The Syracuse University Basketball Analytics Club concluded its fourth year in 2019-2020 with more than 40 members who strive to uncover fascinating statistical trends in basketball through research as well as maintaining a fun environment to discuss and debate all things basketball. As COVID-19 cut the Spring 2020 semester short, the club continued to meet via Zoom and collaboratively work remotely on projects.
The organization was assembled to conduct analysis on the NBA, NCAA, and high school basketball and has expedited the process of recording large sums of data at an efficient pace. Club members are working on research such as “Does College Experience Affect NBA Success?” and have created an NBA player database used for data matching across public data websites. Find examples of the club’s research on Twitter @CuseAnalytics.
The club also attended “tailgate” events sponsored by the Syracuse University Alumni Association before SU men’s basketball games where students discussed their research with alumni, as well as stats for the players that season.
The club often hosts guest speakers on campus or via Skype and Zoom. In 2019-2020, they heard from several NBA analytics executives, including Calvin Floyd, Sacramento Kings operations analyst, Nick Fleder, Indiana Pacers data analyst, and David Sparks, Boston Celtics director of analytics, among others.
In February 2019, club members Jonathan Bosch, Nick Riccardi, Zach Anhalt, Alejandro Pesantez, Fletcher Wilson, Isaiah Freedman, and John Litchenstein attended the McCormack Sport Analytics Trade Deadline conference at UMass. They acted as GMs in a simulation of the NBA trade deadline. Attendees were broken into groups and assigned an NBA franchise. The groups then began trading and transforming their rosters for the duration of the day. The event gave students the opportunity to practice first-hand what takes place during NBA trade negotiations in regard to trade rules, salary cap management, and the CBA, among others.
In Fall 2019, club members Dax Speakman ’21 and Jon Bosch ’21 presented their research, titled “Estimating (Four) Factor Values in the NBA: A Seemingly Unrelated Regression Analysis,” at the Midwest Sports Analytics Meeting at Central College in Pella, Iowa.
Club members annually participate in the Falk College Research Celebration.
Bosch served as club president for 2019-20. Officers for the 2020-2021 academic year are president Davis Showell, executive vice president James Hyman, vice president of marketing Jimmy Beck, director of social media Dominic Samangy, and senior project coordinators Bosch, Preston Klaus, Brendan McKeown and Alejandro Pesantez. Contact Davis Showell at drshowel@syr.edu.
Relevant Projects & Research
Does College Experience Affect NBA Success?
NBA Player and Team ID Database
Estimating Factor Values in the NBA
Evaluating NBA Lineups after Clustering and Redefining Player Types
The Consequences of Over-Playing Starters in the NBA
Click here to see the research poster
Which NCAA Conferences Produce the Best NBA Players?
Click here to see the research poster
How NBA Star Players Work in Tandem (or Trio) to Benefit/Stagnate Their Team’s Success
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