CyberSports for Basketball User Guide, Version 4.2
THE SIX MODULES OF CYBERSPORTS FOR BASKETBALL
Recalling a Team Previously Saved
Differentiating between 2 Point and 3 Point scores
Situation - Advanced Recording!
CREATING REPORTS FOR YOUR WEBSITE
CYBERSPORTS AND FREE THROW SHOOTING
OPENING AN EXISTING SEASON FILE
CREATING AND EDITING PLAYER EVALUATIONS
ADDING TOURNAMENT SITES AND TEAMS
APPENDIX A: PRESERVING YOUR DATA
CyberSports for Basketball consists of six separate programs.
After completing the installation, your Program will include a Program Group called [CyberSports for Basketball], which you'll find under Start then Programs.
When you select [CyberSports for Basketball], you'll notice that there are six applications: Game Module, Manual Entry Module, Season Module, Tournament Module, Viewer Module, and the Web Cast Module. You may want to create a shortcut on your desktop for each of the Modules you will be using.
The Game Module has all the tools you need for recording the actions during the Basketball game and printing game reports. With the Game Module, you create Team Files, which contain all the necessary information for each team. The Game file is created as you record actions during the game. The Game file contains (1) Team file for the Home team, (2) Team file for the Away team and (3) all of the statistics for the game. The only way to see the contents of the game file is to open it with the Game Module, the Season Module, the Tournament Module or the Viewer Module.
The Season Module combines the Game files into a Season file. The Season file captures all the game statistics during the season so that you can create cumulative reports for teams, individual players and officials.
There is no limit to the number of Season Files you can create with CyberSports for Basketball. For example: if you play a particular opponent several times during a season, you might want to create a season file which only includes those games. In this way, you can analyze their tendencies with the cumulative reports as well as with the individual game reports. If you used CyberSports for Basketball to scout your opponent on two other occasions, you can also add those games to create an excellent scouting report.
There is no limit to the number of games that can be included in a single Season File. These features make CyberSports for Basketball ideally flexible and robust.
For the Season Module to do its job, you must ensure that the team files are consistent. You should create only one team file for each team. You should never reenter the team data, creating a new team file, after the first game. Team data can be changed. The players names can be edited, their numbers can change. Once you delete a player and reenter the same player, the Season Module will make you do some extra work to show that the two players are actually the same. Rather than delete the player, it is better to make them Inactive or Edit the player information.
The League Module is used to store, analyze and present a variety of
team and individual information for a basketball league. The League Module can
create reports for the overall league, league leaders or summaries for a team.
The League program works in a manner similar the Season Module or even to a
Word document, except that you do not directly interact with the text information.
After you open a league file you can select the type of report to display on
the screen, then scroll through and look at the data.
The Tournament Module is very similar, mechanically, to the Season Module. Naturally, it differs substantially from the other modules in that the reports are targeted toward use during tournaments. However, even if you never use CyberSports for Basketball to record tournament games, you can make excellent use of the Tournament Module reports.
The Tournament Module has a number of exciting and unique reports which can be used with any group of games. These reports allow you to compare the performance of any two teams or any two players. You'll be able to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of any single player or team by reviewing these reports.
In addition to a number of unique reports, you'll also be able to create and update the Tournament Brackets, using the Tournament Module.
The Manual Entry Module, is for those schools which are not able to record some of their games live, on a laptop computer. In previous versions, this capability was included in the Season Module. With Version 4, by using the Manual Entry Module, you'll be able to record games and create an actual Game file, that can be included in different Season files and Tournament files.
The Viewer Module is the one module you'll probably never use yourself. This module may be distributed freely to your friends, reporters, former athletes or anyone else that you want to stay involved in your season. If you e-mail your game files to these people, they'll be able to print out the basic game reports using the Viewer Module.
The reports that can be printed with the Viewer Module are: Box Scores, Leaders Report, Shot Chart and the Team Rosters.
The file you need to send them (either via e-mail or on a floppy disk) is the file called BBVIEW.EXE, which you can locate in Windows Explorer. To find this file, go to Explorer, click on Program Files, then click on CyberSports to open that folder and then click on CyberSports for Basketball.
The recipient should be instructed to copy this file to their desktop. All they'll need to do to use it is to double click on it. They can select the game file you send them by clicking on File, then Open. Once the game file is open, they can click on View, then Report…, to open one of the four reports. To print the report, they just need to click on File, then Print.
The Web Cast Module allows you to "broadcast" your game live over the web. Viewers with an Internet connection can see the game unfold as the various statistics are entered into CyberSports for Basketball.
CyberSports for Basketball is designed to get you up and running quickly. You'll find helpful documentation in Online Help, built right into the modules.
In Help you'll find everything from how to record statistics during a basketball game, definitions for basketball terms (Rebound, Steal, Assist, etc.) and how to perform specific commands.
To access the Help Utility, open the module. You'll notice the word Help in the upper right hand area of the application window. Click once on the word Help, with your left mouse button. You will see several commands to choose from. By selecting Contents, you will see the display shown below.
You may select any of these topics for detailed information.
Use the mouse to move the pointer around the screen to quickly choose commands, click buttons, and select text. To move the pointer, just move the mouse. If you're unsure about using the mouse, try the mouse tutorial that comes with Windows.
Some users have found it helpful to change the color of the mouse pointer from white to black. They indicate that the contrast is improved, making it faster to locate the current cursor position when looking from the court to the screen. The pointer size can also be changed to make it easier to find. Look for the necessary mouse controls in the Control Panel.
The following table shows the basic techniques. If your mouse has more than one button, be sure to use the left button unless otherwise specified.
| To | Do this |
| Point | Position the pointer on an item |
| Click | Point to an item, and then quickly press and release the left mouse button. |
| Double-click | Point to an item, and then quickly press and release the left mouse button twice. |
| Drag | Point to an item. Press and hold the mouse button as you move the mouse to a new location. Then, release the mouse button. |
For Macintosh computers, which come with a one-button mouse, you'll have to review your Windows emulation documentation to learn how to simulate the right mouse button. In CyberSports applications, the right mouse button is often available as a shortcut device.
The pointer shape changes for the task you're doing. When you point to text, the pointer becomes an I-beam. When you point to a menu or toolbar, it becomes a left-pointing arrow.
Once again, you should not be using the trackball or the touchpad of your laptop. You should attach an external mouse to your laptop. The external mouse will provide you with the speed necessary to keep up with the game.
One of the biggest hassles facing basketball coaches has been to find, train and retrain statisticians. Statisticians cannot be spectators and enjoy the game. It takes a real commitment of time and effort. However, their efforts are a necessary component of successful basketball programs.
Many of our customers have rewarded their statisticians with varsity letters, community service credit, or with monetary rewards. We heard of one statistician who was paid $100.00 by a major newspaper to record the stats for a championship high school game! The statistician is as valuable to the team as any player on the starting lineup.
CyberSports for Basketball has a Simplified Stat Keeping option for first time users in File, then Preferences, that will make it easier to learn. By limiting you to shots, free throws, and fouls, it reduces the program to a scorebook. As you become accustomed to the process of recording these stats and you gain confidence, you will soon progress to recording rebounds, assists, etc.
You should be aware of the various programs in the [Help] menu. Not only are there how to instructions, but also included are official rules and guidelines. If you want to know what constitutes an assist or a steal, just go to the [Help] files.
The vast majority of coaches using CyberSports for Basketball are reporting that finding statisticians is no longer difficult. In fact, CyberSports for Basketball is so similar to a computer game that statisticians find it rewarding and look forward to using it.
However, unlike a computer game, CyberSports for Basketball results are real. The wealth of information and reports that CyberSports for Basketball produces has an impact on the team and are a vital part of a successful basketball program.
Don't be concerned if you have difficulties the first couple of games. Everyone does. There's a lot to learn. There's a lot to become accustomed to. By the third or fourth game you'll begin to gain considerable confidence. By the end of the season you'll be creating stats with accuracy to rival the professionals!
This chapter will lead you through the process of using the CyberSports for Basketball Game Module. You will learn everything necessary to enable you to record perfect Basketball statistics.
For entering stats manually (i.e., to enter stats from paper), use the Manual Entry Module. Stats cannot be entered manually from the Game Module.
If you need additional information, be sure to become acquainted with our Online Help tool.
This chapter contains four sections:
PreGame. You'll learn how to set Preferences, enter Team Rosters, Player Information, and information specific to each game. While it takes some time to enter the team rosters, you'll see that the actual setup for the game is an easy process. Understanding this process is important so that you'll be able to create great reports.
During the Game. In this section you'll find all the information needed to record the statistics for each game. During this phase you won't use the keyboard at all, just the mouse. Actions include shooting, rebounding, fouls, steals, assists, timeouts and many more. You'll also learn how to make substitutions and how to edit actions when you make a mistake or when the officials negate an action which you already recorded. You'll see that it really isn't difficult to record so many statistics.
Halftime and Overtime. Just a few features to review in this section, to make the next period easier to record. During this time you may need to print a few reports for the coaching staff before your well-deserved break. Make sure that someone is keeping an eye on your laptop, though.
Post Game. Here you can review the wide assortment of reports available to you. Be sure you know which reports the coach wants immediately after the game. You'll also learn how to correct mistakes after the game. If you need to fax certain reports to the news media, make sure that you've set up the Media Report to include all the reports necessary so that you can print them all with a single click (see Preferences).
As part of the post-game review, the coach will want to prepare a personal evaluation for each of your players. However, this can wait until the next day. Many coaches are not able to do this after every game, so they plan for certain periods during the season to prepare the evaluations (every 3 weeks, for example).
You will find that there are only a few actions that you need to directly initiate, which we call Primary Actions. After a primary action, CyberSports for Basketball will prompt (display a question) for other resulting actions. Prompting reduces the amount of button pushing necessary to record a game, allowing you to learn to record the game quickly.
For example, one of the primary actions is a missed shot. A missed shot is recorded by pointing to the shot location on the court (click with left mouse button). Then select the appropriate [Player] button. After the player is chosen, CyberSports for Basketball will automatically display the following prompt (question) below the court display: Player for Rebound?
The prompt acts as a reminder to you. There is no Rebound button to select. You merely select the player who controlled the rebound. You won't have to indicate if it was an offensive or defensive rebound, CyberSports for Basketball will determine that for you.
Practice is very important. Our experience is that it takes 2-3 games before you begin to feel the rhythm of the recording process. Once you develop this rhythm, you'll feel more comfortable and confident. Later in the season you should be able to record the statistics and enjoy the action.
We do recommend that you practice with a teammate, who will act as your spotter. Your teammate will have to learn the proper order to relay the information to you, so that you reach maximum efficiency. Practice - Teamwork - Practice.
After a couple of games you probably won't even notice the prompts. You'll have mastered the process and will be able to anticipate the dependent actions, while recording great stats.
The screen includes a number of tools for the user to interact with:
Across the bottom of the screen you will find the basic Action buttons for recording game information. Two other Action buttons are available. Both the Goal Tnd button (goaltending) (in place of the Made button) and the Dead Ball (dead ball rebound) button (in place of the Situation button) become available after a shot attempt is recorded.
In the center of the screen is the Court Diagram. The court diagram is used for entering made and missed shots.
To the left and right of the court are the [Player] Buttons, and Team Rosters. Player buttons are used to assign a game action to a specific player. The Team Rosters are used for substitutions. Team Rosters are not visible while the clock is running.
Above the Team Rosters, are the [Team] Buttons. [Team] buttons are used to assign an action to a team, when it is unclear which player should be assigned the action.
Centered above the court is the Scoreboard. The Scoreboard consists of a simulated game clock, team foul information, period markers and the possession arrow. Notice the small arrows for adjusting the clock's minutes and seconds.
To the left and right of the scoreboard are Action Lists. Action lists display the last 5 actions that have been recorded for each team. While all actions are saved, the actions that are visible can be easily selected if you need to correct a mistake during the game. If you double-click on the Action List, you'll immediately be taken to the Action Editor with the selected action displayed.
Under the File menu there is an option for Preferences. This dialog contains important information common to all of the games you will record. These options may be changed for each game, or may be set once at the beginning of the season and never changed during the season.
For example, if you only record stats for high school games, you should set the Game Format to high school and leave it there. This setting will stay at High School unless you decide to change it. On the other hand, Game Analysis Goals may need to be modified for each opponent.
To edit the preferences, choose the Preferences option, after selecting the File command in the Game Module.
Notice that the dialogue contains five tabs. Each of these tabs contain preferences that you'll need to review and modify according to your needs:
There are five standard formats available, which differentiate between the various levels of play: Elementary, High School, College, International, and Professional. In addition, a Custom selection is available which allows you to customize the Game Format to fit any other desired format.
The selection of Game Format will define the following:
If one of the standard five formats does not reflect the format for your games, choose the Custom format. Then, for each variable, place your cursor in the box and type the correct number of periods, minutes for Period Length and Overtime Length, and 3 point line distance (measured in feet).
Technical Fouls are P. Fouls
League rules will specify whether Technical fouls are considered Personal Fouls or not. If a Technical Foul counts against the player's Personal Fouls, check this box.
Jump Ball = Alt. Possession
You should again refer to league rules to determine whether a jump ball will turn the ball over to a team according to an alternating possession rule.
Timeouts
CyberSports for Basketball provides you with a number of options with respect to how timeouts are handled.
To access the Goals dialog, just click on the [Goals] tab found on the Preferences dialog.
Goals can be set as constant values by the coach, to be the baseline against which every game is measured.
In contrast, however, the coach may prefer to set these goals for each game, or, may want to modify goals as the season progresses. Using the coach's knowledge of the opponent and areas which she/he may want to focus the team's effort, goals may be modified considerably from one game to the next.
After the game or at half-time, you can present the team with a report which compares the team goals with the actual results of their performance. See the Post Game section of this document for details of the various reports available.
CyberSports for Basketball calculates a Productivity value for each athlete based on his/her performance. While early versions of CyberSports for Basketball also provided this feature, the user had no influence over how the Productivity value was created.
Every factor that is used in the Productivity Rating is available for you to modify. Default values are provided for the coach to consider as a starting point.
You should review these values with the Coach. They should reflect his/her opinions of the relative importance of each statistic. Default values for all of the good things that can happen are positive, while the defaults for bad things are negative. A minus 2 for a Technical Foul indicates that the coach thinks this is twice as bad as a Missed Shot or a Personal Foul.
Combine 2Pt/3Pt Stats:
Traditionally, the Box Scores have combined the 2 point and 3 point field goals.
Most Sports Information Directors, and many Coaches prefer to view the Box Scores
in this traditional format. However, there are a lot of Coaches who prefer to
view the Box Scores with the 2 point and 3 point field goals separated, because
these numbers can influence their strategy during the game.
CyberSports for Basketball allows you to customize the Box Scores according to your individual preferences and needs. To view the Box Scores in the traditional method, just check the box Combine 2pt/3pt Stats.
Show Zeros as Blanks:
If you'd like to remove some clutter from the reports and save some ink, check
this option. If you'd rather see the zeros in the reports, leave it unchecked.
Use % in Shot Charts:
Shot charts may be displayed in two fundamentally different ways. The traditional
way of reporting Shot Charts is to put the player number on the court wherever
a shot is taken. If the player makes the shot, the statistician would put a
small circle around the player's number.
CyberSports for Basketball will create the traditional type of Shot Chart. You also have the option of creating Shot Charts which provide a summary of the shooting in a number of different zones, rather than displaying player numbers and circles.
To create a shot chart with percentages for each zone, check this option.
Use Color in Reports:
This option is not currently available.
Starting with Version 4 of CyberSports for Basketball, you can choose from seven different reports to include in your Media Report. Check any or all of these seven reports:
The media report option allows you to print several reports with a single click. From the Game Module, you'll just select File, then Print. One of the options will be Media Report.
Use this standard Windows dialog to modify your print size and style of font. Some font sizes may not actually affect the report. Font sizes that are very large or small will probably be ignored by CyberSports for Basketball.
User preferences are vitally important for you when you're getting started. The use of these options will allow you to gradually build up your skill level with minimal frustration. Recording all of the stats possible is a challenging task for the beginner. We recommend that you work up to it gradually, as described below.
Simplified Stat Keeping:
As a beginner, Simplified Stat Keeping should be chosen for the first
two games. At this level you will not record Rebounds, Assists and Defensive
Assists. The emphasis for the beginner will be to become comfortable with the
process of recording scores, steals, turnovers, put-backs and layups.
Once you are comfortable with Simplified Stat Keeping, you will want to move to the next level: recording Rebounds and Assists. To advance to this level, just click on the Simplified Stat Keeping box, to remove the X.
Keep Defensive Assists:
Many coaches who used the initial version of CyberSports for Basketball requested
the ability to record deflections. On top of all the other stats to record,
this is a daunting task for you initially. However, as your confidence builds
during the season you may feel up to the challenge of capturing this valuable
information for your Coach.
Based on our work with the National Basketball League of Australia, CyberSports, Inc. incorporated Defensive Assists.
A Defensive Assist can be awarded for deflecting the ball leading to a steal, a turnover caused by a trap or for defensive pressure which causes a bad pass or violation. A Defensive Assist may be awarded to more than one player for a single play. You will find the formal definition of Defensive Assist in the Help files of the Game Module. Of course, the coach may choose to instruct you to award Defensive Assists only for deflections.
We recommend that the Coach review the definition of Defensive Assists to determine if he/she would like to incorporate it as defined, or would rather have you only record deflections.
Use Shot Rating:
With Version 4 of CyberSports for Basketball, you have another level of proficiency to work toward. After you've mastered the basics and have gone on to feel comfortable with Defensive Assists, work on incorporating Shot Ratings into your work. Shot Ratings are recorded after every field goal attempt except for Put Backs. With the information you gather the coach can measure the quality of shots taken. There are four ratings for shot attempts:
While these ratings are sometimes subjective, you'll soon establish a consistent pattern of assigning the ratings. You might benefit by comparing some of your ratings with those of the coach, during a review of the videotape. The results of these shot ratings for the individual players and teams can be found in the Detailed Box and Shot Chart reports.
Use Situation Rating:
After you have worked with the shot rating option enough, you can go one step further in detail by selecting the Situation Rating option. If a shot is made, the popup screen will give you a list of seven situations:
After one of these options is selected, you will then be given a choice of the four shot options discussed above (if you have selected both in the Preferences then Other screen. The reports and charts will then indicate the situations in which the offense was successful in scoring.
Reduced Court Size:
This option is only to be used if you find that CyberSports for Basketball is not completely displayed on your screen. There are a few laptops where this is a problem. Otherwise, do not use this option.
Turnover:
When a turnover is recorded, you will be given the choice of 12 turnover causes.
Recording this information allows you to evaluate the type of turnovers committed by each player.
While we offer three modes of saving the game data, we strongly urge you to rely on the Full Auto Save option. This is your best insurance against unforeseen problems, such as a power cable being accidentally disconnected.
Full Auto Save can slow down your system. Try this option at first, to determine if your computer is powerful enough to allow you to work efficiently.
The other options are provided for those customers who are utilizing less powerful and even borderline hardware. If you find that the system slows considerably because of frequent saves, you can reduce the amount of saving and improve performance by choosing the Save during breaks or No Auto Save options.
Save during breaks will instruct the software to save the updated data whenever the clock stops. No Auto Save means that you are responsible for determining when and how often to save the data.
Understand that you risk losing game data with No Auto Save, however. If your team also records the game with video tape, at least you will be able to reconstruct the stats later.
No matter which option you use, you should get in the habit of manually saving the game file:
These are actual HTML instructions that are used to define your html reports that will be exported for your website. Do not alter them unless you fully understand the consequences of what you are doing.
If these are altered by mistake, you can return to the original defaults by entering the following:
bgcolor="FFFFFF" text="000000" link="0000FF" vlink="871F78"
To start a game you first need to enter or load the data about the two teams that will be playing in the game, along with other important game information such as where and when the game is being played. This is done using one of the PreGame commands found on the menu bar. The pictures below show the dialog that is used for entering PreGame information.
There are four tabs on this dialog that contain Pre Game information:
Select PreGame from the Main Menu.
Choose Game Setup from the dropdown menu. (The Game Setup screen will now appear as shown below.) Now you can enter the game information.
Choose the Game Type (League, Non League, Playoff, Exhibition). Only one of these can be chosen for each Game.
Enter the Date, Time, Location, and Attendance.
Because CyberSports for Basketball also allows you to create a Game Program, you may customize the Game Program Title information and the Program Postscript. For example, you could put "Bellevue Helmsmen - Basketball" as the header and "Playoffs start next week!" as the footer.
To access the information for an official's evaluation, you first create a list of officials and then select the ones that are working this game.
The process for creating a list of officials is to:
Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 for each official. These names will be stored on a separate file on your computer for later use.
To identify which officials are working the current game, just select one of the names you've added (using a single click). Then click on one of the three buttons called [Load].
To provide a rating for an official, just highlight the name, enter your evaluation and click on [Update Information] again.
The final tab of Game Setup is called Display Info. This panel allows you to customize two details of the screen display: Team Name display on the scoreboard and Player Name display.
In some cases the Team Names do not cleanly fit on the scoreboard, so the Display setup dialog allows you to change the names that will appear on the scoreboard for the two teams. Click and Drag over the displayed name, and type in the name you want displayed.
In addition to changing the team names, you can control how the Player Names are displayed. Generally speaking, using Last Name or Last + Initial is recommended because the shorter name has less chance of being truncated during display. Choose one of the three options.
There are two methods you'll use to enter the teams for a new game. If you are entering a new team, choose the [Edit] button for Team 1 or Team 2. If you have previously entered one of the teams, and saved that team file, you'll want to choose the [Load From File] button under [Team 1] or [Team 2].
Once the team files have been saved, you can change the roster, activate or deactivate players, or change any information necessary about the team or players.
Do not re-create the team file for each game. It is important that you consistently use the same team file for each game played, whenever possible. With CyberSports for Basketball, you can change the names of the players, their numbers, and any other information about the players or the team. However, if you delete the player and then add the same player to the team file, CyberSports for Basketball's Season Module will make you show that the two players are actually the same person.
Similarly, if you create two team files with identical player names and numbers, CyberSports for Basketball will need some help from you so that it can recognize the teams and players as being the same.
Therefore you should become accustomed to editing the team and player data rather than deleting players and teams. If you change a team file, be sure to save it again and take a copy of the file to your other installations so that they're all using a copy of the same file.
If you are attending a tournament, where the organizer is using CyberSports for Basketball, you'll want to make a copy of your team file on a floppy disk and ask them to use your copy of the file. If they type in the names of your players into a new team file, you will have to do some extra work in the Season Module before you can use these game files.
Choose Home or Away for each team. Select the [Edit] button under Team 1 or Team 2. You will need to perform these steps for each team. Selecting the [Edit] button during Game Setup will bring up an [Edit Team Information] screen as shown below.
Now you are beginning to create a team file. Team files need to be saved, just like the game files need to be saved. These are individual files that can be copied, moved and deleted using Windows Explorer. Team files must have the extension .BBT, such as Los Angeles Lakers.BBT (spaces are allowed with long filenames in Windows 95/98).
After entering the information you must save the team information so you can use the [Load From File] option for the next game. When you've finished entering the information, just click the OK button and CyberSports will ask you to save the file with a Yes/No dialog. Team files now have the extension .BBT, such as Bellevue.bbt.
Most of the fields in the Team Info dialog are self explanatory, but some could use a little clarification.
The Athletic Director field is used on the Team Roster report.
The Name Abbreviation field is a three-character field to identify the team. This field is not currently used but will be employed in future versions of CyberSports for Basketball.
League Record and Overall Record can be used to enter win/loss information and is used on the Game Program report. The format (10-2) is good for this entry. In the Season Module this field is created automatically when you add game files.
The Comments section is not printed on any of the forms, but can be used to make notes about the team, register phone numbers, or for or any other use you feel might be helpful. Take time to consider the type of information you keep here, and consider who might have access to it.
Click on the [Player Info] tab to begin entering the roster.
Players are added to this list, using the [New Player] button. Then click once in each field to enter the data. You'll notice that for most fields a quick drop down menu will appear which you can use to fill in the field. If you don't want to use the menu, just click in the field again and you can use your keyboard for data entry.
This window works just like any other spreadsheet, allowing you to use the arrow keys and the tab keys for navigation.
As a minimum requirement you need to enter the player numbers. The additional information may be added later. Players may have both a home jersey number and an away number. If you go back to the panel where you identify the teams, you'll see there is an option for selecting Home or Away. If you have selected Home, then you should enter the jersey numbers used for this team when they play at Home. If you clicked Away, enter the jersey numbers used when the team is Away.
If a list of players is already present you can edit the players by clicking on the field you want to change. Players are not automatically sorted. You must sort the players in the team file, by number, if you want the [Player] buttons to be sorted during the game. The two arrows at the bottom are used to sort the list of players. By clicking on a player and pressing the [Arrow] buttons you can move a player up and down in the list.
The order in the player list is the same as the order that will appear in the substitution display during the game. We recommend that you sort this list according to player number, with the smallest number on top increasing to the largest number on the bottom.
However, if you have a very large roster, this may not be the best sort for you. Suppose you have a list of 20 team members but only 10 of them are likely to play. In this situation it would be best if you listed those 10 players in the top 10 positions. Only 11-12 players will always appear on the screen when you make substitutions. You don't want to have to scroll to find players in the 19th and 20th positions. Scrolling isn't too time consuming if you don't have to do it often but you would like to keep that exercise to a minimum.
As with the Team information, most of the Player information fields are easy to understand but we'll clarify a few that may need further explanation.
Activating and deactivating players. You should enter all of the players into the team file, even if some will not be playing in the next game. By clicking on the box next to the Active Player label, you can activate and deactivate individual players. When a player is not activated, their name will not appear on the roster for the game so you won't have as many players to scroll through if you have a large roster.
This is especially valuable for those coaches who like to move a number of younger players onto the active list from time to time. If a player is injured, you might as well inactivate him/her to reduce the number of players to choose from. Their stats are not lost in this way and still contribute to the Season Cumulative results.
For the Position field you can either use letters like "G" for Guard, or numbers to indicate the player position. In general you should keep this field to 3 or fewer characters.
Class can be used to indicate a grade level such as "So" or "10" for a sophomore in high school.
Experience can be used for any number of purposes. Some possibilities include RK for rookie, RS for returning starter, RP for returning player or a number to indicate how many years of experience.
The School field can be used to indicate the previous school (for college players, their High School) or home town.
The [Player Eval] button is used to create the player evaluation reports. This will be discussed in more detail later.
It is important to save the team roster if you have used the edit features to create or modify the team. The team file can be used to simplify the PreGame process in the future, and also the team file is used to start a season file for that team.
The Report Setup dialog provides you with the ability to customize the Game Program contents and Player Evaluation contents.
To modify the Game Program contents, just select which information you'd like to have included in your program: Class, Experience, School, Athletic Director (change this field to Principal or General Manager if appropriate) and Major. All of these titles can be modified except for Major, by typing in the new heading.
Information to include in the Player Evaluation is similarly chosen here.
When you've finished entering all the Team information, just click [OK] and CyberSports for Basketball will ask you if you wish to save this information or not. Click [Yes] to save the new team file.
Once a team's information has been entered and saved, the game preparation becomes greatly simplified.
Select the [Load From File] button under Team 1 or Team 2. The Windows file selection panel will appear. Select one of the teams you've created before (these should be identified with the BBT extension, such as newyork.bbt).
Once the team has been loaded, its name will appear above the [Load From File] button. You can then use the [Edit] button to make changes in the Team Roster or in Player Information. For details on making these changes, see the previous section Entering Team Information.
The minimum steps for entering Team Information include:
After entering both teams, click [OK] on the Game Setup dialog and you'll see both rosters filled in on the main screen display.
Before you can start recording the game, you need to indicate which players will start the game.
Clicking on names will add or remove players from the current lineup. At the start of the game you will need to select five players from each team. Each time you add or remove a player from the current lineup, an action is recorded. These actions are necessary, so that CyberSports for Basketball can keep track of the number of minutes played by each athlete.
Names of the players who will remain on the bench will have a white background. Names of players who have been selected to enter the game will have a blue background.
Player substitutions can be made whenever the clock is stopped. When the clock stops, the Team Rosters appear to the left and right of the court area. Active player's names are highlighted in the list.
The clock may be stopped by pressing the [Stop Clock] button on the Scoreboard. The clock is automatically stopped when a timeout is called, when a foul is recorded, and at the end of a period. When the action stops the Team Rosters appear to the left and right of the court area.
Active player's names are highlighted in the list. When you select an active player, they are removed from the game. When you then select a player coming into the game, their name will be highlighted and their number will be added to a [Player] button.
You must have selected five (and only five) players from each team before starting the clock. Starting the clock is one of the tasks that the new user will want to be sure to remember, when learning to use CyberSports for Basketball. Soon it will become second nature.
More than five players can be highlighted while the clock is stopped. However, you must have only five players highlighted before starting the clock. For example, during a substitution you may select the entering player first (6 players highlighted) and then select the player leaving (5 players highlighted).
New with Version 4 is the [Sub All] button. Substitutions can be stressful, especially when one of the coaches regularly replaces four or five players at a time. With [Sub All], you can remove all players for a team with a single click. Then, just click the 5 players who are going into the game.
If the player rosters appear on the wrong end of the court for this period of play, you can use the Switch Sides command under the During Game menu item to correct the problem. Just select During Game on the Main Menu and then choose the Switch Sides option.
In addition to saving your team files, be sure to save your game file. This would be a great time to save the game -- before any actions have been recorded. When saving, you select File on the Main Menu bar and choose Save or Save As. The Save As dialogue will appear. Game files now have the extension .bbg, such as New York Knicks.bbg
Some of the actions you'll record with CyberSports for Basketball can be enhanced with additional information about the action. After specific events, like a Made Field Goal, the [Situation] icon will become active. To qualify an action for a specific situation just press the [Situation] icon, then choose an item from the popup menu. (See Utility Commands for further details).
This chapter will describe all of the commands you'll have to learn to record the game. These commands are of two types: Action Commands and Utility Commands. The chapter concludes with a section that describes methods for correcting mistakes.
There are two basic methods for starting the clock. Either use the [Start/Stop Clock] button located just below the scoreboard clock, or use the [C] key on the keyboard.
Once the clock is started, the lineup displays to the left and right of the court (team rosters) will change to the 5 individual player names that are associated with the [Player] buttons. The player rosters will not reappear until the clock stops.
The clock is automatically started after a missed free throw is recorded. For all other situations, you must remember to start the clock when the ball is put in play.
You may start the Game Clock with any of these methods:
While recording a game you can stop the clock with one of the following actions:
If you need to adjust the amount of time left on the clock, you can use the [Arrow] buttons to the left and right of the [Start/Stop Clock] button to increase and decrease the minutes and seconds.
If the CyberSports clock is ahead of the game clock, it is better to stop the clock until it matches the game clock rather than adjusting the clock back. Turning the clock backward can distort the minutes played for the ball players.
You record a jump ball, by choosing the Jump Ball Icon below the court.
If you have activated the option Jump Balls = Alt. Possession, in your Preferences dialog, then you will be given the prompt: Player for Jump Ball Forced.
If you have not set this option, that means two players are expected to actually jump for the ball to determine the possession. You will be prompted to choose two players: (1) Player for Jump Ball win, and (2) Player for Jump Ball loss.
Recording shots works just like a shot chart using a paper and pencil, except now you use a mouse to select a location.
Shots are recorded by pointing to the appropriate location on the court display and clicking a mouse button. The shot will be recorded as Missed when the left mouse button is used. Missed shots are displayed as white circles. The shot will be recorded as Made when the right mouse button is used. Made shots are displayed as orange circles. 2 Pt shots appear as a single circle while 3 Pt shots appear as two concentric circles, one smaller than the other.
Missed shots may be converted to Made shots by subsequently picking the Made button, under the court diagram, even after the player has been selected. Made shots may be corrected to missed shots by re-indicating the shot location with the left mouse button before the player selection has been completed.
Once the player button is selected, the action is recorded and you'll be prompted for the player who Assisted (made shot) or the player who Rebounded (missed shot).
If a shot is goal tended, indicate that it is a missed shot (white circle). You will be prompted for the player that took the shot. Once the player has been selected, the Goal Tnd button becomes available. Select this button; you will then be prompted for the player that goal tended the shot. Once this player is selected, the shot will be changed to Made (red circle) and you will be prompted for the player that made the assist.
The court diagram (as shown below) contains areas for general shot location, areas for Layups (left and right), and an area for Dunks under each basket. You will notice a small rectangular area that divides the left layup area from the right layup area. This is for recording dunks.
Made shots inside the 3-Point line will automatically credit the team with 2 points. Made shots outside the 3-Point line will credit the team with 3 points. Be careful to select the correct side of the 3-point line before clicking on the [Player] button.
For modifying two point or three point shots after they have been entered see Fixing Mistakes.
Once you have indicated where a shot was taken, you will be prompted to select the player that made or missed the shot.
Select the player by moving the mouse to the large numbered button on either the left or right side of the court and select the player who shot the ball.
Short Cut for recording scoring
You will be more effective if you look to the computer screen as little as possible. Practice will improve your efficiency dramatically. CyberSports for Basketball was designed to maximize your heads-up posture. In addition we offer a few more suggestions for scoring situations:
If the game is fast, you'll probably need a spotter. The spotter needs to learn to relate the action efficiently for you. The spotter and statistician will develop an efficient dialog, with practice.
Once the player has been selected, CyberSports for Basketball will record the shot and then prompt you for the player who grabbed the rebound or for a player that contributed an assist. If the shot was missed, selecting a [Player] button or a [Team] button will cause the rebound to be recorded.
If you don't make a selection, after a missed shot, CyberSports for Basketball will record a team rebound, based on its analysis of the next event you record. This automatic recording of a rebound ensures that the total number of missed shots and rebounds are the same. If the rebound goes out of bounds, you select the Dead Ball action button; you will then be prompted for the team getting the rebound (possession). This selection differs from the automatic rebound discussed earlier in that the clock is stopped.
Made shots will prompt you for the player that contributed an assist. If you select a player for the assist, the assist event will be recorded. You do not need to record an assist with every made basket. You can simply ignore the prompt and continue with the next event and no assist will be recorded.
You can assign an assist to the team, if you are not sure who made the assist. After the game, or during a break, you can edit this event and correct the action.
Short-cut for tip, rebound shot, or put back:
If the shot was missed, you will be prompted for the rebounding player, but you have another choice that can be a timesaving short cut.
After you record a missed shot the [Putback] icon becomes active. A Putback is basically a shorthand notation for a combined rebound and shot attempt. By clicking on the [Putback] icon and selecting a player, the player will be credited with an offensive rebound and shot attempt.
The Putback attempt will cause another Player for Rebound prompt to be displayed. You may then indicate the player who rebounded the Putback attempt, click on [Putback] again, or select the [Made] icon if the Putback is successful.
In some situations you will have three or more successive offensive rebounds and shot attempts in rapid succession. If you are used to using the [Putback] icon, you'll be able to keep up with this action.
The [Steal] icon is available all the time. Selecting the [Steal] icon will result in a prompt for the player credited with the steal.
After you select the player who stole the ball, the system will record the steal event and prompt you for the player committing the turnover. If a player from the opposing team is selected, a turnover event will be recorded.
If you forget to select a player for the turnover, CyberSports for Basketball will automatically charge the other Team with a turnover. This will ensure that the correct number of turnovers are recorded. You may want to edit the game data later to indicate the individual responsible for the turnover, if known.
The [Turnover] icon is always available for selection. Selecting the [Turnover] icon will cause the system to prompt for the player that committed the turnover. However, you should get in the habit of recording the Steal first and the Turnover second. This will pay off later, when you begin recording defensive assists.
Once you select a [Player] button, a turnover event will be recorded and the system will prompt you for a player that may have been involved with a steal. If no steal occurred, just ignore the prompt and go on to record the next action.
If there was a steal involved but you forget to select a [Player] or [Team] button to identify this, the knowledge that the ball was stolen will be lost. This is another reason why you should always use the [Steal] icon whenever a turnover is forced and the ball is stolen. Only use the [Turnover] icon when the ball is not stolen.
You can record a foul at any time by selecting one of the three [Foul] icons, located on the lower left portion of the screen.
In each case, for the [Offensive], [Personal] or [Technical] foul icons, the system will prompt you for the player committing the foul. The foul will be recorded when the [Player] or [Team] button has been selected.
Offensive fouls will also result in a turnover event being recorded for the player committing the foul. This is another example of how CyberSports for Basketball reduces your workload.
Further, for offensive fouls, you will be prompted for the player that took the charge. Just select the number of the player who took the charge.
In all cases, the clock will stop immediately when you click on any of the Foul icons. You only need to remember to start the clock again.
The [Free Throw] icon is always available, though it is used when the clock is stopped -- after a foul has been recorded.
After selecting the [Free Throw] icon, a menu will appear over the icon, allowing you to choose the shooting situation (1, 1+1, 2, or 3 shots). You will then be prompted to select the player who will be shooting the Free Throw(s).
Finally, a dialog box will appear in the middle of the screen, allowing you to choose the results of the Free Throw attempt(s).
This dialog allows you to record all the possible situations that may occur during the free throw situation:
After you have filled out the form and the last shot is made or missed, click [OK] to begin the action and close this dialog. Click [Cancel] to close the dialog without recording any of the Free Throw information entered.
If the final free throw is missed, the clock will start immediately and you will be prompted to select the player controlling the rebound.
There are three dependent actions, or actions that become available only in certain well-defined situations. You record these three actions by selecting the [Made] icon, the [Putback] icon or the [Blocked shot] icon. We have already discussed two of these actions, leaving only the [Blocked shot].
The [Blocked shot] icon is available only when a missed shot is indicated. When you select the [Blocked shot] icon, you will be prompted for the player that made the block. When you select the player the blocked shot will be recorded, followed by another prompt for the player or team who controlled the rebound.
There are four utility commands available for you during the game, and you will find three of them in the lower right area of your screen. The commands are for [Timeouts], immediate display of team and player statistics [View], and the [Situation] icon. The other utility command, the Possession Arrow, is located underneath the scoreboard.
You record a timeout by selecting the [Timeout] icon located in the lower right hand area of the game panel.
The type of timeout may be indicated by selection from the drop-down menu. For professional games, timeout types are Official/TV, 20 second, and Full. The Official/TV timeouts are for you to record interruptions that are not charged to one of the teams.
Once you choose the icon, the game clock will stop and the system will prompt you for the team that called the timeout. Click on the [Team] button above the roster to select the team.
The [View] icon is available for you to select at any time. Selecting the [View] icon will result in a system prompt requesting you to choose a team or player. The current statistics for the team or player are immediately displayed on the screen, plus a shot chart.
To find a quick summary of players, to see if any are in foul trouble, just click [View], then the [Team] button and then select the Player Stats tab. On this page of the dialog you will find a box score summary of all player stats. The last column shows the number of Personal Fouls for each.
The [Situation] icon is used to provide an optional further classification of recorded events. After an event has been recorded, its contributing situation may be specified.
This feature is normally used when breaking down and capturing a videotaped game, because during a normal game the events probably happen too quickly to allow time for adding situation information.
The exception to our recommendation of using the [Situation] icon after the game is for Fouls and Penalties. You should use the [Situation] icon for Fouls and Penalties during the game.
The following chart summarizes the situations available for each action.
Made Baskets:
None - No situation to record.
Pts In Transition - Basket off of a fast break.
Pts in Set Offense - Basket scored from a set play.
Freelance - Basket by individual effort.
Pts from Press - Basket made during press by opponent.
Sideline OB Play - Basket made off of a sideline out-of-bounds play.
Baseline OB Play - Basket made off of a sideline out-of-bounds play.
Full Court OB Play - Basket made off of a sideline out-of-bounds play.
Turnovers:
None - No situation to record.
Bad Pass - Turnover off of an inaccurate or uncatchable pass
Fumble - Turnover caused by a player losing the ball
Violation - Three second or other violations.
To record a Situation, press the [Situation] icon immediately after recording the action. The choices will be presented to you, as a list that drops down from the [Situation] icon.
The [Possession Arrow] button may be used to provide an optional identifier to show which team will gain the next possession. Simply click the [Possession arrow] icon to reverse its direction. No game events are recorded when you click on the possession arrow. If possession is being monitored at the scorer's table, you do not need to duplicate their effort.
Add, Change or Delete Any Action
With the Editor, you will be able to modify or delete any action. You will quickly learn to correct mistakes, add and delete actions with the Editor.
To activate the Editor, select the Edit command from the main menu bar. Choose Actions from the list. The Editor will appear. As an alternative to selecting the command from the menu, you may hold the [Ctrl] key down and select the [E] key.
In the example above, we see the Editor displaying Events 482 through 493. Below the spreadsheet a half-court is available for you to change the shot location for shooting actions.
To modify an action, player name, or qualifier, just double-click in the box where the change is to be made. As a result, you will be given a list of choices to select from. Click on the correct replacement. When you have completed your changes, click on the [OK] button.
To modify the time of an action, select the box by clicking once in the box. Then use the arrows underneath the spreadsheet to increase or decrease the minutes and seconds for that event.
To add an action to the game, just select any box (Player Name, Action, Qualifier, Period or Time) in the next action and click the [Insert] button. This will create a duplicate of the action you selected. You can then edit the new action. To delete an action, just select any box on the row to be removed and select the [Delete] button.
To change an action to a Field Goal Attempt, use the shot chart. First, select any box on the row containing the action to be modified. Select the shot location and the action will be modified to Field Goal Attempt. When you select the [Made] icon, that action will be changed again to 2Pt Made or 3Pt Made. You can also use the [Putback] icon to change it to a Put Back action (counts for a 2 point Field Goal and a Rebound.
Use the Qualifier column to further break down how the scoring was done or how turnovers were created. Just double-click on the qualifier to be changed.
If you make a change, and want to return to the originally captured information, press [Cancel] to exit the editor.
Using the Editor Filters
Look to the lower right area of the Editor and you'll see an area named Filters. When you click on the button to the right of Player Name, you'll be able to select any player from either team. Once selected, all actions will temporarily disappear from view except those actions which were credited to the selected player. This is a great tool for finding an action previously recorded to a player.
Similarly, when you click on the button to the right of Action, you'll be able to choose a particular action to display. All other actions will temporarily be removed from display in the editor.
Filters do not permanently change any actions. They only allow you to change what actions are displayed in the editor so that you can find the one you need to change.
Shortcut for Editing Recent Actions
You can quickly bring up the Editor if the action you want to change is still displayed in the Action List. With your mouse, point to the action you want to change. Double-click with your left mouse button.
If you record an action incorrectly, you can easily remove it as long as you haven't recorded another action after the mistake. To remove the last action, simply select the Edit command on the main menu bar. Then choose Undo. You can use the Undo command to remove several consecutive actions.
As an alternative to using the Undo command: Hold the [Ctrl] key down and press the [Z] key. By repetitively pressing the [Z] key, while holding down the [Ctrl] key, you can remove several actions very rapidly.
The clock will stop at the end of each period and the display will stay at 0:00. If this is not the final period of play, the label under the clock will change to: [Start New Period]. Pressing the [Start New Period] button automatically resets the clock with the appropriate number of minutes for the next period.
If the official game clock has time remaining, while your clock in CyberSports for Basketball shows 0:00, you may continue to record actions until the official clock catches up with yours. Do not press the [Start New Period] button until all actions for the current period of play have been entered. You can edit the times for these actions later.
At the end of a period of play when the teams switch ends of the court, you may feel the urge to run around to the other side of the court so that your CyberSports for Basketball display is coordinated with the direction the teams will be going. Please resist this temptation.
Notice that underneath the During Game menu, there is a selection called Switch sides. The Switch sides command will automatically adjust the display of the game module so that the team and player displays will match the action on the court.
[Player] buttons, [Team] buttons, and player rosters are switched to opposite sides of the display. The team names, their scores, number of fouls, the action display list and the [Jump ball] indicator are also switched.
Sometimes the court diagram can become cluttered with shot markers. You can clear the court diagram by using the Clear Shot Chart command on the drop-down menu after selecting During Game. This action does not delete the shots and shot attempts that have been recorded. You will not lose any information for the reports. Only the display of these actions is erased.
Major enhancements to the Game Module reports for Version 4 have been achieved. Last year a reporter from the Chicago Tribune mentioned that he's getting better information from the High School Tournament (where they use CyberSports for Basketball) than he gets from the Chicago Bulls! Take some time to review these reports in depth and plan on including them into your half-time strategy.
When you click on File in the Game Module, you will find a new option called Export HTML.
When you select this option, you will see the following dialog appear:
The reports we recommend you consider posting on your Website are the Game Program, Box Score, Game Leaders, and the Normalized Leaders reports. All of these reports are listed on the Game Reports tab. There are a number of others available under the Team Reports page but you may find the information too revealing about your team for broadcast.
We will be expanding this capability in the future to include as many of the reports as possible. We'll leave it up to each school to determine which reports to post on their Websites.
To create the file, just select the report you want to export and click the [OK] button. Then you'll see the Windows Save As dialog as shown below:
Use this dialog to save the .html file to
This process takes only a few seconds, allowing someone else to post the files to your Website during the game. The entire sequence can be done in 10 seconds.
Be sure to create an appropriate name for each file saved.
For Game reports, just select the desired report, choose the appropriate Time Span and click [OK] to print.
Click on Media Package to print all the reports that have been defined for Media Package in Preferences.
For individual Team reports, select the Team Reports tab. Then choose the Team, Report and Time Span. Click on [OK] to print.
For individual Player reports, select the Individual Reports tab. Select the Team, the Player, and the Time Span. To print a report for every player, click on the box next to Print with All Players. Click on [OK] to begin printing.
Individual Reports consist of a combination Shot Chart and Box Scores plus other information relative to the individual performance of that athlete.
Use the Print Preview option to display the report on your screen before sending to the printer. If you don't like the display and want to change the font, just click [Close].
You can print reports directly from the Print Preview screen by selecting the [Print] icon on the menu bar. You can also use Print Preview to review the reports on the computer when you do not have a printer available.
You can change the size and style of the font by choosing the [Font Selection] button on the Reports page of Preferences. You will notice that large Font sizes may distort the presentation of the reports. Some experimentation will help you find the best font for your printer.
We recommend that you start with the Arial font for reports, with a font size of 12. CyberSports for Basketball will adjust the font size for some reports to a smaller size so that the data will fit on the paper.
Each of the reports are listed below with a brief description of each.
The game program is a single page form that lists the players for the two teams along with some basic information about the players and the team. This form is in a basic style used for a Pre-Game program for the news media, parents and fans.
In printing the game program there are two optional single line fields that can be entered in the dialog for Game Setup dialog. The two fields are the Program Title, and the Postscript.
The Program Title appears at the top of the printout, and the postscript will appear at the bottom of the form. Refer to the picture in Entering Pregame Information to learn how to modify this information.
By experimenting with other Windows fonts you can create a variety of attractive game programs. You might also consider designing a cover sheet with your school's mascot and colors.
The Box Score is similar to the basic statistical data that is printed in newspapers as a capsule summary of a game. A Box Score is a single page form that has a variety of useful information. This form is perfect for faxing to the news media as a game summary. This report is required by most four-year colleges.
The Box Score begins with a header containing the date, time, location and teams that played in the game. The players for both teams are listed.
Using the Preferences option under the File menu, you can choose to have 2 and 3 point field goals combined or reported separately. You can also choose to have zeros printed in fields where no statistic was recorded or you can choose to leave them blank. We suggest you try it both ways and select the option you find most visually appealing and easier to review.
Other Stats presented on Box Score Report:
| Total Field Goals Made, Attempted & % for each period and Game Cumulative. | |
| Free Throws Made, Attempted & % for each period and Game Cumulative | |
| Pts off Turnovers | Total Rebounds |
| 2nd Chance Points | Team Rebounds |
| Pts off Bench | Offensive Rebound % |
| 3Pt Points | Defensive Rebound % |
| Free Throw Points | Total Rebound % |
| Technical Fouls | Period-by-period scoring summary |
| Points per possession | Dead ball Rebounds |
The Game Leaders form is used to highlight the statistical leaders for the game in a variety of categories. This form lists the top five players for each team in 16 different statistical areas. This report can be printed on 1-2 pages, providing a thorough overview of the game leaders.
You will find this report to be very helpful in identifying key differences between your team and your opponent. This is also a key half time report for coaches, as well as being a great report for fans.
Statistics Reported are:
| Scoring | Field Goals | Blocks |
| 3Pt Field Goals | Free Throws | Charges Taken |
| Total Rebounds | Fouls | 2nd Chance Points |
| Offensive Rebounds | Steals | Defensive Assists |
| Defensive Rebounds | Assists | Productivity |
| Turnovers |
The Normalized Game Leaders report provides information about the same categories as the standard Game Leaders report. However, this report looks at the player statistics differently.
With the Normalized Game Leaders, the numbers used are determined by comparing the statistics of each player with his/her minutes played. It then projects what these stats would have been if that player continued to play the entire game with the same level of performance.
This is a fair comparison of players who played a lot of minutes. The results become somewhat unreliable for players who didn't play very much. These results can also be affected somewhat by the lineups each player was chosen to play with.
CyberSports for Basketball will provide you with a number of tools to use which allow you to consider possibilities that would not have been available otherwise. How these tools are used in the decision making process is entirely up to the coaching staff.
Most coaches find that these tools enable them to try new combinations and to test different approaches to difficult situations.
The Play by Play (All) report is a multi page report that lists all of the actions that were recorded in the game in chronological order. The page is broken into a left side and a right side, one for each team. The actions for Team 1 are listed down the left half of each page and the actions for Team 2 are listed down the right half of each page. Separating the actions of the two teams, in the center of each page, is the time the action occurred. This time is taken from the CyberSports for Basketball Game Clock.
For example,
| Team | Player | ## | Name | Action | Score | Clock |
| 5-10 50 | 1-4 25 | 15 | J. Stephens | FG Made | 14 | 08:24 |
This is an example of one action reported. This example would appear on the left half of the page, with the Clock time in the center of the page. Under the team column you see that the team has made 5 of 10 from the field, for a 50% shooting average. The player is 1-4, for a 25% shooting average. The players' number is 15 and his name is J. Stephens. Under Action, you find the name of the action. The final column, next to the clock time shows the running total with Stephens' team having scored a total of 14 points.
This report will take several pages to complete. At the end of each period, and at the end of the game, a summary of the stats are reported for each team. Statistics reported for each team, at the end of each period include the following:
| Offensive Rebound | Assists | 3 Pt. Field Goals |
| Defensive Rebounds | Steals | Field Goals |
| Total Rebounds | Shots Blocked | Free Throws |
| Turnovers | Tech. Fouls | Fouls |
This report is similar to the Play by Play (All) report, except only baskets scored and Assists are reported. This is a much shorter and simpler form that provides a chronological scoring summary of the game. From this form it is easy to determine where scoring runs occurred.
This report should be very useful as a quick postgame review. Look it over before talking with reporters, fans and parents, after the game.
A scoring timeline which charts the advantage attained by either team at any time during the game is included in the Play by Play report. When the timeline crosses the centerline of this graph, the score was tied. When it reaches 14 points above the centerline, then that team was 14 points ahead. You'll find it interesting to identify momentum shifts in the game.
The Team Comparison report consists of a 27 easy to review graphs, which visually communicate the strengths and weaknesses of each team. The graphs are grouped into the following categories:
| Scoring | Ball Handling |
| Shooting | Defense |
| Rebounding | Miscellaneous |
The media package is a quick method to print all the reports you want to give to the media. Using the Preferences dialog you can select which reports to include in the Media Package.
The Media Package can also be used to create an excellent product to offer to fans and parents. It provides the answers for most of their questions and will keep them thinking and talking for several days.
The Team Roster is a customizable printout of the information for a single team. It contains the name, position, height, weight, class, experience and school/home town for each player. It also lists the coaches names and the athletic director.
This report can be customized in the Edit Team dialog. The title fields can be changed (like general manager instead of athletic director), and various fields can be included or removed from the report.
You should use the Team Roster report before the game to present your lineup to the official scorer and the media.
The Team Goals report takes the twelve goals established in the Preferences dialog and charts them against the game performances in a graphical format. Each graph will contain a range of values along the left edge with a horizontal line drawn across the graph for the team goal value. At the bottom of the chart will be six letters:
| A | The average, or sum for the entire game |
| 1, ... 4,OT | The average, or sum for each period of the game |
A vertical bar is drawn for the game and for each individual period, where the height of the line indicates the value for the period.
For some statistics, such as the Number of Assists for the game, you will notice 2 horizontal bars, instead of one. For these, use the upper line to measure the goal for the entire game (Column A). Use the lower horizontal line to measure the period by period progress toward the overall goal.
The shot chart is an extremely valuable coaching tool. You may print shot charts for either team or for any individual player.
Two types of shot charts are available. You can print shot charts for individuals or teams which report the exact shot locations (as recorded by the statistician), or you can choose to print the shot chart which groups all scoring and attempts into 15 shooting zones.
With CyberSports for Basketball you can print the exact position shot charts to show the player numbers on the chart. If the player number is enclosed in a circle, the shot was made. If the player number is not enclosed in a circle, the shot was missed.
By grouping the shots, the coach can easily compare shooting percentages for each area. The shots taken, shots made and shooting accuracy are all displayed in each of the fifteen zones.
In addition to the shot chart, this report presents a detailed breakdown of how the scoring occurred. For each of the following, the number made and attempted, the %, and the number of points are reported:
| 3 Pt FG | Layups from Left | Layups from Right |
| Putbacks | Dunks | |
| Overall shooting | Free Throws |
For visual analysis of the game, five pie charts are available on the shot chart:
The Lineup Combination Analysis report is an exciting new report for the Coach to analyze the effectiveness of different groups who played in the game. This analysis can be used to measure the effectiveness of different combinations of players for Scoring, Rebounding, Playing Time, and Defensive Pressure.
Lineup Combination Analysis is a very effective scouting tool to have mastered when the playoffs begin.
The report presents seven categories:
If you have the opportunity to record a couple of games in which a key opponent played, you'll be able to adjust your lineup according to whether your opponent has a strong (or weak) scoring lineup in the game, or has a strong (or weak) rebounding lineup in the game.
You also may discover that you have a potentially strong scoring or rebounding lineup which doesn't get much playing time as a group. You might want to increase their playing time to test whether their effectiveness is sustained with more playing time. The lineup analysis tools will be a valuable addition to your practice sessions, for this reason.
The Detailed Game report contains additional information for the team that you won't find in the Box Score report.
This report has three sections:
| Field Goal shooting | FG |
| Field Goal Percentage | FG % |
| 3 Point shooting | 3 Pt |
| 3 Point shooting percentage | 3 Pt % |
| Free throw shooting | FT |
| Free throw shooting percentage | FT % |
| Points scored | Pts |
| Productivity Rating | Prod |
| Situational Scoring (Set Offense) | Set |
| Situational Scoring (Freelance) | Fre |
| Situational Scoring (Turnovers) | Trn |
| Situational Scoring | Sit |
| Offensive Rebounds | ORB |
| Defensive Rebounds | DRB |
| Total Rebounds | TR |
| Assists | AST |
| Turnovers | TO |
| Assist / Turnover ratio | A/T |
| Blocked Shots | BS |
| Steals | ST |
| Charges Taken | CH |
| Defensive Assists | DA |
| Jump Balls Won | JW |
| Technical Fouls | TF |
| Minutes Played | Min |
| Points scored, based on a Normalized Game | Pts |
| Productivity for Normalized Game | Prod |
| Rebounds for Normalized Game | Reb |
| Assists for Normalized Game | Ast |
| Overall Shot Rating | OvSR |
| Bad Shots Taken | BadSR |
| Contested Shots Taken | ConSR |
| Open Shots Taken | OpnSR |
| Easy Shots Taken | EzSR |
| Personal Fouls | PF |
| Offensive Fouls | OF |
Naturally, the Normalized Game stats will be more accurate for players who played the most minutes and less reliable for players who played very little.
The Productivity values are the summation of the good and bad things the player's did during the game. The values reported also reflect the value assigned to each statistic in the Preferences dialog, by the coach.
Individual Lineup Analysis evaluates how a team performs when a particular individual is in the game. The stats reported are actually for the team, not for the individual. This report will uncover those players that do not have great individual stats but are making the team excel because of their presence on the court.
You may find that there are players without great individual stats, yet create opportunities for the team, and other players that have great individual stats, yet tend to cause the team to decrease in effectiveness.
This is the underlying purpose of the Individual Lineup Analysis, to find hidden talent and to identify problems so that corrective action can be taken to benefit the team. You will need to do some experimenting to support your findings, but this report should provide you with some excellent information to consider.
The Individual Lineup Analysis ranks the players in each of the following categories:
| Playing Time | Points per Possession Allowed |
| Point Differential per Minute | Defensive Efficiency (Stops) |
| Rebound Differential per Minute | % of Ball Handling Errors Forced |
The Player Evaluation allows the coach to create a game report card for each player. This report indicates to the athlete the areas of the game where he/she excelled and the areas that need the most improvement.
The Player Evaluation report is accessed through the Edit Team dialog (PreGame then Game Setup then Teams tab then [Edit] button then Player Info tab then[Player Eval] button). This is a terrific coaching tool.
To access the information for a player evaluation you first select a player from the list and press the [Player Eval] button. This will activate a dialog containing a variety of categories that can be rated from 0 to 10, where 0 is no rating and 10 is perfect.
When the report prints, it will include some game performance information. The game performance ratings use the Team Goals from the Preferences dialog to establish the ranges. The Team Goal is given a value of 8, and 5% is added to get each higher or lower rating value.
You can use the Report Setup tab contained in the Edit Team dialog to change some of the information included in the player evaluation report. By default, the Scholastic Performance section is not printed but this can be included using the [Report Setup] tab.
This report is automatically added to the player's cumulative evaluation in the Season Module, when the game is added to the Season File.
A player evaluation for the season may be obtained in the Season Module. You'll be able to make a terrific package for the Graduating Seniors on your team, using the Game Reports, Season Reports, and Player Evaluations.
The Official's Evaluation is similar to the Player's Evaluation. This report may contain the ratings for all referees on a single page. This report is defined by the Coach's subjective appraisal of the Official's performance during the game.
Your league officials may find it useful to collect these reports from coaches, when evaluating the performance of the officials.
The Scoring Distribution Pie Chart (on the Shot Chart reports), shows scoring broken down according to free throws, field goals, and three point field goals. This pie chart is an excellent means to determine a player or teams' profile.
Scoring breakdown is an advanced CyberSports feature. On the shot chart the Scoring Breakdown pie chart shows how a team or an individual player is scoring points. The options for this chart include
Example 1. In one example, you might find the chart shows a balanced offensive attack in a winning effort.
Example 2. In this example you see a large increase in individual freelance (1-on-1) play, and a reduction in set offense and fast break in a losing effort against this same opponent.
The means by which a team is scoring its points can be recorded either by using the situation icon during a game. This may be too difficult for most statisticians. Scoring Breakdowns can also be added after the game, using videotape and the action editor.
CyberSports has incorporated a shot rating option when entering shot locations. You can activate this option in Fileà Preferences. Offensively, shot ratings allow the coach to know what type of shots are being taking. Defensively, the coach can determine the amount of pressure being exercised against opposing shooters.
There are four ratings for shot attempts:
Shot ratings for individual players and teams are reported in the Detailed Box and Shot Chart reports. Ratings are very useful when evaluating individual and team performance. Great players and great teams have a tendency to get Open and Easy shots during the course of the game.
Team shot ratings can be found as quick look pie charts on the shot chart reports.
A team that has good shot selection will have a combined easy and open shot rating of over 50%. A team that forces a lot of shots will have a combined rating of over 50% for contested and bad shots. On offense you want to increase the percentage of easy shots and decrease or eliminate any bad shot attempts.
Looking at the opponent's shot rating chart will allow you to better analyze your team's defensive performance. Defensively, you want to force over 50% contested and bad shots, while eliminating any easy shots. Opponent easy shots are usually a result of poor defensive transition.
At the conclusion of a game, if your opponent must foul, knowing which players to have on the floor, or knowing which opponent to foul (or not to foul) are vital to the outcome of the game.
These critical decisions should not be left up to chance. CyberSports for Basketball's Leaders Report provides the coach with a player free throw percentage ranking of both teams for instant reference.
Don't rely on free throw percentages alone. Having a good free throw percentage does not necessarily mean that a player will be successful in a pressure situation. In crunch time, some of the best free throw shooters are terrible; while some of the lower percentage free throw shooters can excel.
CyberSports for Basketball keeps track of players' end of game performances in the Crunch Time Box Score found in the Detailed Team Report.
Coaches should include this crunch time free throw percentage in determining who they want on the floor at the end of the game when the opponent has to foul.
Rebounding is vital to the outcome of any game. The old adage "who controls the boards, controls the game" is more often true than not. For many years all rebounds were kept under one statistical category.
More recently, rebounding statistics are being broken down into offensive and defensive rebounds. This makes much more sense, because offensive and defensive rebounding require two very different and distinct techniques.
Defensively, the idea is to maintain inside position; while offensively, the goal is to establish inside position. However, breaking the rebounds down into offense and defense is not enough.
Traditionally, the team with the most rebounds has been automatically considered the best rebounding team. In the following example, New Jersey with 888 total defensive rebounds would normally be considered the best.
|
Traditional
|
Def Rebs
|
| New Jersey |
888
|
| Orlando |
768
|
| Cleveland |
749
|
| Houston |
741
|
| New York |
740
|
The new CyberSports for Basketball (Version 4.0) takes a much closer look and analyzes defensive rebounding according to the opponent's missed shots:
|
CyberSports
|
Def Rebs %
|
| Portland (15) |
75.7%
|
| Cleveland (3) |
75.1%
|
| Utah (7) |
72.7%
|
| San Antonio (10) |
72.2%
|
| New York (5) |
71.6%
|
As you can see, using rebounding percentages, Portland (ranked 15th in total defensive rebounds) comes out on top with a whopping 75.7%. New Jersey dropped to 12th.
The results are even more apparent when analyzing the offensive rebounding percentages:
| Traditional |
Off Rebs
|
CyberSports |
Off Reb %
|
| Dallas |
416
|
Dallas (1) |
41.0%
|
| New Jersey |
402
|
Orlando (5) |
35.2%
|
| Los Angeles |
368
|
Sacramento (11) |
33.3%
|
| Cleveland |
365
|
Denver (17) |
33.1%
|
| Orlando |
363
|
Indiana (20) |
33.0%
|
Dallas remained at number one. Orlando moves up to two, with Sacramento, Denver (moving up from 17th), and Indiana (moving all the way from 20th) finishing out the top five.
Offensive Rebounds:
Seattle 18 Sacramento 10
Defensive Rebounds:
Seattle 22 Sacramento 26
Looking at these statistics, Seattle appears to be the better offensive rebounding team, and Sacramento the better defensive rebounding team.
However, if you view rebounding by percentages, you find just the opposite is true:
Offensive Rebound %:
Seattle 20.4% Sacramento 31.0%
Defensive Rebound %:
Seattle 69.0% Sacramento 59.0%
In CyberSports for Basketball (Version 4.0), rebounding percentages are found in both the game and season box scores for easy reference.
Scenario: Your leading scorer has just fouled out with 3 minutes to play and your down six points.
Should you put Smith, Jones or White into the game?
Under the traditional information available to coaches this could be a very difficult decision to make in a critical phase of the game.
| Player | G | PTS | AVE |
| Smith | 4 | 12 | 3.0 |
| Jones | 4 | 12 | 3.0 |
| White | 4 | 11 | 2.75 |
Getting a grasp on what your players can and cannot do is not always an easy matter. It is easy to separate the best players from the worst; but when it comes to evaluating and analyzing the players in the middle, it can become very tough and sometimes almost impossible.
CyberSports For Basketball provides the coach with a closer examination of players' performances based on per minute played.
| Player | PTS | PTS/MIN | NORMALIZED |
| Smith | 12 | 0.20 | 7.94 |
| Jones | 12 | 0.45 | 18.20 |
| White | 11 | 0.24 | 9.42 |
You can see the difference. CyberSports for Basketball automatically calculates a player's performance on a normalized game basis. The Normalized number is a projection of what the player would contribute if he/she had played the entire game at the same level of performance as the minutes actually played. Therefore, if you need some scoring punch in the lineup, Jones would probably be your best sub in this situation.
Normalized statistics are available for your reference and use in all phases of the game. Normalized statistics are found in the season module at the bottom of the Individual Player shot charts, and in the game module within the Detailed Team report (PNG= points per normal game, RNG= rebounds per normal game, ANG= assists per normal game, and RaNG= productivity per normal game).
With Version 4, there is also a Leaders report which is entirely based on normalized statistics.
Most defensive basketball effort goes undetected and unrecorded. However, in modern day basketball, defense is being stressed on all levels. Because of this ever increasing emphasis on the defensive phase of the game, there is a growing need to evaluate and assess it's outcomes.
The defensive assist comes from the Australian National Basketball League, where it is a required league statistic. Defensive assists are credit to players whose defensive effort has resulted in a steal, violation, or turnover. On a single play, such as a trap, more than one player can be credited with a defensive assist.
By selecting the Defensive Assist option in the File Preference menu, CyberSports for Basketball will prompt you, after recording a steal or turnover, for the defensive assist(s). Following are some examples of when to credit player(s) with defensive assists:
Example 1: Player A deflects a pass that player B intercepts. Credit player B with a steal and player A with a defensive assist.
Example 2: Player A knocks a dribble away from his/her opponent. Player B picks up the loose ball. Credit player B with a steal and player A with a defensive assist.
Example 3: Players A and B trap an opponent. Player C intercepts a bad pass created by the trap. Credit player C with a steal and players A and B with defensive assists.
Example 4: Player A on ball pressure-forces his opponent to commit a violation (traveling, double dribble or carrying the ball). Credit the opponent with a turnover and player A with a defensive assist.
Example 5: Player A, pressuring the ball, forces a bad pass that goes directly out of bounds. Credit the opponent making the bad pass with a turnover and player A with a defensive assist.
A Player is automatically credited with a defensive assist when he/she blocks a shot and their own team recovers the ball. No prompt is displayed in this situation.
Last season we've had the opportunity to visit some schools who are using our software. In analyzing their game files, we've found that there are some basic tools you can use to evaluate the quality of the reports you're getting (or for self-evaluation, if you're the statistician).
First, a little background information is required. CyberSports for Basketball records a rebound for every shot attempt recorded. It also records a turnover for every steal recorded. Therefore, the first thing you should accomplish is to assure that every steal and every shot attempt is recorded. These are the two stats to focus on initially. Once that seems to be taken care of, you can go to the next stage of quality assurance.
Once you are consistently recording the scoring, shot attempts and steals, you are doing a pretty good job. Now, we need to make sure the rebounds and turnovers are being recorded properly. Once that has been accomplished, you're doing great. To check on rebounding, simply refer to the number of Team Rebounds using the Box Score report. If the number of Team Rebounds is consistently small and if you're pretty confident that all the shot attempts are being recorded, then you are handling rebounds adequately. If there seems to be an unusually large number of Team Rebounds, you need to work on improving your rebound recording.
First of all, CyberSp