Covering college basketball

I take detailed PbP -- turnovers, misses, types of shots that were made, crucial fouls, any color that might occur.

Three-fourths of the time I never go back and use the stuff. But when I DO, I'm thankful I go to such lengths.

 

If you're keeping any kind of play-by-play at all, you see runs and turning points as they develop. Otherwise, you're using valuable time after the game reviewing the play-by-play notes and determining that it was 10 straight points they scored, not 12. At least this is the way that works for me.

 

Keeping your own play-by-play is a waste of time and causes you to miss nuances in the game, sometimes even important plays.
As a beat writer, I always kept a possession chart -- I created a series of boxes on the top of a line and the bottom of a line, one for each team, then recorded the result of every possession: a 2, a 3, a TO, a M(issed shot). So if a team scored on eight straight trips or got seven consecutive stops or turned it over on five straigt trips, I knew it and could tell my readers. Play-by-play doesn't give you that. This tells you at a glance. It also can tell you at a glance that Joe Starmaker scored 10 straight points for State U -- when a basket is scored, you put the scorer's initials above the 2 or 3.
Wish I could show it to you. But at the very least, don't waste your time doing PBP if it's being provided for you.

 

When I don't have to keep stats and/or shoot a game, I usually have time to think more about sidebars, features, notebook items, etc.

Plus, you can keep more detailed notes about the play by play action.

But even just shooting, you can do more with the play by play stuff, it's great.

Now, keeping stats and shooting a game while keeping detailed notes, that is the trick. I can usually do turnovers, putbacks assists and steals. You just have to develop your own shorthand system.

 

My play-by-play includes every shot taken and every turnover (during the competitive portion of the game, anyway) and I do it using player numbers and a lettering system to describe the type of shot (L=layup, D=dunk, F=floater, J=jumper 3=3-pointer). The home team is in one column and it's staggered with the visiting team's column, so I never lose the sequence. I find keeping play-by-play most helpful in determining runs and droughts and also having a record of every player's complete night is useful, too.

 

There's no system that's going to work for everyone. If something works for you, that's all that matters. If you do this long enough, eventually you fine-tune it to get it where you want it.

 

Two-Back,

I would consider what you're doing to be play-by-play.

 

If you saw it, you wouldn't.
It's more of a possession chart. It takes about three short strokes of the pen to complete after every possession.
Say I'm covering UCLA and Kevin Love misses a shot, rebounded by WSU.
In the box: a zero and a big M above it.
If K Love scores inside:
In the box: A 2 and KL above it.

By the end of the game, you've got a handy look at game flow, etc., without wasting your time and effort duplicating the work done for you by the SID crew.

 

Dude, that's play-by-play.

So you've got a system where boxes are involved and it looks different from what the school provides? You can call it a possession chart, but the bottom line is you're recording what happens on each play.

What you record is the same information that I record, except I use players' numbers since different players can share the same initials. My play-by-play utilizes symbols, so it's quick and easy to record, too. And I can ascertain info from a glance, as well.

It doesn't look like what the SID hands out after the game, but that doesn't mean it's not play-by-play. It's the same stuff.

 

I don't record play-by-play either. It's more or less just a coded list of every single play that happens during the game.

If I knew how to use blue note, this is where I would.

 

Yeah, Twoback, that's p-b-p.

Come up with something that works best for you, but definitely take p-b-p. To echo what some others have already said, it keeps your focus on the game, plus I almost always find something useful out of my stuff that I would never get from the university stuff.

For example, I put the range on every shot. So while the university p-b-p may just say "BUTCH made jumper," which tells me nothing, my stuff tells me Butch made a 15-footer, plus any other quick info I felt pertinent.

 

The dance team. The cheerleaders. Hot students. The team I sometimes cover sucks. The women, while untouchable, are hot. My mind often wanders.