Basketball is a game of evolution.<\/p>\n
From the National Basketball Association (NBA) merging with the American Basketball Association (ABA), to the creation of the three-point line, to the recent news that the NCAA tournament is going to expand to 76 teams, this sport is constantly going through change.<\/p>\n
The biggest shift in the game may be happening now in plain sight as technology is slowly altering the sport. Artificial intelligence (AI) touches nearly every corner of basketball, including during the games themselves.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t always the case. In the early days, coaches used paper box scores and stats to help guide them toward correct choices. Video replay emerged in the 2010s and other types of\u00a0 technology have been integrated into the sport. AI has recently emerged and now there is often a member of the staff on the bench, laptop in hand, looking at film during the game. In some programs, they have a coach on the bench who is using technology to decide if they should challenge a call based on AI data.<\/p>\n
Technology is being used off the court as well. Multiple companies have provided AI services for college basketball programs and players. Portal Database is a website that allows programs to search for any college basketball player in the portal, helping to match a player to a new roster.<\/p>\n
Former Valpo assistant men\u2019s basketball coach Pat Baldwin has seen the transition into emerging technology firsthand as his profession has changed over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I see the biggest impact is behind the scenes,\u201d Baldwin said. \u201cAI will help with roster construction, especially as Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and financial considerations become more complex. It\u2019s going to influence how programs evaluate players, what they\u2019re worth, how they fit and how to allocate resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pick and Roll AI is a website that provides coaches with real-time in-game adjustments based on advanced analytics. The service uses data generated from each game and indicates proper substitutions and line adjustments on the fly. Services such as this could change the sport, as they could eliminate aspects of coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key is balance,\u201d Baldwin said. \u201cUse AI as a tool, but don\u2019t let it replace the human side of coaching and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basketball fans have long debated the different eras of the game. Is Michael Jordan better than LeBron James? Is Bill Russell better than Shaquille O\u2019Neal? With a technological shift occurring beneath the surface, another debate could be coming soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 20 years, AI will be embedded in every organization that generates revenue, including college athletics,\u201d Baldwin said.<\/p>\n
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of The Torch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Basketball is a game of evolution. From the National Basketball Association (NBA) merging with the American Basketball Association…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[2126,7,217,231,772,1544,90716],"class_list":["post-731372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-ai","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-nick-lombardi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116555022572820282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}