Basketball Statistics Blog

Friday Press Clippings:
Statistics, probability and NCAA's "March Madness"

From Scientific American
By Larry Greenemeier
Download source here: ' Statistics, probability and NCAA's "March Madness" ' by Larry Greenemeier

"... For a study in the Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, Jacobson was trying to figure out whether the top three teams' seeding in each bracket at the beginning of the tournament is a good predictor of how far they will go in the tournament.

Jacobson analyzed data from NCAA tournaments dating back to 1985, which ended with a classic game that saw Ed Pickney's Villanova Wildcats beat the heavily favored, Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown Hoyas. ..."

"... The tournament's notorious unpredictability didn't stop Joel Sokol, a Georgia Tech operations research professor whose statistical model correctly selected last year's Final Four, championship game and overall tournament winner (the University of Kansas Jayhawks), from developing his own computer program. His picks? ..."

"... Beyond the college tournament, the game of basketball itself relies heavily on probability, particularly when rebounding.

In a study published a year ago in Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Rome's Sapienza University found that basketball players are nearly twice as good as sportswriters at predicting whether a shot will go in the basket, a predictive capability that helps the players put themselves in the proper position to grab a ball that clangs off the rim and start a fast break going the other way. ..."

"... When the researchers showed a group of players from Italy's professional basketball league, coaches, journalists and college students video of a player shooting free throws, 70 percent of the time the players made the correct call, compared to 40 percent for the writers. ..."

Read more articles in Scientific American.

To read today's ngs' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: ' Un nuevo método de analizar las estadísticas ' by Luis Clausín.

You must be logged in to read or post a comment. Register

tags:  basketball  ~  statistician's digest   ~  basketball analysis  ~  Larry Greenemeier
visit:  eBA Portal  ~  eBA Forums  ~  eBA Encyclopedia  ~  eBA Clinics