Note Taking

I don't track basketball pbp. it's a 12-inch preps gamer. no need. track stats, yes, track trends, yes. but no need for a lot of pbp in a gamer anyway. if it is a college game, you can get the whole stat pack typically with pbp and everything on it anyway if you want it for whatever reason.

if you want a simple stat sheet, I've got one I can send to you if you want to take a look. shoot me a pm with an email.

 

Ditto. What he said.

 

I did it this way, too. I'll try to note when "X" teams goes on a 10-0 run or when a certain player scores a certain amount of points within so many minutes. I'll try to mark lead changes, too.

 

I'm pretty similar to Some Guy (no relation). I put a line down the middle of the page, log each team's scoring on each side.

After the player and how they scored, I'll put his/her total points in parentheses, and if possible, the time on the opposite side.

Wilson 3 (6) 9-7 18:12
9-9 Johnson 2/2 (5)

Usually, I'll log the foul on the opposite side of the free throws, so it'll be

Wilson F2 17:36 9-9 Johnson 2/2 (5)

Makes it easy to chart scoring runs. If it's a college game, you'll likely get a full book afterwards with play-by-play, but this helps me keep track of who's done what during the game, instead of waiting until after to pick up on some things.

I don't usually chart missed shots or turnovers, so that's one thing I'll get from the play-by-play after: Team X went 5:42 without scoring, missing six shots and turning the ball over five times.

 

I just put the running score and number of the player who scored, occasionally throwing in a time or a brief note on the play. I count on the official scoresheet for any other stats.

0-2 (12)
2-2 (34)
5-2 (21)
from the corner, 17:56

etc...

 

I found that, for basketball, doing a play-by-play wasn't worth it. I have a good scoring sheet where i chart points, fouls, free throws, rebounds and turnovers (a key stat for me). The game just moves too fast for me to chart FG attempts, steals, blocks, individual rebounds, etc.
I've found that usually an assistant coach charts those and I can get whatever I need from them.

I jot down notes (Smith sprains ankle at 5:22 of the second; Davis gets third foul at 1:19 of the third) and only go to play-by-play if the game is close at the end. Done too many blowout games lately.

As for forms, I just use a notepad for notes and what pxp I do. I have a scoring form I copied from a game program many years ago for individual points, fouls, etc.

 

I use three sheets: Play-by-play, Team A roster, and Team B roster.

On the play-by-play, I draw a line down the middle of the page. The far-left margin is for the time (basket is made or significant event during the game). Left of the line down the middle is the visitor play-by-play. If the visitor's No. 15 hits a fall-away jump shot with 4:43 left in a quarter/half to give his team a 23-21 lead, it looks, from left-to-right, like: 4:43 15 fllwy j 23-21. That's between the line down the middle and the time on the far-left margin. Same thing for the home team, just right of the line down the middle.

The roster sheets for Teams A and B are designated for drawing a chart that includes, from left-to-right, player name, player number, field-goal attempts, free-throw attempts, rebounds (offensive and defensive), assists, steals, and blocks. A made 2 or 3 is circled, and a miss is left as an uncircled digit. A missed free throw's an X, make is a circled check mark. Offensive boards are an "O," defensive are "D." Assists, steals, and blocks are tally marks.

I cover high schools and JUCOs that don't keep stats, so I have to keep everything. I regret that I can't always keep up with turnovers, though. That's the one weakness of the system.

 

If I'm not shooting a game, I had a pretty awesome strategy to keep every stat I could ever need.

Now, before I begin let me explain that I type pretty fast and that the following only applies to HS games. If I'm covering College Hoops, I rely on the AD's Media peeps.

On my laptop, before each game, I open a microsoft word document and save the blank page as a Word document. I then type the word "turnover" and CTRL+C it.

As the game begins, I keep a running play by play and it's actually fairly easy to keep track of everything. For example, let's say I'm watching South Shore vs. Eastern Regional. In my shorthand, that's S vs. E. I then use each player's jersey number to keep track of things. So S23 would be South Shore #23.

If S23 misses a 3-pointer, S15 rebounds the ball and dishes it to S3 for an easy layup, I'll type "S23 miss, S15 reb, S15-S3 layup.", I'll then hit the "ENTER" button and type in "2-0S" to indicate the score. Every now and again, when I have the time, I'll toss in the time left in the period.

I know this sounds like a lot, but it's really not.

During timeouts, I scroll to the top of the document and re-read what I wrote, marking down shooting percentage in my notebook. For example, I'll write "S23" in the left margin, write down an arrow and do some shorthand symbols for a miss (X), a 2-point basket (2), a 3-point basket (3), a 3-point miss (X+) and FT's made (*) and missed (0).

Once I've charted a play, I'll change the color of the text to red. Usually, by the end of the game I have the shooting stats all done and know exactly what everyone did.

Once I get home and/or start writing, depending on how much time I have I'll either go in-depth with my notes and figure out rebounds, turnovers, assists, blocks and steals or I'll just search for an individual player's stats. I do this by hitting the "CTRL+F" buttons and doing a scan of what I'm looking for. All in all, it takes me about six minutes to get all of my above-listed stats and makes putting a box-score together cake.

I don't recommend this for, well, anyone, but if you're good with computers and can multi-task, it's an easy and reliable way to get all the information you need and you can skim it down to the bare bones if that's all you need to do.

 

My brain just hemorrhaged from trying to comprehend that system, schiezainc.

 

Schiezainc, I ask this in all seriousness ... if you're going to all that trouble of breaking out the computer and typing everything out, why don't you just invest in a stats program?

 

Thing is, I cover a ton of games I also have to shoot too and have to go bare-bones. On average, I might be able to do this 5-7 times per year. I love the system though. If I could, I would always do that.

 

I always find it interesting to see how others keep notes during games. I keep it simple. I draw a line down the middle of the page. One team's notes are on one side, the other's is on the other side. Working from the middle out, I put the team's pts total, who scored then time. At the far edges working in, I mark fouls, then if I'm ambitious, team rebounds and turnovers. That's all I can keep. Sometimes if a team has a big rebounder, I might track his or hers by putting the jersey number instead of an R (for rebound), T for turnover. In some games, there are sometimes too many rebounds in a row off missed shots and you can't always see who grabbed it, so I can't keep all the indiviudal stats. Sometimes I might put an x on each team's side to mark team missed shots.

A lot of the PBP you end up not needing, but I found it's easier to track trends that way. I only use this for high school games. JuCos and colleges in my area will give me complete individual stats.