Keeping stats at basketball game

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Plus, I'm noticing more and more I-Pads on the sideline now where a team stat guy can often email you the results the moment the game is over. Find some reliable links this way and save yourself some hassle...especially if you're being called on to hold a camera to your face.

 

This again!

With one exception. I did keep a full play by play. I'd scribble down the result of every possession, even if it was just a word or two. I found this was especially useful when you had a close game. Say a team loses by four points ... you go through your play by play and look at their possessions toward the end of the game and summarize: In its final five possessions, Podunk High committed two turnovers and had two other possessions where it missed a shot and failed to get an offensive rebound.

But I agree with Mark, don't try to take down every stat. Points, free throws, team turnovers (which you can note in the play by play and tally up) and maybe rebounds. Get there before the game starts and talk to each bench and see if they have people taking stats who can help you after the game. The play by play is more important to you because it allows you to reconstruct what happened in the game.

 

I like to keep Hollinger efficiency stats, shot location charts and hockey assists along with the more traditional metrics.

 

Intrigued, ideas, newsletter, etc.

It took a few years to get it down but, like Sam, I carry a proper scorebook and a reporter's notebook. I can keep points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, along with made/missed shots, in the scorebook (reb, ast, stl, blk are tallied in white space of player name box). Instead of a single mark in the running score portion, I put an X for any consecutive baskets, then typically note if a run hits 6 in the reporter's notebook (something like "5:41 H14 layup — V 25-18 (6-0)").

Obviously it's easier for slower-paced games, but it's doable if the game is quick and there aren't a ton of miss/putback/miss/putback sequences or give-up-a-basket-and-respond-with-a-fast-break possessions.

 

iPad + iScore = all the basketball stats I need.

 

I know I'm late to the game but FWIW: I found a really good small scorekeeprers book to keep running totals and no otherwise like Mark does, with the yellow pad. One side for home, other for visitor, for running play-by-play. Most of my entries look like this: 7:34 32 2p (p stands for paint) 7:45 12 3lw and more detailed at crucial points or late game.
You just have to find a system that works, and if you can't do it quick, don't get hung up on the play-by-play details, focus on the key moments.
A couple years ago, I thought I'd go the digital route as well and got a stat program for football, basketball and baseball.
Got pretty good at it and found them easy to use. And then during a football game in the third quarter my computer froze. Lost the game. Not good. And these days my tablet freezes occasionally just watching Netflix, so I once again do stats the old non-digital way.

 

Always keep a running score. Note free throws, three-pointers, turnovers and fast-break baskets. That should keep you busy.

 

rico, I'm assuming you're not doing photos at the same time?
Whether doing photos or not, I usually did a running PBP in my reporter's notebook. P 21 no, 23 yes, P2-0, etc.
If no photos, I would also have a legal pad with a line for each player. I would keep track of each shot, points per player, fouls, etc.
As others have said, I'd more rather trust my own stats. But I would suggest also trying to get stats from the team if at all possible. That way if you wrote something down wrong, got water on the page, etc. you have a backup.