Four Decorah High School students excel at data analytics competition

(Pictured left to right): DHS Data Analytics team members Blake Donlon, William Schwarz, Conner Cook and Isaac Roberts

Four Decorah High School students have returned from participating in the second annual Basketball Data Analytics Battle competition.  The competition is for students in grades 6-12, sponsored by the Iowa Center for Interdisciplinary Training (ICIT) and Drake University

Conner Cook, Blake Donlon, Isaac Roberts and William Schwarz­ were the members of the team "Nerds Can't Play Basketball" which was tasked with producing an algorithm that selects the ten most likely qualifying teams for the NCAA Tournament, and numbers them in reverse order, ten through one.  Every time a team from the list wins a game in the tournament, points equivalent to the assigned number are earned.  Additionally, any teams on the list that were seeded 9-16 were designated Cinderella teams and awarded five additional bonus points per win.

What makes the competition challenging is that the algorithm was turned in before the 2019 tournament field was announced.  The students were provided spread sheets for the 2013-2018 tournaments that included approximately 30 different season team statistics along with the number of games each team won in the tournament and a few other tournament-related statistics such as the teams' seeds.  The students developed algorithms and then tested them for performance on the past tournaments.  There were 173 algorithms submitted for the grades 10-12 competition and 104 algorithms for the grades 6-9 competition.

The team submitted a very sophisticated five variable non-linear regression algorithm that provided each team a rating, allowing them to choose the ten highest-rated teams.  The variables included Scoring Differential, Assist to Turnover Ratio, Three-Point Percentage, Tournament Seed, and Strength of Schedule.  The final score earned for the algorithm was 173 points, which tied for 23rd place.

Allysen Lovstuen, DHS Math Instructor and 9-12 Extending Learning Teacher, was the faculty sponsor for the team.