Great article on usable (but expensive) hoops data

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/sports/ncaabasketball/sportvu-offers-college-basketball-data-for-those-who-can-afford-it.html?hpw&rref=sports

steve

My hoppy is NBA intergenerational statistical comparisons. Each year new statistics become available making comparisons of different generations much easier.While this new technology of which you speak blows my mind, I assume thats its only value lies in the present. In any event I sure am gratefull for the wealth of informaton available on the internet about the  statistical history of  the NBA. I gather from your various post that you have considerable interest in NBA statistical analysis. Perhaps its time for you to BUY into this new technology.

swish

swish wrote:steve

My hoppy is NBA intergenerational statistical comparisons. Each year new statistics become available making comparisons of different generations much easier.While this new technology of which you speak blows my mind, I assume thats its only value lies in the present. In any event I sure am gratefull for the wealth of informaton available on the internet about the  statistical history of  the NBA. I gather from your various post that you have considerable interest in NBA statistical analysis. Perhaps its time for you to BUY into this new technology.

swish

swish - I buy into it, I just can't afford it!

College Basketball Data Aplenty for Those Who Can Afford It


By BILLY WITZ - MARCH 24, 2014



SAN DIEGO — When Butler fell a precious few inches short of winning a national championship in 2010, its players took the court during that season believing they were the most prepared team in the country. That faith rested in the coaching staff’s embrace of new statistical formulas that augmented what showed up on film and offered up ideas on the most efficient path toward victory.

But now, the advantages Butler had are all but gone.

Statistical analysis is not only widely embraced in college basketball, it is easily accessible.

For $19.95 a year, coaches — along with fans and the news media — can subscribe to the website of Ken Pomeroy, a basketball analytics guru whose equations strip down many of the variables that can cloud how effectively a team scores, rebounds and plays defense. For about $6,500 annually, teams can subscribe to Synergy Sports Technology, a video indexing service that can, with a few clicks, offer up how frequently a point guard takes a jump shot off a pick-and-roll.

When 16th-seeded Weber State played top-seeded Arizona on Friday, both had access to the same information. But that is about to change — and not in favor of the little guy.

The next wave of technology, data-tracking camera systems that were installed this season in every N.B.A. arena, gained a foothold this season in college basketball with three programs: Duke, Louisville and Marquette. Once this season ends, it could be college basketball’s next arms race.

“I’m sure it will be,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said. “It will separate the haves and the have-nots a bit more.”

The system, called SportVU, was developed by the sports analysis company Stats L.L.C. with technology whose roots are in the Israeli military. SportVU’s cameras, six in each arena, record data points for everything that moves on the floor — the players, the referees and even the ball — every thirtieth of a second.

The system tracks every dribble, pass, screen, shot, rebound and movement. It can reveal how often the ball enters the lane and what happens when it gets there. It can tell coaches who is taking contested shots and who is taking open ones — and how often they make them.

And the information, which can be displayed graphically, is available by the time players are showered and dressed after a game.

“It’s a like a shot chart on steroids,” said Doug Davenport, the director of video operations at Louisville. “The output is mind-blowing.”

The Virginia Commonwealth assistant Mike Morrell, who coordinates the Rams’ defensive press, looks at turnover percentages provided by Pomeroy when he is preparing game plans. SportVU would allow him to know where on the floor an opponent turns the ball over the most and against what type of pressure.

“That’s the kind of stuff I’d have to go through clip by clip to get,” Morrell said.

Six teams in the N.B.A. installed SportVU during the 2010-11 season, and by last season, 15 had it, each at a reported annual cost of about $100,000. For this season, the league reached a multiyear agreement with Stats to install the cameras in every arena. It is a tool that has broad applications in the N.B.A. — not just in scouting and game preparation, but also in giving teams a better assessment of players on the trade or free-agent markets.

The cost for universities would be less, said Brian Kopp, the vice president in charge of strategy and development for Stats, in part because N.B.A. teams play 82 games a season, more than twice the number colleges play. (Marquette uses the same arena the Milwaukee Bucks do and can use the existing system, even if it pays a fee to do so.)

For a university like Duke, which generated $25.7 million in basketball revenue in the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to United States Department of Education filings, the cost would be negligible. The Blue Devils had the system put into their practice facility and their arena.

But what about a team like Stephen F. Austin?

The Lumberjacks, who reached the Round of 32 in the tournament, charter buses instead of airplanes for most of their trips. They have a basketball budget of $1.2 million, and their support staff is not the size of an Army platoon.

Stephen Gentry, a Stephen F. Austin assistant, excitedly described the type of detail SportVU could provide. Then he sounded resigned.

“There’s already a great divide,” Gentry said.

Kopp said that while some smaller universities would find the cost prohibitive, it was more likely that the decision on whether to invest in it would take place at the conference level. The Atlantic Coast Conference figures to be a leader because Louisville is set to join Duke there next season, and Virginia Tech recently hired Buzz Williams, an analytics acolyte, from Marquette. Television networks, particularly ESPN, may be approached about investing in it, if they are given access to the data.

Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne said that his university had had some early internal discussions about SportVU but that it would be explored more thoroughly in the coming months when Pacific-12 coaches and athletic directors met. Izzo said he expected Big Ten programs to do the same.

“We’re all looking for what our next advantages can be,” Byrne said.

That search prompted Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, after reading an article last fall on Duke’s being the first team to use SportVU, to call Davenport, his director of video operations. Pitino, who had heard of the technology through friends in the N.B.A., was intrigued.

A presentation by Kopp was arranged, and several days before the Cardinals’ season opener, the system was installed.

Davenport said the amount of data was so voluminous that this season had been spent just trying to get a handle on what would be most useful. Next season, if Louisville plays at other arenas with the technology, it will have a greater sample size to draw from.

In recent years, the new information gleaned from analytics has influenced how the game is played.

The introduction of Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency statistics three years ago changed the way Weber State plays defense, the assistant Eric Duft said. His team used to pack the lane at the cost of conceding 3-point shots. Last season, the Wildcats allowed the second fewest 3-point attempts in the nation.

“We completely changed,” Duft said. “When you see the data, it’s a real eye opener.”

The trick, said the Gonzaga assistant Brian Michaelson, is how well the additional information can be distilled.

“It’s a Catch-22,” Michaelson said. “It gives you comfort, but you’ve got to be careful how much you internalize, and you’ve really got to be careful how much you hand to the players, because the worst thing you can do is paralyze them with information. You have to let them be ready to rip.”

As he spoke Saturday, Michaelson was leaning against the wall in an arena corridor. The next night, he sat on a glum Gonzaga bench, watching the Zags be taken apart by Arizona. Next season, the Wildcats may have a trove of data about their team, and others.

It is an advantage they do not seem to need.


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Interesting read for starters.

Larger schools have almost always had the advantage when it came to talent. Having superior access could prove to be somewhat of an advantage in the short term, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to how you execute within the game. As stated, Butler came close, but they didn't seal the deal, even with the statistical knowledge advantage they had.

While statistical analysis is important in determining trends and developing strategies, I'd advise against basing an entire team's philosophy on that. The game is more than just stats. It's also emotion, pressure, ebbs and flows, and clutch. Looking at a spreadsheet won't teach you how to hit a big shot at the end of the game.



KJ