ShotQuality is a new data analysis platform that calculates the expected shot value of every player on the court. The quality of a jump shot can depend on feel, but it can also be deduced using algorithms.
Many powerful NCAA teams, such as Duke University, University of Texas, University of Arizona, University of Connecticut, University of Tennessee and Creighton University, have adopted the basketball analysis platform ShotQuality to try to get more data. ShotQuality's algorithm can automate calculations Get the success rate of each shot, and automatically generate pre-match analysis and post-match reports for yourself and your opponents.
During the NCAA’s March craze, a total of 13 schools adopted ShotQuality. Four of them (Auburn University, Duke University, Creighton University and the University of Texas) use the advanced version ShotQuality+, which can use new visual technology to track all players on the court, accurately measure the shooting space, and generate an automatic Create indicator score sacrifice value (point sacrifice).
So Gerszberg started learning, launching shotqualitybets.com, a synchronized B2C platform that blends raw shot data into a predictive website, allowing bettors to better analyze games like those at March Madness. An unsettling match.
The data and indicators analyzed by ShotQuality have received far more attention than founder Simon Gerszberg imagined, and he found that not only coaches, but also sports gamblers who love to place bets are the starting point of his entrepreneurial concept.
"Gamblers are flocking to buy coaching packages." Simon Gerszberg, who came up with the initial idea for ShotQuality when he was a sophomore, "I had no idea about gambling at the time." Gerszberg started researching and launched ShotQuality, and also founded B2C. The analysis platform shotqualitybets.com throws raw shooting data into the algorithm so that punters can better analyze their bets.
For example, Shot Quality's analysis predicted that Team A should have lost to Team B by 15 points, but in the end Team A won by 10 points. However, punters on Shot Quality can see that although Team A won, Team B did not win. There are more good shooting opportunities, but every time they make a hit, in other words, it is just an accident that Team A wins by 10 points, and gamblers will not overestimate the state of Team A because of this.
In this NCAA tournament, ShotQuality also predicted based on the team's shooting and published a lucky value analysis for each game, such as who scored above average and who scored below expectations. At the same time, they predicted the University of Houston's score. Will win the championship.
But gambling analysis isn't Gerszberg and ShotQuality's mission, pure basketball is.
Five years ago, Gerszberg was a freshman at Colgate University. When he walked into his dormitory, he discovered that his roommate was Tucker Richardson, the top freshman on the school team. Richardson also introduced Gerszberg to then-Colgate assistant coach Dave Klatsky, who hired Gerszberg as a data analyst.
Klatsky specifically asked Gerszberg to record the number of times the team touches the ball in the penalty area and calculate the team's three-point shooting percentage after touching the ball in the penalty area. Klatsky also asked Gerszberg to track the team's coverage in the pick-and-roll and whether the team's switches or pursuits give opponents better shooting opportunities. The next year, Klatsky asked him to subjectively grade shots, such as three-pointers that were defended by defenders or outside shots off the dribble, on a scale of 0 to 100. Klatsky would scrutinize Gerszberg's records when watching the film, and the young man always did it with precision.
Ever since, a new concept was born, and after repeated verification on the court, Gerszberg had already written the ShotQuality algorithm in his junior year, which can automatically grade the shooting quality of all Colgate University players. Gerszberg's shot quality scoring mechanism has as many as 90 dimensions, such as shot distance, defender distance, and whether the shooter should make additional passes.
Gerszberg also applied his results to the school's entrepreneurship program. One of his entrepreneurial advisors happened to be the boss of VC venture capital firm TIA Ventures, and he also invested in ShotQuality. Currently, ShotQuality has more than 60 basketball clients, including Stanford University. In October 2022, ShotQuality received a seed round investment of 3.2 million from KB Partners, including KB Partners, and is preparing to optimize the product again.
For example, Creighton University has formulated tactics based on ShotQuality analysis. The shooting performance in the left area is better than that in the right area. Therefore, they will use the left area as the main axis of tactics or a certain offensive formation. It can produce 1.4 high-quality shots per offensive round, so their coach Greg McDermott will choose this formation as the main offensive method.
Before this season, Gerszberg also specifically hired a South American computer vision team to optimize the advanced version of QualityShots. In the past, Gerszberg could only use basic TV signals to quantify shot selection, but using computer vision can accurately track every shot on the court. Corners, measuring the distance between players to find more meaningful metrics, including point sacrifice that attracts strong schools like Duke, this metric represents the points lost by players without making extra passes.
“If a player is matched or double-teamed after dribbling and passes to an open teammate, but then forces the shot, that will result in an additional 0.5 or 0.47 additional shot quality points,” Gerszberg said. “When you When the proportion of shots with poor quality is high, it may be the difference between victory and defeat when the score is very close.”
Currently, many of the top schools in the NCAA tournament use ShotQuality. At the same time, Gerszberg has also launched a real-time plan to score a key shot, adding a bit more fun to the excitement.
Currently, some indicators of NBA teams can be seen on the ShotQuality website. Gerszberg also said that many NBA teams have expressed interest in him. “I hope to help players understand themselves better and know where to start if they want to improve. "
