Read the record.
Wins alone don’t tell the whole story. Compare wins with games played to turn a team’s record into a fraction, a decimal and a percentage.
Compare two records →
March Madness.
Math everywhere.
Every matchup is a comparison. Every round is a pattern. Every pick needs a reason.
68teams in the field
64after the First Four
6main-bracket rounds
1national champion
The bracket is a living math lab.
A favourite can fall. A Cinderella can keep going. The numbers help you compare, spot patterns and make a case—then the game tests your prediction.
Follow the pattern.
In a single-elimination bracket, every game removes one team. Trace how the field shrinks and how the fraction still playing changes.
Explore a mini bracket →Explain the upset.
A strong record supports a prediction. It cannot guarantee the next result. Ask what the data captures, what it leaves out and why an underdog might win.
Build your argument →Classroom files: 2025 tournament set. Use the season and instructions assigned by your teacher.
One loss. A changing field.
Watch the bracket shrink.
Start with a 16-team model. Advance one round and follow the teams still in.
A teaching model with 16 teams, separate from your tournament worksheet. One winner advances from each matchup; no ties or extra qualifying games are included.
Part 1: Understand the Madness
Use the Part 1 Playbook to investigate how the tournament works. Follow the assigned grouping and submission instructions.
- Start with the bracket. Identify the regions, teams and rounds. Use a bracket and statistics from the same season.
- Research the teams. Record wins, losses and previous NCAA championships on the Team Statistics sheets. Calculate each team’s win percentage and explain your regional prediction.
- Investigate elimination patterns. Use The Elimination to connect the number of teams eliminated to fractions, decimals and percentages. State whether your table describes one round or the cumulative total.
- Explore probability. Locate the schools’ states and use Take Your Chances to reason about a uniform random draw from a stated set of teams.
- Find mathematics in the news. The Playbook asks each student to choose a tournament article, record its statistics and explain the importance of mathematics in basketball.
Make and explain your predictions
Part 2: Predict the Champ
Use mathematics to choose winners through the six rounds of the main 64-team bracket. Compare the information specified in class, show your fractions, decimals and percentages, and explain how each comparison supports your pick.
- Compare fairly. A win percentage uses wins divided by total games, so teams with different numbers of games can be compared.
- Keep your evidence visible. Label the teams, season, source and date of each statistic. Keep unrounded values until the final display.
- Record your reasoning. Show the calculation used for each assigned matchup, then explain your choice. Carry the chosen winner to the next round.
- Reflect on surprises. An upset does not erase the reasoning you used beforehand. Compare your prediction with the result and explain what the statistics did and did not capture.
Which teams count in your calculation?
The tournament field includes the First Four. The six-round main bracket begins with 64 teams after those games. State the population your question uses. A Team Statistics sheet may list both First Four possibilities in one bracket slot; don’t count that slot twice when analysing a 64-team bracket.
Make the comparison fair.
Team A has 24 wins. Team B has 18. Who has won a greater share of their games? Change the records and use the percentages to explain.
Team A invented record
Team B invented record
Win percentage = wins ÷ (wins + losses) × 100%. It describes past games; it is not automatically a next-game win probability.
Activity files · 2025
Revisit a skill
← Math 8