Official Scoring Miscues

[YKCornelius]

I am one of those folks that enjoys scanning the boxscore after watching a game to see if it supports or contradicts what I just saw. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was dumbfounded to see in the boxscore that Nika was only credited with four assists. So, I went ahead and compared the play-by-play taken from the UConn Huskies website against the replay of the UConn - Georgetown game (thanks MJL243!). I contend Nika should have been credited with seven total assists, not four. Furthermore, I concluded there were many no-doubt-about-it errors and omissions. By my count, at least 15 going against both teams. Below are the 11 that affected the Huskies’ side of the scorebook. I welcome others to review the replay and offer their opinion on my conclusions.

All times below reflect what was remaining on the clock displayed on the replay, not the play-by-play account posted to the UConn Huskies website.

First Quarter:
2:53 – Nika not credited with an assist on the hand-off to Aubrey under the basket for the easy lay-up;
2:39 – Intercepted pass by Nika erroneously attributed as a steal by Aubrey who, although near Nika, didn’t have any part in the play;
1:46 – Turnover by Dorka erroneously attributed to Aubrey. After receiving an ill-advised pass from Aubrey, Dorka then dribbled three times into a triple team before losing possession;

Second Quarter:
4:03 – Ayanna’s missed jumper (her only shot in several games) erroneously attributed to Aubrey;
4:01 – On Ayanna’s missed shot, an offensive rebound was credited to Aaliyah when she was fouled by Moore, even though both players were nowhere near the ball;

Third Quarter:
7:18 - Aubrey was not credited with an assist on a beautiful screen-and-go to Dorka for a lay-up;
6:53 – Georgetown’s block on Lou’s running shot in the lane was erroneously scored as a missed 3-point attempt by Lou. Her stats should reflect 0-3 not 0-4 from three;
5:27 – Aubrey was not credited with an assist on Dorka’s catch-and-shoot jumpshot;
3:23 – Nika was not credited with an assist on the catch-and-shoot jumpshot by Aubrey;
2:17 – Ayanna was not credited with an assist on a catch-and-shoot jumpshot by Dorka;

Fourth Quarter
8:12 – Nika was not credited with an assist on her thread-the-needle pass to Dorka in the low-post for a spinning lay-up.

All in all, the Huskies had six additional assists that were not captured into the official boxscore. I would argue that there were only three UConn baskets that were not assisted (Aaliyah’s 2nd quarter steal and layup; Amari’s 2nd quarter delayed 3 pointer; and Aubrey’s 3rd quarter slashing jumper in the lane). Overall, the boxscore should show UConn with 19 assists on 22 field goals.

Not a good night for the official scorer….

 

[UcMiami]

I've never done what you did for a whole game, but did notice specifically that no assist was awarded for Nika's hand off for Aubrey's lay up.

Official scorers are local and to my eye are inconsistent in terms of assigning assists and in attributing steals, and turnovers but generally seem to get shots and rebounds correct. If your notes above are correct (and I assume they are) it seems pretty egregious and one wonders if alcohol was involved.

I always thought that the play-by-play was a separate process than the official scoring, and I could see that if one person is doing both it might cause problems with focus.

 

[Ralph]

I don't suppose they are allowed to go back, watch the game again and make corrections?

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Yikes. Are you sure we lost to SC?

 

[HuskyNan]

Holy cow, haven’t we run out of things to complain about yet?

 

[mrmojack]

It's a good thing they got the final score right, we could have had three straight losses.

 

[my2cents]

Its not Little League, the scorers should be professional.

 

[TWG236]

YKCornelius, I have kept score of every UCONN game since 1995. I then check box score after the game to compare my stats. The discrepancies between the official scorer and myself was by most the since I began keeping score. I also had Nikka with 7 assists. While watching the game I follow it on ESPN game track, because the announcers often fell to provide statistics during the game.

 

[sun]

Below is the 2022 - 2023 NCAA Statisticians' Manual.
Section 5 covering assists says that there is latitude about what is considered to be an assist. IDK anything about it but for instance, it's possible that a handoff may not even be considered to be an assist at all. It says that the pass must provide a positional advantage that the scorer wouldn't have had otherwise. Yet YKCornelius thinks that a handoff should be an assist.
I suppose that a person could always contact the NCAA and file a complaint if they believe that there were errors made.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Basketball/2023EZ.pdf

 

[and one]

Holy cow, haven’t we run out of things to complain about yet?

Come on HuskyNan, you of all people know the answer to that question. There is no nit too small to pick.

 

[psconn]

Makes a difference when you consider players moving up some all-time lists. Especially someone with a story like Nika's.

 

[Zarathustra]

Just "WIN", baby! Especially those last 6 games!!

 

[MSGRET]

Just "WIN", baby! Especially those last 6 games!!

I want them to win their next 14 games!!

 

[JellyBean]

Holy cow, haven’t we run out of things to complain about yet?

Come on, now. You know better than that.

 

[YKCornelius]

Below is the 2022 - 2023 NCAA Statisticians' Manual.
Section 5 covering assists says that there is latitude about what is considered to be an assist. IDK anything about it but for instance, it's possible that a handoff may not even be considered to be an assist at all. It says that the pass must provide a positional advantage that the scorer wouldn't have had otherwise. Yet YKCornelius[ thinks that a handoff should be an assist.
I suppose that a person could always contact the NCAA and file a complaint if they believe that there were errors made.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Basketball/2023EZ.pdf

Sun, to be clear, I think that particular hand-off (more like a short toss?) from Nika to Aubrey should have been an assist.

Let me thank you up front for posting the link to this year’s version of the NCAA Basketball Statisticians’ Manual.
That said, the criteria you cite is only part of the considerations the official scorer should be evaluating. Here are two citations straight out of the opening paragraph of Section 5 (Assists):

“A player is credited with an assist when the player makes, in the judgment of the statistician, the principal pass contributing directly to a field goal (or an awarded score of two or three points).”

“Such a pass should be either (a) a pass that finds a player free after he or she has maneuvered without the ball for a positional advantage, or (b) a pass that gives the receiving player a positional advantage he or she otherwise would not have had.”

In layman’s terms, there are two elements necessary for an assist. Both should be present for an assist to be credited. The first is a pass that results in a field goal (or an award of points after an interference call). That first element is reflected in the first quote. The second element can probably be adequately explained as “intent” (i.e., the passer intends for the receiver to shoot). Conditions (a) or (b) reflected in the second quote comprise the second element, and allow for the statistician to differentiate from passes that just happen to precede a score (see the Approved Rulings that describe the latter).

IMO, the only pass that MIGHT not have been considered an assist (based on a beginner’s interpretation of A.R 1(b)) would have been Nika’s pass into Dorka in the fourth period, where Dorka faked left and then spun right for the basket. However, I would contend that an assist is normally given on that play 9 out of 10 times across women’s (and men’s) college basketball. Heck, it is the bread-and-butter behind Caitlin Clark’s assist totals with Monica Czinano!

Glad to read that at least one other poster (TWG236) thinks the same way I do regarding the assist totals. Overall, I think it was a challenging night for the official scorer in all aspects. A tough job for sure, but someone has to do it….

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Holy cow, haven’t we run out of things to complain about yet?

Sorry, Nan, but I have to totally disagree with you on this one. I always follow the stats while listening to the radio feed, and I can tell you the 1st quarter stats were a disaster from the start. Aaliyah's turnover to start the game was initially credited to Georgetown's #3, Victoria Rivera, while Graceann Bennet's subsequent missed jumper and soon-after rebound were credited to Caroline Ducharme! Neither Rivera or Ducharme even played in the game. It took until the 3rd quarter before those were fixed. Also, when the media timeout was called with 4:25 reamaining in the 1st, the stats feed showed 5:55 remaining. Less than a minute later this was corrected to 4:25, but if you look at the published play-by-play, at 5:55 remaining there was a foul called on Jada Claude, and the next entry is a missed free throw by Aaliyah at 4:25 remaining! Where'd that 1½ minutes go?!? There were also quite a few things mentioned by Bob Joyce on the radio that never showed up on the stats.

The stat-keeping was much better in quarters 2-4, and there is no doubt that the final score was accurate and unaffected by the errors, but this was the worst I've ever seen from scorekeepers, and I am well convinced that the final stats, especially for the 1st quarter are still incorrect.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Eagle fans are ready to crucify an official for making a correct call because it did not agree with their perceptions. Scoring of assists and rebounds (and sometimes blocks) are areas where scorers have a degree of latitude. It comes down to the individual scorer's visual perceptions. Except for the occasional scorer, these perceptions are filtered through the scorer's love for the home team versus their dislike/distrust of the visiting team. Typically the end result of the stats will have errors when viewed through the visiting fans visual perceptions. The bottom line is the scorer is the final arbiter and whatever they sign off is the 'real' stats.

 

[sun]

The manual states:
"Philosophy. An assist should be more than a routine pass that just happens to be followed by a field goal"

Maybe latitude is sometimes created when a player with the ball gets stopped or trapped by the defense and must pass the ball which just happens to lead to a score.
The statistician then decides that because the pass was forced that somehow it was only a routine pass made out of defensive necessity, thereby not truly resulting in an improved positional advantage. Then using that reasoning they don't want to award an assist.
It's like when a baseball umpire shrinks the strike zone. Some umps expand it while other umps shrink it. It's important that an umpire be consistent.