GoDuke.com basketball site could be future of college athletics

DURHAM, N.C. – Somewhere near Krzyzewskiville, and a long-distance jump shot from the bluestone façade of Cameron Indoor Stadium, a group of digital-media types demo what may be the most sophisticated web site ever for a college basketball team.

They've just put the finishing touches on GoDuke.com, a comprehensive guide to Duke men's basketball history. It's a virtual encyclopedia of the fabled basketball program, chock full of video, charts, statistics and side-by-side comparisons of stars from different eras -- dating to the 1930s. (Duke coaches still rely on game film, scouting and practice to prepare for opponents.)

Duke's ambitious web site could be a model for college athletics. Football programs at Tennessee and Mississippi, as well as basketball departments at Kentucky and Notre Dame, have expressed interest in adopting the Duke model.

"It's the next wave of visualized data," says Ryan Craig, director of digital media for Duke University Athletics here. "It's the NCAA's version of Sabermetics," he says, invoking the term for the empirical analysis of baseball, especially statistics that measure in-game activity.

A unique feature, called SportVU, records every movement and action of a player during a 40-minute game. In all, 792,000 data points for the game's participants are plotted. With a few clicks, an athlete can be evaluated based on shooting, spacing on the court, speed, dribbling and other factors. A video component of each play is available in a small screen within the program.

Duke's ambitious web site could be a model for college athletics. Football programs at Tennessee and Mississippi, as well as basketball departments at Kentucky and Notre Dame, have expressed interest in adopting the Duke model.

The intersection of elite athletes and data parsing is becoming as common in sports as videotape review and pregame shoot-arounds. Every major league is increasingly driven to find a sliver of an edge in training and in-game performance. "We're reaching an inflection point, where tech is staring to change the game," says Kevin Brillant, a Duke University MBA student involved in the project.

For Duke University, synonymous with academics and basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, the partnership with software giant SAP and NTT Data was a slam dunk, says John Underkoffler, director of alliances at NTT Data.

The new technology is part of a multi-phase project at Duke Athletics to develop a tool that is "by Duke fans, for Duke fans," Craig says, adding the site is to deepen engagement among alumni, casual followers and the rabid Cameron Crazies. Advertising on the site helps pay for its operation.

On a recent Monday night, the Blue Devils added to their glossy resume of four men's national championships and a top-5 ranking.

In the victory over Elon, Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor celebrated his 19th birthday with a rare double-double of 25 points and 20 rebounds. The improbable stat line, no doubt, was immediately entered into GoDuke.com's database. It will be daunting for future Blue Devils to duplicate.