Title: Who’s Number One? From ranking to bracketology
Abstract: “Who’s number one?” is an inherent and often debated question in sports. Ranking algorithms supply mathematical answers to such questions. They can and are used to choose teams for the playoffs. They can also be used in predictive analysis. Who will win the next game? Who will win a tournament? This talk will present current and recent sports analytics research. A variety of questions will be explored. For example, how can one integrate late season momentum? Does it help to consider home field advantage? We will see how such research created brackets for March Madness that beat over 90% of over 8 million brackets submitted to ESPN’s online tournament.