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The Best Ways to Track Basketball Stats

Are you a basketball coach looking to adopt stat/data driven coaching into your system this year? If so, you’ve come to the right place! I’m going to break down the various stat tracking options you have, along with their respective pros and cons.

Assistant Coach/Parent Manually Tracking

This is the most common form of stat-tracking at the high school level and below, and understandably so. A lot of head coaches utilize assistants as scorekeepers and stat trackers. By keeping track of these details in the midst of a game, assistant coaches or parents are also able to make notes and provide context along with the stats.

Pros:

  • Cost-effective (assistant coaches are already a part of the team’s staff, or parents typically volunteer for the task)
  • You don’t have to worry about technology failing and footage/stats being lost in the process.

Cons:

  • Human error (everyone makes mistakes, and chances are assistant coaches/parents are only going to track points accurately. Other stats like assists and rebounds are much more difficult to stay on top of during the course of play)
  • Availability (what if the person who committed to this task is unable to make the game? In that case, you would either have to ask someone on short notice or not track stats altogether)
  • If assistant coaches are focusing on stat-tracking, they won’t be able to actually coach effectively. After all, that is their job.

Parent Filming Games

On most teams at the high school/AAU level, there are at least a couple of engaged parents who are willing to film games. Typically, they want to use this footage to help their children improve, but all help is welcome if you’re a coach.

Pros:

  • Cost-effective (similar to what I wrote above, parents will typically volunteer to film games for free)
  • If a parent films instead of an assistant coach, it allows that assistant to do their job and help you out.
  • You are able to watch the footage after the game and make your own evaluations.

Cons:

  • Technology issues (most parents are not tech geniuses, there is a real chance of footage getting lost in the shuffle, being out of focus, etc.)
  • Parent bias (As I alluded to above, if the parent’s child is on the court, there’s a chance they will focus on them instead of the actual game)
  • Watching footage and tracking stats can be tedious. You just spent the entire game coaching, now you have to watch it all back and pause to take detailed notes too?

Using Stat Tracking/Highlight Apps

A lot of high school coaches utilize stat-tracking apps. The problem with most of these apps is that the free ones are either poor quality or operate on a trial basis, and the high-quality ones are wildly expensive.

Pros:

  • You don’t have to track stats yourself. This saves you plenty of time and presents a more polished product for you to evaluate effortlessly.
  • Provides the opportunity to cut through the down parts of games and focus on important moments.

Cons:

  • If you want a polished product, you will typically need to spend quite a bit of money on a well-known service. For example, hudl platinum for high school costs $3,300 annually. A lot of coaches simply can’t afford that.

SportsVisio

SportsVisio uses the power of a proprietary AI to capture statistics from game footage. It’s a whole new way to track your game. Simply use your phone to record, upload and the AI does the rest of the work. Get your stats and automatically generated clips back the next day.

Check out our Home Page to learn more about SportsVisio, and why this path makes sense compared to other stat-tracking techniques. We’re changing the way coaches and players evolve, don’t miss out!