NCAA, universities in Indiana to collaborate on collegiate data analytics competition

The NCAA is collaborating with universities throughout Indiana to host this year’s Crossroads Classic Analytics Challenge, which will conclude with presentations at the national office March 8. 

Butler, Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame began the competition in 2021, and this year’s event will focus on fans of Division I women’s basketball and their propensity to buy tickets to championship events, either on the primary or secondary markets. The resulting outputs of the competition will help identify potential customers, such as those attending all rounds of the 2024 Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, which will conclude April 5-7 with the Women’s Final Four in Cleveland. 

The competition was designed in Butler’s Lacy School of Business and consists of a series of real-world analytic problems. This year, undergraduate and graduate students from Butler, Ball State, Indiana, Indiana University Southeast, Purdue, Rose-Hulman and UIndy will compete in the contest by forming solution teams.

For this contest, students can use datasets of Division I women’s basketball customer information coupled with target labels for creating their predictive models. Students will be encouraged to integrate external data to improve the predictive power of their models.

“When approached to collaborate with these schools from Indiana, it was an enthusiastic ‘yes!'” said Brian Higgins, NCAA senior vice president of business performance. “We are excited to help provide an opportunity for these talented students to gain valuable experience while helping us improve the experience for student-athletes and fans at our championships.”

“The Lacy School of Business at Butler University is honored to continue leading the Crossroads Classic data competition and celebrates new partners Tableau (a Salesforce company) and the NCAA,” said Craig Caldwell, dean of Butler’s Lacy School of Business. “Butler University’s mission is to boldly innovate and broadly educate, enriching communities and preparing learners to meaningfully lead. Solving for and amplifying attendance at women’s collegiate basketball competitions aligns with our mission, and we celebrate the opportunity the NCAA has provided for our data competition students. Projects like these exemplify our redoubled efforts to create the most experiential business education possible.” 

A competition kickoff will be Monday in the NCAA Hall of Champions. Students who have registered or are interested in more details about the contest are invited to attend. Indianapolis Public Schools students also will attend the event. Organizers hope the experience may encourage interest in future careers in data analytics. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Registration for the challenge opened Jan. 8 and will close Tuesday.

Other key dates include:

• Feb. 9, a virtual Q&A session.
• Feb. 15, a sports analytics town hall discussion at Butler.
• Feb. 16, a virtual Q&A session.
• Feb. 23, a virtual Q&A session.
• Feb. 29, Round 1 deadline.
• March 1, final invitations are sent.
• March 8, final presentations and awards ceremony at NCAA national office.

Awards for the undergraduate and graduate competitions will be $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second place and $500 for third place. The top teams in each division also will receive championship rings.