A number of stats-focused cameras inside the Barclays Center for the ongoing ACC Tournament are enhancing the way fans watch Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, Miami, and Clemson, five of the top teams in college basketball, battle it out for their conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Those cameras are owned by STATS, which recently extended a partnership with ESPN, the broadcaster of the ACC Tournament, to provide optical player tracking, it was announced Thursday. The SportVU cameras will be able to send statistical info to STATS, which the company will share with ESPN to augment their broadcasts.
SportVU tracks the coordinates of the players and ball, allowing it to create advanced points of data about individual and team performance, including formations and schemes, according to the announcement. Duke even used SportVU within its athletic department to analyze a number of performance variables. SportVU was once used in every NBA arena, but the league has since replaced it with Second Spectrum for player tracking.
“This is a truly exciting time, not only for the extension of this relationship, but because this type of live player tracking in a broadcast has never been done,” STATS CEO Carl Mergele said in a statement. “Using a powerful collaboration between STATS and ESPN, we will now be able to provide ESPN and its viewers with optical tracking statistics that have never been shared live before.”
North Carolina leads Miami 32-31 at the half.
The Tar Heels only made two shots outside the paint in the first half, including a combined 0-for-10 by Luke Maye and Joel Berry II according to STATS SportVU.
Second half coming up on ESPN and https://t.co/uRiwJADJ8E. pic.twitter.com/Nf4k75tkh1
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 9, 2018
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“We look forward to working with STATS to quantify performance and provide insights in new ways for one of the biggest college basketball tournaments of the year,” Jeff Bennett, ESPN’s vice president of Stats and Information, said in a statement. “Every movement of the players and the ball will be captured and aid in our storytelling of this 14-game event.”
With SportVU in effect, ESPN’s announcers could relate next-level performance details of specific players or a particular combination of players on the court at one time, providing fans more interesting analysis during each game.
Boston College advances to face 5-seed NC State Wednesday. The Eagles could have a tough turnaround as all five starters logged more than 30 minutes and ran more than 2 miles in Tuesday’s win. pic.twitter.com/Ajx8TdBcDG
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 6, 2018