Giving high-tech best shot
Noah’s arc, measured systematically, aims to help improve skills
As a freshman last season at Michigan, Isaiah Livers shot 36 percent from 3-point range. Decent, but not great.
In the offseason, he went to work.
“I was shooting at like 37 to 40 on the angle, and that’s not good,” Livers said. “Now I’m at probably 45 to 48.”
Livers was referring to the arc on his shots, an area he’s tried to improve using an innovative system from the data-service provider Noah Basketball. The high-tech setup at Michigan’s practice facility can give immediate verbal responses, so a player can hear how much arc was on the most recent shot. This season, Livers is shooting 45 percent from 3-point range, the top mark in the Big Ten.
As teams compete in the NCA A Tournament over the next few weeks, games will be won and lost from the 3-point line and the foul line. The Noah system is an attempt to blend old-fashioned repetition with analytics and technology as players strive to improve their shooting.
John Carter, CEO of Noah Basketball, says there are 45 NBA and college customers that have the new version of the system. The Noah system, so named because of the company’s focus on the arc of shots, can actually measure a lot more than that.
Teams can track not only the arc, but where a shot was taken from and where it ended up in relation to the basket. The system can measure if a shot is too far to the left or right — or if it’s too short or long.
The best shots, according to the folks at Noah, enter the basket at a 45-degree angle, 11 inches beyond the front of the rim.
“Now that our database has grown to over 180 million shots, what we’ve found is the number one indicator of a great shooter is left-right consistency,” Carter said. “But a close second is arc consistency.”
A player using the Noah system can take shot after shot — and use the system’s instant verbal feedback to make corrections and build muscle memory.
Virginia is another school that uses the system. The Cavaliers are one of the nation’s top teams in 3-point accuracy. Associate head coach Jason Williford says aside from all the precise measurements, the system can be useful just for counting shots for each player.
“We monitor how many shots they’re taking a day or a week,” Williford said. “Some guys don’t like to hear the feedback. Like, it’ll say ‘45’ or whatever the arc was on a shot, and some guys don’t like to hear that feedback, but they like it because it’s keeping total shots.”