ot: software or program for stat keeping

[revprodeji]

kind of a strange question.

is there a program that works well for keeping stats? either something that would work for a macbook or a smartphone or even something that has its own hardware. I am willing to spend a little cash too.

[4ho5ive]

Excel?

[shrink]

Excel?

Before I retired from fantasy sports, I had to build a monster spreadsheet for this purpose, and with a couple macros, I found this site useful for stat entry.

http://www.dougstats.com/

Rev - maybe if you could go into a little more detail about what you are going to use this for, it might trigger some better ideas.

[revprodeji]

Literally for keeping stats. I teach theology at Bethlehem Academy(*private catholic high school) anywho, they are Class 1A but they have a nice team (2--maybe 3 guys with D3 potential) anyway, the head coach was talking to me about stat keeping. Wondering if there was a way to modernize the process. He said he saw a program where you could keep shot charts, etc. It was its own equipment also. Sounds almost like a PDA.

Just something that is professional, something that is accurate and easy to use.

[C.lupus]

An Access database would do the trick. You could create an easy-to-use frontend form to capture the stats realtime on a PDA (with dropdown menus, etc.), then download them to a computer for storage. I have a similar setup for collecting GPS and other data at work and it works like a charm. It does take a bit of upfront effort to create the database, though, so you may not want to spend that much time doing it. There are probably similar software packages pre-made but I don't know any specific titles.

[C.lupus]

Just had another thought. If your school has a computer class/lab, this would make a great class project or extra credit assignment. Why do it yourself when you have slave labor (err...students) to do it for you?

One other nice thing about going this route is that you can link game photos, film, writeups, etc. to the database.

[revprodeji]

yea, but that screams potential for mistake.

[Winter Wonder]

The basketball program I coach at uses a program called Turbo Stats. The base program works well enough. Shot chart I believe has to be done via a handheld device/PDA, though we don't currently utilize it.

Reporting aspect is ok, there are some things wel would like to be able to do with it, but are limited due to the program. Overall though, it is probably one of the better ones on the market per our research and for our needs.

[stop-n-pop]

I'd second Excel with Doug's stats. A lot of the coaching software is for user input (i.e. the assistant coach gets stuck with it at the end of the bench) or drawing up plays on something like a Palm Treo. If you have a Windows 6.1 moblie device you can push/pull right off of any post-07 Exchange server. If you have a BlackBerry you can find a cheap program for being able to manipulate Excel sheets on your existing personal software or work BES.

Nothing beats a good ol' Excel spread sheet. I'd ask this question over at the APBR board or shoot an email over to the U's econ department. I'm sure they'd have plenty of good suggestions. I'm still waiting for someone to develop a widget that can be inserted into html or on a smart phone that fully translates season stats and game box scores into advanced stats. I just found one that does the job for box scores and four factor stats, but a more robust one would be perfect.

[revprodeji]

Excel does not have the shot chart. That is what I would be missing.

btw, I have a samsung i760--verizon style.

[stop-n-pop]

I coached against a guy who used a numeric shot chart based on a pretty simple formula found in Dean Oliver's Basketball on Paper. Essentially, it is the idea behind NBA.com's HotZones and you chart shots with a series of numbers and letters. It sounds complicated but it's actually a pretty easy way to keep track of games and you can plug it into an Excel sheet and export it accordingly to this, that, or the other report.

If you have the Windows 6.1 update on your phone you should be able to push/pull any Windows-based program from your home computer to your phone via the Windows server (if you have a post 07 server). If you don't, I'd ring up Verizon tech support and ask them what they have in terms of support for allowing Windows based push/pull for database entry on a pre-07 Windows server.