NCAAMB FAQs

What format are date fields presented in?

When we present date only values we present these in the ISO 8601 standard format.
ex: 2013-04-03
We use these for attributes that have date and no time (such as birthdate). For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

What format are the date/time fields presented in?

All of our Date/Time attributes are in UTC, presented in the ISO 8601 standard format.
ex: 2013-04-03T18:15:00+00:00
For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

How do I locate the TTL (Time to Live)/cache on an API endpoint?

The cache (in seconds) can be accessed in the returned header information on each RESTful API call, under cache-control.
ex. cache-control: max-age=1, public, s-maxage=1 or
cache-control: public, must-revalidate, max-age=120

Note that, for select game-centric endpoints, the TTL may adjust when an event is live. This information is available for each endpoint on our developer portal.

What game statuses can I expect to see in the feeds and what are their definitions?

Here is a list of the valid game statuses you can expect to see, and their definitions.

scheduled - The game is scheduled to occur.
created – The game has been created and we have begun logging information.
inprogress – The game is in progress.
halftime - The game is currently at halftime.
complete – The game is over, but stat validation is not complete.
closed – The game is over and the stats have been validated.
cancelled – The game has been cancelled. No makeup game will be played as a result.
delayed – The start of the game is currently delayed or the game has gone from in progress to delayed for some reason.
postponed – The game has been postponed, to be made up at another day and time. Once the makeup game is announced, a new game and ID will be created and scheduled on the announced makeup date. You should request the scheduled feed(s) regularly to identify the re-scheduled makeup game(s).
time-tbd – The game has been scheduled, but a time has yet to be announced.
if-necessary – The game will be scheduled if it is required.
unnecessary – The series game was scheduled to occur, but will not take place due to one team clinching the series early.

Are on-court players available for play-by-play events?

On-court player data is only available for selected full coverage games:

Selected Associated Press Top 25 regular season games
Selected conference tournament games
All March Madness games

If “track_on_court” has a value of “true,” on-court player data will be available for that game.

Do full coverage games and extended boxscore games contain the same set of statistics?

No. We do not support the following statistics for extended boxscore games:

Biggest Lead
Coach Technical Fouls
Fouls Drawn
Most Unanswered Points
Most Unanswered Points Own Score
Most Unanswered Points Opponent Score
Offensive Fouls
Points in the Paint Attempts
Points in the Paint Made
Points in the Paint Percentage
Team Technical Fouls

What are the Period Types I can expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid period types you can expect to see:

half
overtime
quarter

What are the player experience values I can expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid player experience values and their definitions:

FR – Freshman
SO – Sophomore
JR – Junior
SR – Senior
GR – Graduate Student

What player positions can I expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid player positions you can expect to see.

What player primary positions can I expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid player primary positions you can expect to see.

Are game statistics available for all teams during the regular season?

Game statistics are available for all Division I teams, regardless of the coverage level on the game. However, game statistics will only be available for non-Division I teams if the game is covered via our full coverage offering.

Are seasonal statistics available for all teams during the regular season?

Seasonal statistics are available for all Division I teams.

What player statuses can I expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid player statuses you can expect to see.

ACT – The player is on the team’s active roster
NWT – The player is no longer with the team
SUS – The player is suspended
DUP – Duplicate player profile

What are the valid season types?

Here is a list of the valid season types and their definition:

reg – Regular season
ct – Conference tournaments
pst – Post-season

What post-season national tournaments do you cover?

We cover the NCAA National Tournament (March Madness), the CBI, CIT, and NIT. Here are the coverage levels for these tournaments:

March Madness – All games covered live with full coverage.
NIT – All games covered live with full coverage.
CBI – All games covered live with extended_boxscore coverage.
CIT – All games covered live with extended_boxscore coverage.

How are you covering the new experimental rules for the 2016-17 NIT (National Invitational Tournament)?

When a team reaches the double bonus during a half, a "double bonus" attribute appears in the Play-By-Play, Game Summary, and Game Boxscore feeds with a value of "true." When the fouls reset at halftime or at the 10:00 mark of the half, the double bonus attribute is removed from these feeds. If a team reaches the double bonus again, the double bonus attribute will reappear with a value of true.

During the 2016-17 NIT, the “bonus” attribute will not be used.

How do you plan to cover the conference tournaments games?

All conference tournament games, available via a reliable broadcast, will be done via our full coverage offering.

What is the scale of the X Y coordinates?

The court we use is 1128 by 600. The scale is in inches.

Why does the team_basket attribution in the play-by-play feed not match the basket orientation (left vs. right) in the broadcast or game tracking that I'm viewing?

Our team_basket attribution is set to match the orientation of the local television broadcast, which is on the opposite side of the scorer's table. The team_basket attribution may not match the orientation used by the particular broadcast or game tracker that you are viewing.

If you want to provide a perspective from the scorer's table, you will have to map the coordinates so that the coordinates attributed to left side of the court are attributed to the right side of the court on your end (and vice versa).

What are the valid events types tracked in the play by play feed?

Here is a list of the valid event types you can expect to see.

clearpathfoul - <charged_to> clear path foul (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
deadball - <given_to> rebound (deadball)
defensivethreeseconds - <charged_to> defensive 3 seconds violation
delay - <charged_to> delay of game violation
ejection - <given_to> ejected from the game
endperiod - End of <nth period/half>
flagrantone - <charged_to> flagrant 1 (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
flagranttwo - <charged_to> flagrant 2 (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
freethrowmade - <taken_by> makes <free_throw_type> free throw <attempt>
freethrowmiss - <taken_by> misses <free_throw_type> free throw <attempt> (<charged_to> lane_violation)
jumpball - Jump ball <reason>. <possessor> vs <challenger> (<possession> gains possession)
kickball - <charged_to> kicked ball violation
minortechnicalfoul - <player_name> technical foul
offensivefoul - <charged_to> offensive foul (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
officialtimeout - Official timeout
openinbound - Open inbound <team_name>
opentip - <home> vs <away> (<possession> gains possession)
personalfoul - <charged_to> personal foul (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
possession - <possession> gain possession
rebound - <given_to> <offensive/defensive> rebound
review - Play review (<reason>, <outcome>)
shootingfoul - <charged_to> shooting foul (<drawn_by> draws the foul)
teamtimeout - <team_name> <duration> second timeout
technicalfoul - <charged_to> technical foul (<foul_type_desc>)
threepointmade - <taken_by> makes three point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type> (<assisted_by> assists)
threepointmiss - <taken_by> misses three point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type>> or <blocked_by> blocks <taken_by> three point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type>
turnover - <charged_to> turnover (turnover_type_desc>)
tvtimeout - TV Timeout
twopointmade - <taken_by> makes two point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type> (<assisted_by> assists)
twopointmiss - <taken_by> misses two point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type> or <blocked_by> blocks <taken_by> two point <shot_type_desc> <shot_type>
warning

When we will the NCAA Tournament schedule be available?

The initial release of the NCAA Tournament schedule will be released within 2 hours of the completion of the Selection Sunday telecast. Here is a sample of how the schedule will look on Selection Sunday. Please note, this is based on the 2013 NCAA Tournament: https://developer.sportradar.us/files/ncaamb_selection_sunday_example.xml

When are scores added to the schedule feeds?

Final scores are added to the schedule feeds when the game status changes to completed.

What are the possible values for record type?

Any conference alias can be used as a record type for win/loss records. In addition, we track the following record types:

Below 500 - Win/Loss record against teams with a winning percentage below .500
Conference - Win/Loss record against team’s own conference
Home - Win/Loss record for team’s home games
Last 10 - Win/Loss record in team’s last 10 games
Last 10 Home - Win/Loss record in team’s last 10 home games
Last 10 Away - Win/Loss record in team’s last 10 away games
Over 500 - Win/Loss record against teams with a winning percentage above .500
Overtime - Win/Loss record for overtime games
Road - Win/Loss record for team’s road games
Ten Points - Win/Loss record for games decided by 10 or less points
Three Points – Win/Loss record for games decided by 3 or less points
Top 25 - Win/Loss record against teams who were in Associated Press Top 25 when the game took place

What formulas are used to calculate efficiency and efficiency game score?

Here are the formulas we use:

Efficiency: (Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks − Missed Field Goal Attempts − Missed Free Throw Attempts - Turnovers)

Efficiency Game Score: (Points) + (0.4*Field Goals Made) - (0.7*Field Goals Attempted) - (0.4*Free Throws Missed) + (0.7*Offensive Rebounds) + (0.3*Defensive Rebounds) + (Steals) + (0.7*Assists) + (0.7*Blocks) – (0.4*Personal Fouls) – (Turnovers)

Note: For this team efficiency calculations, statistics attributed to the team rather than a player are not counted (i.e. team rebounds, team turnovers, team fouls, etc.).

How are home/away team designations determined for neutral site games, and are those designations consistent across Sportradar products?

In the NCAAMB API, there are no "official" home/away designations for neutral site games. For neutral site games, we set the neutral site value to true.

<game id="4f16ff1b-4b9e-4aea-918e-46fd6c129964" status="scheduled" coverage="full" scheduled="2020-12-21T03:00:00Z" neutral_site="true" conference_game="true" home_team="e52c9644-717a-46f4-bf16-aeca000b3b44" away_team="9fccbf28-2858-4263-821c-fdefb3c7efa3">
   <time_zones venue="US/Pacific" home="US/Pacific" away="US/Mountain" />
   <venue id="8880a26a-485d-424f-a53f-bedae94b36ba" name="T-Mobile Arena" capacity="18000" address="3780 South Las Vegas Boulevard" city="Paradise" state="NV" zip="89158" country="USA" />
   <home name="Washington Huskies" alias="WASH" id="e52c9644-717a-46f4-bf16-aeca000b3b44" />
   <away name="Colorado Buffaloes" alias="COLO" id="9fccbf28-2858-4263-821c-fdefb3c7efa3" />
   <broadcasts>
      <broadcast network="Pac-12 Network" type="TV" />
   </broadcasts>
</game>

As a result, this game will count towards Washington's and Colorado's neutral site record and not their respective home and away records.

In the NCAAMB API, we use the home/away team designations present when we initially ingest the schedules. We will not change the home/away designations after the schedule is initially published. This does not apply to games that have been changed from a neutral site game to a traditional home/away game, we may change home/away team designations in these cases.

Since other Sportradar products may publish schedules at different times and use different fixture management workflows, they may (for neutral-site games) display different home/away team designations.

What shot type descriptions can I expect to see in the feeds?

Here is a list of the valid shot types with the descriptions you can expect to see for each shot type.

Jump Shot (This is the only shot type for 3-point attempts)

bank
driving
driving bank
driving floating
driving floating bank
turnaround
turnaround bank
turnaround fadeaway
turnaround fadeaway bank
floating
fadeaway
fadeaway bank
stepback
stepback bank
pullup
pullup bank
running
running pullup

Layup

alley-oop
cutting
cutting finger roll
driving
driving reverse
driving finger roll
finger roll
putback
reverse
running
running reverse
running finger roll
running alley-oop
tip

Dunk

alley-oop
tip
driving
driving reverse
putback
running
reverse
running reverse
running alley-oop
cutting

Tip Shot

Hook

bank
driving
driving bank
turnaround
turnaround bank

How do you handle forfeit games?

We mark a forfeit game with a status of closed. The final score is input as 2-0 in favor of the team not forfeiting.