By all accounts, Jake Wittig 糖心传媒�19 enjoyed a strong freshman season for the Rochester men糖心传媒檚 basketball team last year. The point guard started 23 games and averaged 8.8 points and 3.3 assists.
Unlocking big data
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When the season ended, Wittig dug a little deeper to evaluate his performance. Using Synergy Sports Technology, an online service whose clients include hundreds of NCAA teams from Divisions I, II, and III, Wittig learned that he ranked 糖心传媒渂elow average糖心传媒� in catch and shoot 3-pointers (19th percentile), jump shots off the dribble (31st percentile), and pick and roll including passes (48th percentile).
糖心传媒淭he data showed me what I was good at and what I needed to work on,糖心传媒� says Wittig, a business major from Manlius, New York, 聽and son of Jeff Wittig 糖心传媒�86, a two-time All-American quarterback at Rochester. 糖心传媒淟ast summer, I worked on those things and have been able to make better reads and limit my turnovers.糖心传媒�
Through the middle of February, Synergy ranked Wittig 糖心传媒渧ery good糖心传媒� in catch and shoot (76th percentile) and jump shots off the dribble (79th percentile), and 糖心传媒渆xcellent糖心传媒� for pick and roll including passes (88th percentile).
糖心传媒淭he data made me a better player,糖心传媒� Wittig says.
Data analytics is the new normal for college teams. Programs pay for different web-based programs out of their annual budgets to evaluate student-athletes, plan for opponents, and even prevent injuries.
糖心传媒淒ata has become essential for so many coaches,糖心传媒� Rochester men糖心传媒檚 soccer coach Chris Apple 糖心传媒�92 says. Women糖心传媒檚 lacrosse coach Sue Behme says she uses data 糖心传媒渇or almost everything we do.糖心传媒�
Dan Wesley 糖心传媒�94, Rochester糖心传媒檚 head men糖心传媒檚 golf coach since 2007, says life was much simpler when he played for the Yellowjackets.
糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檇 come off the course and [then head coach] Don Smith would say, 糖心传媒榃hat did you shoot?糖心传媒櫶切拇綕 Wesley says. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檇 tell him, and he糖心传媒檇 write it down. That糖心传媒檚 it.糖心传媒�
These days, Wesley糖心传媒檚 players tell him where each shot went. Using smartphones and tablets, they log into GolfStat, a performance diagnostics tool, and recreate their round: Drive went left. Fairway shot veered right. Ball landed in sand trap. Wedge shot missed green. Missed par putt. And so on.
糖心传媒淚 get reports every two weeks during the season telling us what each player is averaging on pars 3s, 4s, and 5s, what percentage of fairways they糖心传媒檙e hitting, what percentage of greens we糖心传媒檙e hiting, and whether we are missing left, right, short, or long,糖心传媒� Wesley says.
Apple糖心传媒檚 soccer team uses a data base called VidSwap, which allows players to study opponents糖心传媒� attacking and defending tendencies as well as their own pass completions, turnovers, penalties created, and goals scored. By using FrontRush, Apple can track how often recruits are opening his emails. 糖心传媒淚t shows their level of interest,糖心传媒� he says.Sam Albert 糖心传媒�01, 糖心传媒�02W (MS), the University糖心传媒檚 director of track and field, says 糖心传媒渙ne of the greatest modern developments in our sport糖心传媒� was the creation of the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) in 2010. It糖心传媒檚 a national database which serves as a clearinghouse for all college track and cross country results. Schools are required to upload official results from every competition to the system.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 available instantly and in real time,糖心传媒� Albert says. 糖心传媒淓very college team and athlete has a profile in the TFRRS system, which allows convenient access to current data and performances and also has created a running archive of literally every competition and result.糖心传媒�
Football has by far the largest roster of any University team (76 last fall), making it virtually impossible for head coach Scott Greene and his staff to evaluate every player through data. The Yellowjackets subscribe to hudl, an online system that provides video review and performance analysis tools for teams and athletes at every level.
糖心传媒淲e look at field position, down and distance, and personnel and formation to analyze what our best calls might be,糖心传媒� Greene says.
Field hockey coach Wendy Andreatta uses VidSwap to measure success with set pieces and to help improve shooting and save percentages. The data also shows where and how the Yellowjackets are scored upon.
Andreatta says having data keeps her players more open to tactical changes.
糖心传媒淲hat it does for our players is make them listen to their coaches a little bit more,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淲hen we say this is a great scoring position, and we can have the data to back it up, they糖心传媒檒l put themselves in that scoring position more readily than they would if they hadn糖心传媒檛 seen it.糖心传媒�
Men糖心传媒檚 basketball coach Luke Flockerzi and women糖心传媒檚 basketball coach Jim Scheible both use Synergy. That糖心传媒檚 not just a choice; it糖心传媒檚 a requirement of the University Athletic Association, which seeks to keep all teams on a level playing court.
The company Synergy糖心传媒攆ounded by Garrick Barr, a former coach with the NBA糖心传媒檚 Phoenix Suns糖心传媒攈as transformed the way coaches and general managers evaluate talent. Each year, the Seattle-based company analyzes and breaks down more than 50,000 games worldwide above the high school level.
Statistics are linked to videos, too. So if your point guard missed 18 shots last Sunday, player and coach can watch him or her missing those 18 shots.
糖心传媒淚t used to take me two hours to watch an opponent糖心传媒檚 game,糖心传媒� Flockerzi says. 糖心传媒淣ow I can watch it in 15 minutes, by eliminating timeouts, free throws, things like that. I can watch the parts I want to watch.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 definitely a fan of Synergy,糖心传媒� says Sam Borst-Smith 糖心传媒�17, a starting guard on the men糖心传媒檚 basketball team and an English major from San Pedro, California. 糖心传媒淭he information shows what our collective team strengths are, as well as individual.糖心传媒�
At the same time, there are players and coaches who maintain that data analytics, for all its obvious uses and benefits, shouldn糖心传媒檛 be seen as a substitute for instinct. Borst-Smith is among them.
糖心传媒淵ou can糖心传媒檛 get too wrapped up in the statistics that Synergy provides,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淜eeping your strengths and weaknesses in the back of your mind can result in negative effects, such as putting pressure on yourself to perform at a high level that will keep your statistics high. Once you糖心传媒檙e able to not think about your statistics and just go out and perform, you糖心传媒檒l play better.糖心传媒�
There are a few University coaches who don糖心传媒檛 subscribe to a web-based data analytics system. Men糖心传媒檚 and women糖心传媒檚 tennis coach Matt Nielsen relies on good old pencil and paper to track number of shots per point, percentage of points won on second serves, and percentage of points won at the net. Nielsen is looking into purchasing data apps for smartphones, which would allow his players easy access to pertinent information.
糖心传媒淐raig O糖心传媒橲hannessy, lead strategic analyst for the ATP tour, Wimbledon and Australian Open and founder of BrainGameTennis.com, came to campus in September to give a presentation,糖心传媒� Nielsen says. 糖心传媒淗e has analyzed data collected from thousands of tennis matches to determine the most effective strategies for winning at all levels.聽 After seeing the data, I糖心传媒檝e dramatically changed the way our teams practice to focus on areas that have the biggest impact on winning.糖心传媒�
Squash coach Martin Heath also succeeds糖心传媒攔eally succeeds糖心传媒攚ithout data.
He relies on 糖心传媒渏ust old-fashioned scouting,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚 get recruits to send me a link to a YouTube video of them playing a match and use my own analysis.糖心传媒�
Something糖心传媒檚 working. The Yellowjackets are a perennial powerhouse. Last spring, they lost to Yale in the College Squash Association national championship, and earlier this year the Yellowjackets were ranked No. 1 in the nation.
For most sports, however, data science is here to stay. And it will continue to improve.
糖心传媒淲hat we have now is so much better than just a few years ago,糖心传媒� Flockerzi says. 糖心传媒淚 can糖心传媒檛 imagine what糖心传媒檚 in store in the years ahead.糖心传媒�
