The Nike ball...

[Cousin Jeffrey]

I first heard about this Nike ball business in today's Thunder & Lightning.

The nerd in me became curious. So I decided to bust out a spreadsheet. Beware of nerdery to follow...

As best I can tell from available photos, we played with a Nike ball vs. Arizona State, Saint Mary's, Dayton, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Alabama. A Wilson ball was used in all other games. If someone can correct me here, feel free.

My first look was at our FG% or 3FG% with a Wilson ball and a Nike ball. Both are significantly lower with a Nike ball:
FG%
Wilson - 50.2%
Nike - 40.5%
3FG%
Wilson - 42.1%
Nike - 23.1%

Surely there's more to it, right? There must be something else like the strength of our opponent, or how well our opponents defend, that has a stronger effect. Perhaps the stronger teams on our schedule just happen to use Nike balls? So I decided to look at the correlation between our FG% and various variables.

First, a word about correlation coefficient. It ranges between -1 and +1. +1 would indicate a strong positive correlation (as one variable increases, the other increases). -1 would indicate a strong negative correlation (as one variable increases, the other decreases). 0 indicates no correlation.

Here's what I found, in terms of the correlation coefficient. Remember, coefficients closer to +/-1 show a stronger correlation.

	FG%	3FG%
Ball used	0.636	0.624
Game Location	0.538	0.400
Opponent win%	-0.222	-0.042
Opponent FG% defense	0.346	0.334
Opponent RPI	0.241	0.049

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For ball used, I gave Wilson a value of 1 and Nike a value of 0.
For game location, I gave Home a value of 1, Neutral a value of 0, and Away a value of -1.

This says that the ball used has a stronger correlation with our shooting success than where the game is played, how good our opponent is, or even how well the opponent typically defends.


Seems like there's something to this Nike ball...

Feel free to criticize my methods. I'm only an amateur statistician.

 

[FQDawg]

What's the difference in the two balls?

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

What's the difference in the two balls?

On Thunder & Lightning, they said that Nick Weatherspoon said the Nike ball is more slick.

 

[hatfieldms]

I am honestly shocked the ncaa doesn’t make everyone use the same ball

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

Data collected by Syracuse University sports economist and professor Rodney Paul and student Evan Weiss suggests Kowalczyk has a point: the changes in ball brands do matter to games.

https://www.toledoblade.com/College/2018/02/16/Ball-does-lie-NCAA.html

 

[MSUDC11]

There does appear to be something to this theory, but it’s not going away. Four of our five remaining road games are against Nike schools. Maybe the answer is just practicing more with Nike balls, but we’ve gotta figure something out. It’s not like we can put an asterisk at the end of the year by all the games where a Nike ball was used, they all still count the same.

 

[Rayburn8]

What's the difference in the two balls?

You walk in the Sanderson with a Wilson ball and a Nike ball and ask the students playing there what they want to play with they will all say Wilson.

Nike balls are ***, they are slick and slip out of your hands easily. They are just overall poorer quality to Wilson balls. Wilson balls have much better grip.

 

[RocketDawg]

Did you run any stats for free throws? Apparently Alabama is a Nike ball school, and neither team could shoot free throws worth a crap last night, and we couldn't shoot 3's (usually our strong suit).

 

[mstateglfr]

What's the difference in the two balls?

Ill pile on. Nike balls suck...balls. They are terrible. Ive owned one and had to play with one for a handful of months...just bad overall. They are soft to the touch, but the grip is awful.

A Wilson Solution is the best basketball around- hands down. If someone cant get their hands on a Solution, then a Wison Evolution is good. After that, the Spalding TF1000 which seemingly every HS team uses is next best.
The Nike Elite and Hyperelite basketballs are about 18th and 19th down on the list of what I would like to use, right after a glow in the dark outdoor basketball.



On a related note, every NBA Spalding leather basketball Ive used has been unimpressive compared to the Wilson Solution. The Wilson is easier to handle, softer, and has more comfortable channels.

 

[Xenomorph]

God help us if we ever have to hit a Nike ball with our Adidas bats.

 

[Bulldogg31]

I’d be interested to see overall shooting percentages in all NCAA games played with a Nike ball vs games played with a Wilson ball.

I’d be willing to bet ALL teams shoot better with a Wilson ball. Think of all the average shooting teams that come to the Hump and have above average shooting nights. It’s actually pretty common, at least to my memory.

 

[rynodawg]

That’s interesting, I had never payed any attention to the brand of basketball until this week. Didn’t even realize there were so many brands, including Adidas. Personally I’m glad we use the NCAA tourney ball, Wilson, which should help us by a small statistical margin if we can ever make it there.

 

[maroonmania]

I am honestly shocked the ncaa doesn’t make everyone use the same ball

Are at a minimum all use the same ball within the conference you compete in. Pretty ridiculous there isn't some continuity there. Feel is huge in shooting a basketball.

 

[PineGroveBully]

Now I remember why I hated statistics, but that is interesting. I'd be interested to see if you pulled say 10 random teams and put them through the same calculations and just see how comparably better or worse they shot with the Nike balls as opposed to the other brands.

 

[PreacherDog]

I first heard about this Nike ball business in today's Thunder & Lightning.

The nerd in me became curious. So I decided to bust out a spreadsheet. Beware of nerdery to follow...

As best I can tell from available photos, we played with a Nike ball vs. Arizona State, Saint Mary's, Dayton, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Alabama. A Wilson ball was used in all other games. If someone can correct me here, feel free.

My first look was at our FG% or 3FG% with a Wilson ball and a Nike ball. Both are significantly lower with a Nike ball:
FG%
Wilson - 50.2%
Nike - 40.5%
3FG%
Wilson - 42.1%
Nike - 23.1%

Surely there's more to it, right? There must be something else like the strength of our opponent, or how well our opponents defend, that has a stronger effect. Perhaps the stronger teams on our schedule just happen to use Nike balls? So I decided to look at the correlation between our FG% and various variables.

First, a word about correlation coefficient. It ranges between -1 and +1. +1 would indicate a strong positive correlation (as one variable increases, the other increases). -1 would indicate a strong negative correlation (as one variable increases, the other decreases). 0 indicates no correlation.

Here's what I found, in terms of the correlation coefficient. Remember, coefficients closer to +/-1 show a stronger correlation.

	FG%	3FG%
Ball used	0.636	0.624
Game Location	0.538	0.400
Opponent win%	-0.222	-0.042
Opponent FG% defense	0.346	0.334
Opponent RPI	0.241	0.049

<tbody>
</tbody>

For ball used, I gave Wilson a value of 1 and Nike a value of 0.
For game location, I gave Home a value of 1, Neutral a value of 0, and Away a value of -1.

This says that the ball used has a stronger correlation with our shooting success than where the game is played, how good our opponent is, or even how well the opponent typically defends.


Seems like there's something to this Nike ball...

Feel free to criticize my methods. I'm only an amateur statistician.

My brother-in-law (State grad) works as a engineer at Wilson Sporting goods. He could give us a great take. I remember him saying that they went to the NCAA showing that some of the Nike balls were not compliant to NCAA standards and the NCAA just granted a waiver to allow ball to be used. I referred this discussion to him and hopefully he can offer something to the pack.

 

[Dawgbite]

Now I remember why I hated statistics, but that is interesting. I'd be interested to see if you pulled say 10 random teams and put them through the same calculations and just see how comparably better or worse they shot with the Nike balls as opposed to the other brands.

When i was at State I called that class Sadistics!

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

What's the difference in the two balls?

The Nike ball hangs a little lower and has a mole on it.