Two syllables introduced to college basketball in the early 2000s have had a lasting impact on the game: Ken Pom.
These syllables represent Ken Pomeroy, who helped revolutionize analytics in academia more than two decades ago.
“I started doing this in 2003 and 2004,” Pomeroy told NSN in Salt Lake City, where he lives and where Nevada will play a first-round NCAA Tournament game against Dayton on Thursday. “I was really getting interested in analytics. I’m a computer geek. There was a lot of baseball analytics out there at the time. I was looking for stuff for college basketball. I couldn’t find anything, and I kind of started doing it myself as a hobby and it kind of took off over the years, which was nice.”
The Pomeroy site may have started with humble roots, but it’s now the gospel of college basketball. It’s one of the most widely used websites in the sport and has become a selling point for NCAA Tournament hopefuls looking to break into the 68-team field. Pomeroy’s analytics site is used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee and pulls statistics by every Division I staff member.
“He’s a genius,” Nevada assistant coach Kory Barnett said. “He’s incredible. The fact that he has one of the best websites that all the coaches use across the country and he’s giving it at the price he’s giving it at is pretty incredible. It’s something you can spend days and days on and still get more and more information.”
Pomeroy didn’t necessarily have high hopes for the site when it started. He simply wanted to satisfy his desire to learn more about college basketball teams. Site designis relatively simplistic but offers a treasure trove of information on all 362 Division I schools.
“I didn’t really think about it when I started,” Pomeroy said of his site’s popularity. “It was just a personal hobby for me to find out, ‘Hey, what are these teams good at? What are they not good at?’ There really wasn’t a resource like that at the time. And so I had no idea that it would get to this point, but gradually, over time, more and more news spread. It’s quite interesting to see how he grew up. »
Barnett, who oversees Nevada’s defensive efforts, said Pomeroy’s website is a lifesaver in preparing game plans. This is especially true for non-conference opponents like Dayton, who Nevada will face with the highest stakes on Thursday. It’s an easy download that allows you to get to know a crew as quickly as possible before diving deeper into the film.
“Honestly, a lot of your game planning relies on that,” Barnett said. “‘What do teams do? How do they do it?’ This gives you a quick overview and you can then continue to dive deeper and deeper not only into individuals and their staff, but also into your own team. One of the first things I look at as a defensive scout is, “Hey, who guarded them best? And it’s easy to go to their defensive efficiency on their website, view it and go watch those games. You find out how they kept them and then we try to adapt it to that.”
Nevada head coach Steve Alford said analytics is key to his program, but joked that the eye test remains important.
“There comes a point in our meetings where all these analyses, all these graphs are great,” Alford said. “But then coach (Craig) Neal and I will add, ‘He can really play, period.’ Or: “He’s not that good.” We’re also getting back to the old school stuff. »
Nevada is one of 13 teams nationwide that rank in KenPom’s top 40 in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency, which could bode well for this week’s NCAA Tournament.
“That means they’re balanced,” Pomeroy said of Nevada, which ranks 34th overall in KenPom’s rankings. “What’s striking about Nevada’s profile is that it’s not very exciting in the sense that they don’t necessarily have an obvious strength, but they do everything well. They don’t have an obvious weakness. They don’t have an obvious strength. But they do everything. It’s an unusual profile but probably quite satisfying for the coaching staff because pretty much everything they do, they’re pretty competent at.”
Pomeroy said he was excited to watch the NCAA Tournament games in his hometown this week. He expects a tight, close game between Nevada and Dayton and has an affinity for the Mountain West given that the Virginia native earned a graduate degree in atmospheric sciences from Wyoming, which was an original MW member 25 years ago.
“I remember the day I heard the news that the Mountain West was formed,” Pomeroy said. “I was like, ‘This is great.’ And obviously the roster has changed a little bit over the years, but the Mountain West is back and really in as good a position as it’s ever been with these six teams (in the NCAA Tournament). The rankings have been a little disappointing, but they have some good matchups, and this is really a great opportunity for them, with the Pac-12 dissolving, to sort of establish themselves as the obvious top basketball spot in the West. The next four rounds could really be a springboard into next season if many of these teams can pick up wins here in the first and second rounds. »
While college basketball’s true stars are on the court, Pomeroy’s name is almost as synonymous with college hoops as any other. And he certainly has a big fan among the Nevada staff.
“I could live on KenPom,” Barnett said. “You can spend days and days there. You can look at referee rankings. You can talk about a thousand different things. He does a lot and he does an incredible job.”
You can watch our interview with Ken Pomeroy below.
Interview with Ken Pomeroy
