WiNK


March Madness:The Only Truly Random Competition
Posted 03/29/2019 02:46PM

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What people often perceive to be truly random events, can actually be predicted with a strategy probability. The definition of probability is defined as the measure of a likelihood that an event will occur. As such, we use this property to determine the outcomes of tons of events, such as flipping coins, card counting, and, of course, the spectacular sporting event, "March Madness." Though unfortunately for us, March Madness is a sports contest, and like many other sports is largely unpredictable, thus your odds for creating a perfect bracket are as well largely improbable. This is due to a few important factors: 1) due to the sheer number of entrants, the odds are naturally stacked against you. 2) the NCAA has a lot of good basketball teams. While this may seem like an obvious statement, it helps to change up the odds significantly. And, the emergence of many mid-major teams in the past few years has added much depth to the pool of capable teams. This allows for the chances of countless teams being able to at least get into the "Sweet Sixteen."

This is different from other sports organizations like the NFL or NBA in which only 16 teams TOTAL make the postseason. Another important factor in the unpredictability of the Tournament is the one and done style of this competition. This is unlike the majority of NHL, MLB and NBA playoffs which have multiple games in a series. The NCAA has one-game playoffs in which things such as "One night of hot shooting," or "some ill-timed foul trouble" can derail or extend an entire season. Consequently, this makes the tournament even more difficult to predict. Finally the last factor that makes the tournament to difficult to predict is the young age of the players. Often times the players' youth of the players can create obstructions because of their anxiety, and it's likely that their playing on the biggest stage of their lives, which many times can change their ability.

For all of these reasons, I believe the NCAA Collegiate Basketball Tournament is one of - if not the - most random sporting events.

https://math.duke.edu/.../duke-math-professor-says-odds-perfect-bracket-are-one-24-trill...

About WiNK

WiNK (“Wooster Ink”) is Wooster School’s online student news publication. WiNK serves as the student voice of our community, and provides readers with a weekly overview of what's happening in our students' lives, and it gives students a chance to share their interests and voices. The majority of the content is developed in our Upper School Journalism classes, but we also accept contributions from other students and faculty members.

WiNK Contact

Brooke Thaler

Publications Teacher
Brooke.Thaler@woosterschool.org
203-730-6706

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