March Madness Team Confidence Pools

Let your group put points behind its teams.

Have members choose teams before the tournament and assign each a unique point value. Each win earns that value again: a team worth 7 scores 21 after three wins. The highest total wins.

Members choose teams and assign their own point values. Every win earns the team’s value again. Start with 16 teams and values 1 through 16, or use your group’s preferred count.

Also called Rank’em or team ranking. Pick and rank once before play.

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Choose the field for each entry

Rank selected teams or the whole field.

Sixteen selected teams is a familiar starting point. Ranking every team gives members a stake in every game, but a longer entry to fill out.

Choose 16 teams and use values 1–16.

Members select their teams from across the tournament field and use each point value once. Higher values go on teams they expect to keep winning. For a smaller or larger set, match the points range to the team count.

Rank the entire field.

Have members assign a unique value to every included team, with the highest value earning the most points per win. Use the field at your pool’s starting stage, whether that is the main bracket or the Sweet 16.

Your pool’s rules

Set the rankings and the points they earn.

Choose the team count, value range, and any changes in scoring by round.

Tournament and entries

Tournament: Run a pool for the men’s or women’s NCAA tournament.
Starting stage: Start with the 64-team main bracket, include opening-round games, or start later with the teams still playing. Identify the included games on the rules sheet.
Entries per person: Allow one entry each or set a limit for your group.
Entry deadline: Set the cutoff and time zone around the first included game. Close changes when entries lock.

Teams and confidence values

Team count: Use 16 selected teams, a custom count, or the full included field.
Confidence range: Assign values from 1 through the team count, or use a custom set of values. Higher values mean more points per win.
Unique values: Use each value once within an entry. A team has one assigned value for the pool.
Selection restrictions: Allow any eligible teams or require a stated number from each region or seed range.
Shared teams: Let different members select the same teams and assign their own confidence values.
Locked rankings: Lock teams and values before the first included game. Keep them fixed throughout that pool.

Scoring and ties

Points for wins: Earn a team’s assigned value each time it wins an included game. Add all selected teams’ points to the entry total.
Round multipliers: Keep the value constant per win or multiply it by a stated factor in later rounds.
Eliminated teams: Keep their earned points in the total. They stop scoring future wins and are not replaced.
Late-start pools: Rank the teams still playing and score only the remaining games in a new pool.
Championship tiebreaker: Use the predicted combined score of the championship game. Set when the prediction locks, whether going over matters, and the next rule if entries are equally close.
Total-win tiebreaker: Compare the number of wins by selected teams if your group uses that measure. Set its place in the tiebreaker order.

Visibility and commissioner controls

Seeing other picks: Reveal selections after the applicable pick deadline.
Rules text: A rules page generated from your settings, plus a note in your own words
Commissioner picks: Enter and fix picks for a member, or turn that off
Entry management: Keep track of who has joined, how many entries they have, and who still owes their dues.
Co-commissioners: Share pool administration with another commissioner.

Don’t see your house rule? Tell us what it is.

Rules

Your house rules
have a home.

Your scoring, your tiebreakers, the traditions your group has built. You decide how the pool runs. We help you make it work.

People

Your pool.
Your people.

Your members won’t be added to a marketing list or shown sportsbook promotions. You decide who joins.

Support

Get help from
a real person.

A setup question, a scoring issue, a house rule you want to try: you’ll hear from the people building Picksheet.

Before the rankings lock.

Make sure everyone knows where the point values come from.

Does rank 1 mean the most points?

In the setup described here, no. A value of 16 earns 16 points for a win; a value of 1 earns one. Members give higher values to teams they expect to win more games.

Is this confidence on individual game picks?

No. The value belongs to a team for the entire pool and can score repeatedly. Game-pick confidence assigns values to separate predictions, which is a different format.

How is this different from a seed pool?

Team confidence uses the values each member assigns. A seed pool uses the tournament’s official seed numbers, so every entry gets the same points for the same team’s win. See Pick X and seed pools.

Does an upset wipe out points already earned?

No. In cumulative team confidence scoring, the team keeps the points it earned before losing. It simply cannot add more wins.

For your group

Bring us your team-ranking rules.

Tell us the team count, points range, and how you break ties. We’ll help you set up your group’s version.

Get in touch

hello@picksheet.com