The advantage of experience: Analyzing the effects of player experience on the performances of March Madness Teams

Every March a sample of the top Division I men’s basketball programs in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) gather to compete in March Madness, a grueling single elimination tournament that captures the attention of millions of viewers and shines a prominent spotlight on the 68 teams that are competing for college basketball’s national championship. Interspersed amongst the numerous financial incentives that exist for each university, and the millions of dollars that are wagered on brackets and bets, are the suggestions of media members, coaches, and players as to which factors are important to teams in their quest for success. One common suggestion argues that player experience provides a benefit to teams as they attempt to handle the pressure and maintain their composure amidst one of the most hectic postseasons in all of sport. However, there have been few studies conducted to analyze the effects that the two primary categories of player experience (i.e., prior postseason experience and class rank) have on the performances of March Madness teams. Therefore, this study sought to test the validity of the assumption by using a series of empirical models to analyze player performance and experience data from the 693 games that took place during the 2007 to 2017 March Madness tournaments. The findings suggest that simply having a higher class rank than an opponent offers no discernible advantage at any stage of the competition, but that possessing more prior March Madness experience may significantly improve a team’s margin of victory in the later rounds. 8