Rules

PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE RULES BEFORE THE SHOOTOUT BEGINS! ! !

1. BRACKET Fill out the entire tournament bracket with your selections. The only accepted brackets will be from the website. To access the proper form, go to www.bigtexasshootout.com and click on the link found in the upper left hand side of the home page. When you are finished and ready to enter, FIRST PRINT THE PAGE FOR YOUR RECORDS, then click on the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the page to register your entry..
2. TIEBREAKER On the bottom of the bracket you are asked to predict the total number of points of the final game.  Ex: INDIANA 100 TEXAS 67 Your prediction would then be 167. If you do not enter a prediction, you will not be asked for a score if you forget to enter one. Your pick will be considered to be 0 if one is not entered. This number will be used to break all ties.
3. ENTRY DEADLINE All entries must be received by 8:00 am, CST, Thursday, March 15, 2012 After submitting your entry, please refer back to the home page of the official website www.bigtexasshootout.com to verify that your entry has been received. We have experienced some trouble with certain web browesers in the past. Internet Explorer seems to be the preferred browser of choice but you can try others. If you are submitting multiple entries make sure we are able to differentiate the entries by clearly identifying each with a "I", "II", "III", as so on. If you use an alias name, please make sure it is clear who the entry belongs to.  
4. SECOND CHANCE SELECTIONS After the first weekend of games are played, the field of teams will be narrowed down to sixteen teams. You will then need to select the winners for a new bracket that will be posted on the website. These second chance selections are only worth about 1/2 the points that your original selections were. (See point values listed below) At this point, you actually have two brackets from which you can receive points. If you are new to this competition and are confused, please ask Greg or Amy Painter, or the person who introduced you to this tournament for clarification. If you do not turn in 2nd Chance picks, then you will receive only the points from your first bracket. Your selections from your first bracket WILL NOT carry over to your 2nd Chance picks.
5. PLAY-IN GAMESScoring for the Big Texas Shootout begins on Thursday even though there are four play-in games that take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. To allow everyone time to think about there selections, we have given folks the opportunity to have a two for the price of one pick on the play-in games. If you chose any play-in team to win a game after the play-in games (and they happen to lose the play-in game) you still get the team that defeats them for as long as they are in the tournament. You also get the luxury of bonus points from the seed regardless of whether you picked them or not. In horse racing this is known as a field bet.
6. POINT VALUES (Please! Please! Please! Read and Understand!)
   
   We here at the Shootout like to reward those who can predict the upsets. Two years ago we successfully implemented a new scoring system where contestants first received points for selecting the winner of each game and then received BONUS points for being able to pick which lower seeded teams can defeat the favorites. That scoring system will continue this year and will be again implemented on the Second Chance Bracket as well.
   
   BONUS points will be awarded by determining the variance between each team’s seeding.  For example, if a 12th seeded team defeats a 5th seeded team, then those gurus that correctly predicted that outcome would receive 7 additional bonus points.  Example two would be if a 6th team defeats a 3rd seeded team, then those that predicted that correctly would receive 3 bonus points.  Make sense?  I sure hope so.
   
   As stated earlier, the BONUS points will be "in addition" to the points awarded for each correct selection of a winner.   Here are those point values by round:
   
   Correct selections of 1st Round games are worth 2 point each. 
   Correct selections of 2nd Round games are worth 4 points each.
   Correct selections of 3rd Round games are worth 7 points each. 
   Correct selections of 4th Round games are worth 10 points each. 
   Correct selections of the Final Two are worth 15 points each. 
   Correct selections of the NCAA Champion is worth 20 points.
   
7. SECOND CHANCE POINTS
   Each correct guess of a Final Eight team, is worth 2 points each.
   Each correct guess of a Final Four team, is worth 5 points each.
   Correct championship game teams, is worth 8 points each.
   Correct selection of this year's NCAA Champion is worth 10 points.
   
   BONUS POINTS ARE AWARDED ON THE SECOND CHANCE BRACKETS just like described above in rule 5.
   
   
8. THE MAILING ADDRESS: BTS Commissioner, 4077 Windmill Ridge, Ovilla, TX 75154
9. BIG TEXAS SHOOTOUT Website: www.bigtexasshootout.com