With each click of the mouse, Miller Grove High boys basketball coach Sharman White is adding another data point he can use to show star guard Alterique Gilbert what he’s been telling him.
“We tell them all the time: ‘The tape don’t lie,’” White said.
What the tape (actually the video) is showing on White’s office computer is all of the turnovers committed by Gilbert during a recent game. White can pull up Gilbert’s miscues by type: those caused by the opponent, his unforced errors, his turnovers on drives to his left, his giveaways in transition, and so on.
Gilbert said the video breakdowns offer “proof” of the things White teaches.
“I tend to make silly passes sometimes, get lazy, over-dribble,” Gilbert said.
That White can make his point with a few clicks of the mouse is proof that the video and advanced statistical analysis prominent in the NBA has made its way to Miller Grove.
The Wolverines hardly needed an edge when White started using the Krossover digital video breakdown service for the 2012-13 season. The Wolverines had won four consecutive Class AAAAA state championships.
Miller Grove has added two more state titles since then and is ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAA. White said the ability to use on-demand video clips and advanced statistics has been invaluable.
“We’ve been successful, but this has helped us continue to be successful,” White said. “I wish I had this 10 years ago.”
Back then not even the NBA had fully embraced advanced statistics, but the so-called Moneyball movement that changed baseball eventually made its way to basketball. Now about 20 of 32 NBA teams have full-time stats gurus on staff and several general managers have a background in analytics.
High schools and smaller college programs can’t afford to hire video crews and statistical analysts but can buy similar services on a lesser scale: prices for Krossover’s basketball services range from $799 to $2,499 per season. The company said its clients include more than 2,000 high school and college sports teams, with basketball customers including the University of Kentucky and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
White said Krossover CEO Vasu Kulkarni pitched his service to him at a basketball clinic three years ago, and White was quickly sold on the system’s value. He said he’s technology-averse, but the simplicity of Krossover made him willing to embrace it.
High school teams have long recorded their games. But creating clips featuring specific play types or highlighting individual players is a time-consuming process and distributing copies is often prohibitive.
“Stop the VCR, forward it, stop, pause it,” White said. “All of that is over with. Like anything else in this information age, it’s needed.”
Now White and his players can get a breakdown of games less than 24 hours after they finish. The service can be accessed from any Internet-connected device.
The Wolverines started using Krossover during Gilbert's freshman season. He said players initially were overwhelmed by it: "It was good, but it was advanced."
Gilbert said the Wolverines eventually became comfortable with the system.
“It’s a great system because it helps the team with preparation so we know what we are doing when we step on the court,” Gilbert said.
Reinforcing the video and White’s coaching are the advanced statistics generated as part of Krossover’s reports.
For most high schools, compiling meaningful statistics means relying on assistant coaches or student managers to keep track of the basics such as field goals, rebounds, point and assists. Now a mouse click can instantly pull up advanced team and individual statistics such as points per possession and efficiency by play type as well as detailed shot charts.
White said he’s statistically inclined, so he was quick to embrace Krossover’s advanced stats. In fact, he said he sometimes gets buried in the video and data.
“I get lost in the reels,” he said. “I start thinking about all of this other stuff. I start adding stuff to study. It’s definitely new age.”
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