General Discussions
Discuss any topics that are not product-specific here.
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With the news of the NCAA canceling the tournament, we unfortunately will be postponing the corresponding contest in Community. We apologize for the mishap, and look forward to coming back with a similar forum event post pandemic.
Thank you for your understanding. Be safe and well!
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Are you ready to wear your team colors and fill out your March Madness Bracket? Grab the data we provide, or your own validated data and compete to predict who will make it to the final four, and who will become the 2020 National Champion. All participants will receive an exclusive badge, and two winners will walk away with an Alteryx backpack.
- Predict the March Madness Final Four and Winner using the Alteryx Analytics Platform
- Put your answer in the required format (See FAQs)
- Save in a .yxzp
- Reply to this thread with your workflow.
- Submissions must be posted by 3/28/2010, 8:00 AM EST.
Alteryx will select two winners based on the following conditions:
- Predicting the March Madness winner
- Final Four Bracket
- Model Accuracy - Highest Model Accuracy (log loss)
Important Dates
- March 15th: March Madness Selection Sunday
- March 16th: Base data will be provided and attached to this post following selection Sunday. You are welcome to use other open source data that can be validated.
- March 28th: Reply to this thread on or before 3/28 at 8:00am Eastern to qualify. In order to receive the Community badge, you must reply to this thread and include your prediction as an attached packaged workflow.
- April 10th: Alteryx will inform the two winners by April 10th.
FAQs
Can I get help from data scientists or others?
Absolutely. Analytics is a team sport. Just remember that all work must be done within your workflow. If you receive help from someone who uses custom code, the data manipulation must be done there (i.e. in the python or R tool).
If my bracket busted early can I make adjustments?
We are only scoring the predictions from the final 4 forward (the outcome of the elite 8 games). If you choose to submit your bracket prior to that point you can adjust until then. However, submissions are locked in as of 3/28. You do not need to submit a full bracket if you do not want to.
I’m a little worried that my predictions will be terrible.
This is a game in the most literal sense. There is no penalty for not predicting correctly, we just want you to have fun a learn a little bit about what you can do with predictive analytics. In truth, we don’t expect you to be right. The odds of predicting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. There has never been a perfect bracket recorded, and upsets are common in the NCAA. Just have fun with it and learn a little along the way. With this mentality everyone wins! If you land a top spot it’s a bonus.
What format are you looking for in terms of the predictions?
If the games are clearly labelled in your workflow output with a winner and a probability, you’re good. We’ll just take the workflow. If you want to do a little more and fill out a formatted bracket, feel free!
This isn’t a lot of time to get this done. Can I get a head start?
We won’t have information on who is playing this year until selection Sunday (3/15). Therefore, we cannot give you additional time to get started. What we will do is compile all the data you'll need to get started with your workflow, including team stats already blended. Come back to this post on Monday March 16th to download the getting started macro.
HAVE FUN EVERYONE
