Monthly Archives: February 2013

Do NFL Teams Think the Combine Matters: Offense

Posted on February 28, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

By Anthony Zonfrelli Last February, HSAC member Kevin Meers analyzed which combine events (namely 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical leap, broad jump, 20-yard shuttle, and 3-cone drill) actually translate into future NFL success for each position. The original article used … Continue reading →

Posted in NFL Football | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Lost, But Not Least: Wrestling at the Olympics

Posted on February 25, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

By Anthony Zonfrelli The worldwide wrestling community was shaken last week when the IOC ruled that it would remove the sport from the 2020 Olympics. This decision left many in disbelief—after foot racing, wrestling, added in 708 B.C., is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Olympics | Tagged , , | 32 Comments

A Quantitative Forecast of the Oscars

Posted on February 22, 2013 by mooneyar

By Ben Zauzmer The Oscars are dramatic, exhilarating, entertaining, and…mathematical? In an awards show famous for upsets, plot twists, politics, and preference, I set out to determine if numbers alone can accurately model the Academy’s voting patterns. Last year, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Analyzing the Lagged Effect of College Football Recruiting

Posted on February 21, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

By Kevin Meers Player projection is tricky, a process that gets less accurate when we have limited knowledge of the players we are trying to evaluate. Given our particular lack of information on high school players, in comparison to what … Continue reading →

Posted in NCAA Football | Tagged , | 8 Comments

The RPI is Not the Real Predictive Indicator

Posted on February 19, 2013 by John Ezekowitz

Despite taking quite the beating recently, the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is still the official and favored ranking system of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee. The RPI does not take into account margin of victory, making its predictive accuracy … Continue reading →

Posted in March Madness, NCAA Basketball | 22 Comments

Links We Like From The Week of Feb. 11

Posted on February 15, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

Our own John Ezekowitz teams up with Luke Winn at Sports Illustrated to examine Michael Jordan’s college years The beautiful game finally gets ball tracking technology Steve Staude at FanGraphs works through improving linear weights Tom Tango goes up against Wages of … Continue reading →

Posted in Weekly Links | Leave a comment

Grading the Accuracy of ESPN and Football Outsiders’ Power Rankings

Posted on February 12, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

By Cameron Dowd Hoards of NFL fans obsess over their team’s “Power Ranking”. Every Tuesday, thousands of people flock to the comments section of ESPN’s newest Power Rankings – mostly yelling through their keyboards, screaming that their team is actually … Continue reading →

Posted in NFL Football | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Links We Like: Good Reads From the Week of Feb. 4

Posted on February 8, 2013 by mooneyar

What was the best Super Bowl ever?: Deadspin’s Reuben Fischer-Baum comes up with a definition for “watchability” and applies it to past Super Bowls. Denver is the NBA’s most well-rounded team: Over at NumberFire, Zach Warren looks at lineup balance … Continue reading →

Posted in Weekly Links | Leave a comment

Links We Like: Good Reads From the Week of Jan. 28

Posted on February 1, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

Visualizing paths to Cooperstown, via FlowingData. Brian Burke studies whether being clutch is a persistent skill in the NFL. Just how little do Super Bowl ads cost major companies? Our own Professor Goldsberry looks at which NBA players own which spots on the floor. The Guardian … Continue reading →

Posted in Weekly Links | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Profile of an NFL Fanbase: Are all 13 year old girls bandwagon fans?

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Ben Blatt

by Ben Blatt This is the final post in a series of three on NFL fandom. The first two can be read here and here. To the typical male football fan it may be depressing, but certainly not surprising, to … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, NFL Football, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments