AAU Tournament in Reno
Coach Bill and I just returned from being a sponsor at the Memorial Day Weekend AAU Tournament in Reno hosted by JamOnIt. We met so many people passionate about basketball that it reaffirmed our commitment to bringing high quality analytics to players and coaches of all ages.
At our sponsor booth, we demonstrated our Hooplalytics platform to hundreds of coaches and thousands of players – and parents – who learned how to score a game, watch video clips of themselves and their teammates, and discover how analytics can help drive decisions to make players and teams – and coaches – better.
Some of the topics of conversation on our whiteboard included which baseline out of bounds play was better, which defense was better and which lineup was better. The answers were – the baseline out of bounds play that resulted in an open 3-pt shot; the defense that funneled the ball down to the baseline, also known as no-middle defense, and lineups that included the team’s best scorer and without that player; oftentimes the answer was to include that high scorer but in other instances not so much. We were able to show coaches how to evaluate player value overall and specifically; for example, how that player did in just the last two minutes of a game, as well as many, many more informative ways to get better insights into our teams.
We want to shout out the JamOnIt staff for making our first sponsor experience in Reno fun and rewarding. It won’t be our last!
And it was fantastic to meet all the other vendors, especially our new friends at BallerTV. Our hats are off to all for the hard work and dedication and services these companies provide for the advancement and enjoyment of youth sports.
Lastly, I want to say that seeing firsthand the quality of basketball played from grade 2 through high school, the resilience and toughness and skill of this upcoming generation of players, combined with the passion and love with which it was coached, and the support of the parents and families and friends, I believe the future of basketball is in very good hands and will continue to thrive.