After registering, you are ready to play College HoopsPick 'em. A valid ESPN membername and password will be used as an identifier to sign in to game play, and to keep track of your entry's score and standing. If you are already a registered ESPN account holder, you do not need to go through this necessary process, although if you are under 18 you must obtain the consent of your parent or legal guardian (as explained in the Official Rules). If you've had an ESPN account in the past but forgot your password, here's how to find your account information.
Name Your Entry
After you have logged in, you will be prompted with a screen that will ask you to create your entry. Your entry name will consist of two components: a location (most often where you reside), and a nickname. Once you have named your team, click on the "Submit Entry Name" button.
Weekly selection of teams
Each Tuesday morning at 12am PT you can select who will win the games for the upcoming weekend. Accessible from your main entry page, game selections must be finalized by the tipoff of each game. During the week, you can change your selections as many times as you wish, but after the a game tips off, you cannot change your pick for that game. For tiebreaker purposes only, you are asked to enter the predicted score for the last game listed. To select the team you think will win, make the radio button active next to the team and hit the submit button, as shown below:
Week 1 Selections
HOME
AWAY
Accumulating points
The object of the game is simple: Correctly select the outcome to as many games as you can. A correct selection counts as one point. There are 9 weeks in the game, with 10 games each week, so the maximum number of points possible is 90. Your season-to-date point total is displayed on your frontpage, entry and group pages (if you're in a group). Weekly and Overall winners are awarded and will be displayed on the leaderboards each Tuesday morning.
Groups
You have the option to group yourself with friends, co-workers, members of your fraternity, classmates, or completely random fans by joining or creating a group. Within each group your entry will be automatically ranked. Most of the groups in College Hoops Pick 'em are public and can be joined at anytime. If you want to play with a specific group of people you know, create a private group and make it only accessible to those whom you have given the password. The creator of a group sets the name and the group's parameters, including whether the group:
Groups can have up to 50 members and you can move your entry from one group to the next without losing any of your total points or your picks for a given week.
Game Play
All entries in College Hoops Pick 'em will NOT play against the spread. This means that in order to be credited with a point, you simply need to choose the team that scores the most number of points. You entry will lock each week on Friday, 11:59 pm PT and unlock again at 12:00 am PT Tuesday.
Affiliates
ESPN Fantasy Games also has the ability to associate your entry within particular settings. The affiliates for College Hoops Pick 'em are: Age Group, Favorite NBA Team, or Favorite College Team. Use the pull-down menus on your Affiliates Page and select which ones you wish to be associated with (you will automatically be brought through this process when you first create your entry). After each week of play, it will be interesting to see which affiliate will have the highest points average.
