March math madness

Shawn Pavlik’s statistics class participated in a math competition where the student took the data from seven previous years of NCAA tournaments, analyzed it, and tried to determine which statistics they thought were the most important for success in the tournament. They looked at various things including 3-point percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio, points scored and more. Then they divide up into teams of two or three and choose three to five statistics out of the 30 or so that are on the sheet to develop a formula and predict and choose the 10 teams they thought would perform the best, ranked one to 10. There were over 20 schools participating and over 250 teams total from those schools.

Clarke’s team of Jessinda Davenport, Jadie Bowlsby, and Terry Starrett placed first in the small school division. They also tied for first place overall. Clarke also had a team tied for 5th place overall, including team members Gracie Wilborne, Kennedy Bland, and Hailee Fry.

The overall school competition averages the top three scores from each school. The winning school gets to retain a traveling trophy for the year, and in the past the team has been invited to and recognized at an awards banquet.

The competition is run by Rick Spellerberg, the founder and CEO of the Iowa Center for Interdisciplinary Training.