Talking Analytics with Alex Stern (#008)

25th Hour Ideas

Alex is currently working towards his Master's in Data Science at the University of Virginia. Not only has he been working for the UVA football team in an analytical capacity, but he also presented his own research at the NFL's Big Data Bowl in 2020.
I came across his paper and was eager to reach out to him. Our discussion covers the deficiencies of traditional box scores, judging information in context, predicting individual vs team performance, and how all this work will go from behind the scenes to on the field.
Links mentioned:
ESPN analytics survey
Virgil Carter - Operations Research on Football
Pulling the Goalie: Hockey and Investment Implications
Data, Decisions, and Basketball with Sam Hinkie
Inside Football Podcast with Bill Polian
Transcript
Newsletter
Timestamps:
1:51 Alex’s time at Big Data bowl and his direction for research

4:56 First exposure to data analytics

6:52 Traditional box scores

9:44 Analytics and fantasy sports

12:19 Judging information in context

15:52 Player vs team modeling

19:38 EPA vs WPA

24:38 Increasing variance as the underdog

30:02 How does this work go from behind the scenes to on the field?

35:44 Unpopular roster management decisions

38:42 Individual performance, success rates, and tracking data

40:48 Adopting analytics, communication

44:05 Spin on 25th hour question

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