The Pac-12 conference, which is part of the NCAA Basketball, has introduced Noah Shooting System and Noahlytics for their upcoming 2019 basketball tournament. Noah Basketball is a data-service provider that provides real time feedback to players to improve shooting and accuracy. It has taken more than 170,000,000 shots taken from players at different levels of the game, and has concluded the perfect shots consists of a 45-degree entry level placed 11 inches past the front of the rim. This system can also be used during live broadcast of these game including, “ shot charts, rim maps and specific shot measurements, at the end of each game to review the analytics and determine strengths and weaknesses as well as areas needed for improvement.” This will provide teams with the information needed to train current, and future, players in their basketball career. It was developed by a Stanford Alum which makes the collaboration efficient as Stanford falls under the Pac-12.
I never imagined the day would come where technology would begin to integrate itself into sports. I like the idea of improving the skill sets of players and to further their development to play professionally, but part of the fun is to observe the uniques of each player. If all of the athletes had the same release and shot style, it would make the game less entertaining to watch and less variability in shot accuracy and selection. It’s intriguing to see how this software is made to analyze data in real time, during practice or a game, and provide the correct feedback. They could possibly begin to integrate this into other sports, such as football or soccer.
https://pac-12.com/article/2019/03/13/pac-12-utilizes-noah-basketball-shooting-technology-conference-tournaments
Technology in sports has been around for a while. From tracking hockey pucks to the strike zone to now Noah Shooting System and Noahlytics. I think it’s definitely here to stay because you want to maximize the uniqueness of your players. You can use analytics to see which player would best fit your team. That’s how Billy Bean took a cash-strapped team to the playoffs five times in eight years.
The limiting factor will be the human side of it. Your numbers say that a player should be able to do X, Y, and Z, but you cannot 100% predict what players will do. There will always be the human side to sports but I do think that analytics is going to increasingly play a huge role in sports.