The next phase of college basketball analytics "looks remarkably like any normal" broadcast video -- just with AutoSTATS technology having "rudimentary skeletons superimposed on players as they move around the court," according to Kyle Johnson of the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. AutoSTATS, an artificial intelligence company that is part of developer STATS LLC, uses its "motion capture technology to add skeletal poses to players on regular game broadcast feeds." The program turns "actual player movement into trackable data." The technology can "track player speed, court spacing and even which play a team is executing." It can be used on "any game broadcast in recent history, provided it meets AutoSTATS’ quality standards." STATS VP of AI Patrick Lucey said, "Using this technology, we can actually digitize the video, query it, do analysis and compare players over a long period of time." AutoSTATS could be an "ideal solution for the college game, which faces financial barriers when it comes to player-tracking technology." If AutoSTATS can "catch hold of college basketball," and it is already being used by the Magic to "evaluate potential draft picks, then game-changing spatial data would be available for coaches and players." Johnson notes AutoSTATS is "far from a finished product, but the company’s goal is clear: to digitize every college basketball game in recent memory by the end" of '19 (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 3/21).
