[GoMarquette.com] On The Cutting Edge Of Basketball Technology

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On The Cutting Edge Of Basketball Technology
        

In his first year at Marquette, basketball technology assistant Jake Nelp provides the Golden Eagles with the tools necessary for the team to prepare for upcoming opponents.
        

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Feb. 24, 2009

In his first year at Marquette, basketball technology assistant Jake Nelp provides the Golden Eagles with the tools necessary for the team to prepare for upcoming opponents. Nelp recently sat down to discuss his role and the role that technology plays in today's basketball landscape.

Speaking last week on the contributions that his staff members have made to the basketball program, head coach Buzz Williams had this to say about Nelp:

“Jake probably gets not enough credit because nobody ever sees him, but he may be one of the most talented individuals on our staff in relation to what his responsibilities are. He has been great getting us film to teach our guys.

“I think when you are with a mature group like our team this year, they can absorb as much as you can give them from a film standpoint. Having Jake has been great for our program.”

Nelp spent the 2007-08 season as the video coordinator for the University of Arkansas’ women’s basketball program. He spent the previous two seasons as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Indiana Wesleyan.

A 2001 graduate of Colorado State, Nelp served as both a student assistant and director of basketball operations at CSU, where he worked under former CSU head coach and current MU assistant coach Dale Layer.

Q&A With Jake Nelp, Basketball Technology Assistant
What is your official title?
Jake Nelp: Basketball technology assistant, although I am still waiting to meet the director. I'm just referred to as the video guy. I just kind of make sure we get all the film in, cut it up and make sure it gets to the coaches and make sure the players can see it. It's a lot of organizing and facilitating.

How did you end up at MU?
JN: I talked to Buzz as soon as I heard that (Tom) Crean took the (Indiana University) job, or started texting him because that was the only way to get to him. Eventually we stayed in touch long enough and he had made up his mind and it wasn't a decision for me because I knew that if I was offered, I was coming.

Why is it important to keep up with the ever-changing demands of the industry?
JN: It's like keeping up with your iPod, just making sure that you keep up with whatever is going to make your job easier. The better I am, the quicker I can get the stuff to coaches and the quicker they can look at it and get it to the players. 

When I first started doing it, it was going deck-to-deck with VHS. You would have to find the times that you wanted, fast forward to that time and hit play and record. You would then have to go back-and-forth all over a tape trying to get it in order on the second tape. Going from that to digital video was the biggest thing.

What does your job and video play in the coaches' game preparations?
JN: It's giving them something to look at, which is the bottom line. I've got to be working a few games ahead so those coaches who have their scouting reports coming up have their stuff. We break everything down -- offense/defense, out-of-bounds plays, after timeout plays and stuff like that.

I am working with two or three coaches at a time. Maybe working with one guy getting him his stuff and then the next game working with the other guy making sure he gets what he needs, going back and forth and cutting everything down, making sure we've got the right clips in there.

Coaches are assigned opponents to scout at the beginning the year and it is up to me to get them the video. Once I have gone back and forth on it, we will go in and put title slides in and text overlays so you can read what you are about to see as it comes up. I have to work with them on what they want included.

What all is involved with a video exchange?
JN: The whole system is a little complicated, I guess. At the beginning of the year you have to plan out everybody's schedule and get to everybody in one fell swoop. It is as simple as getting letters out and double checking on it. It is kind of a weird deal because you are relying on someone else to do your job. If they don't do it, you have to find a way to do it, so it is kind of frustrating at times. 

We record every game that is on TV. We have six DVR receivers in the video room for the satellite so we can get two games at a time on each. At the same time, a lot of those teams that we play in the preseason, like Chicago State, aren't on TV that much.

It is hard to do with any scout because you have to track down their most recent game and every conference has their rules. I wouldn't trade a Georgetown game to Purdue because I wouldn't trade a BIG EAST game.

I would say that 90 percent of our work on BIG EAST comes from us recording the games. There's a hand full that comes from ESPN 360 and that is not broadcast anywhere, so we will request those, or if the DVR screws up. A lot of guys get it and we all try to help each other out and make it easier.

What are any industry standards involved with film exchange?
JN: Since I have been around everybody has their own rules on trading film or requesting it. Where I worked last year, they started doing online film exchange within the conference. Basically you had to post all of your games within 24 hours and then I could access, like with the BIG EAST, I could access any one of Georgetown's games they had played all year within 24 hours after they played the game. A lot of the video guys around the league are pushing for it but we need to decide who has the final say in it, athletic directors or coaches.

How do you go about getting film on a possible post season tournament opponent?
JN: Hope that they are willing to look the other way on some of their conference guidelines. Unless you are playing a low major program, they are probably going to have a couple of their games broadcast. A good thing is a lot of the championship week stuff is on TV. You are probably going to be able to get a game or two on your own and then it’s just trying to find someone who will help you out.

How does video work in college differ from the NBA?
JN: I'd say for the most part it is fairly similar, at least the guts of it, what you are trying to get and working with the coaches to build the scouts. They work a little differently because they see the same teams all the time, and there is stuff that carries over from year-to-year.

We may not know a team as well so we are trying to build a scout, because (for instance) they have a new coach. They get into a little more detail with some more guys who know what is going on, with the staff that they hire, as opposed to a manager breaking stuff down.

What technologies and programs do you rely upon on a daily basis?
JN: The software is where most of the money is spent. We have got to get stuff so that the coaches have it on their laptops and can travel with it. The company is XOS Technologies and they do a lot of stuff in baseball and hockey and football and are kind of all over the place.

We've got the new platform they put out this year and there are 30 other college programs and I want to say that all but one NBA team has it. They know what they are doing, they have been around as long as anybody. We have a touch screen where you can store everything, which is kind of like a matrix, linked to six DVRs and all 16 DVD recorders.

Software for all the new stuff was like $80,000 and then we had to buy new hardware with it. We have talked about doing video iPods maybe next year when we know what we are doing and settle into a rhythm.