if you have a bad first weekend, your big picks can still carry the mail.
Bad side:
-Picking the champion is worth just as much as picking the ENTIRE FINAL FOUR? Bad. Picking the champion is just a matter of taking a 1 or 2 seed and writing them all the way in. Last year was an exception, 1-3 seeds almost always win. It\'s always a team that a lot of people have, and is thus not super hard. Picking the entire Final Four is a major accomplishment in bracketeering. I\'ve only had 1 person ever do it in the 5 pools I\'ve run out of about 500-600 total entrants.
- No upset points in round 1. This is such an interesting aspect that can\'t be ignored. There\'s nothing more boring than watching someone who picks nothing but favorites take the lead when there are almost no upsets. It\'s the only round where you know the matchups from the start, so it\'s a perfect time to add this dynamic.
-Too many multiples of 4...too many similar scores and possible ties.
My favorite system is 2-5-10-15-20-25 w/ 3 points for round 1 upsets, or, if I have some dynamic players on my hands, 3 points for upsets seeds 9-11 and 4 points for upsets seeds 12-16. The weighting here is a little different, more emphasis on consistancy throughout the rounds rather than in the last 2 or 3 rounds. It\'s better for most because middle-round games matter more, whereas in the Yahoo system the first 3 rounds mean little. This system thus generates more games that are meaningful. It\'s worse for a few because the most points in my system are scored in rounds 3 and 4, so there\'s always a few people who are more or less out before the Final Four. The 2 points in round 1 throws the last digit of everyone\'s score off, then it stays consistent with the 5\'s and 0\'s, so you never have to worry about a tie, and you always know exactly how many more games you need than the other guy to take him over. Picking the entire Final Four is worth slightly more than twice as much as picking the champ (60 vs 25.) It\'s at least 3 times harder to pick the entire Final Four than just the champion, so this is a good point to be at while still having meaning to your championship game.
