Welcome
Issue number thirty-five.
A heavy edition football (both versions) edition that sandwiches an in-depth research paper for modeling player and team performance in basketball. From the American side, 21 numbers to review the NFL season, and a look at all of the GOAT's QB records. From across the pond, a tutorial for creating an expected points visualization and a project that walks through all the steps of a data science project.
This Week's Lineup
The 21 Numbers to Know From the 2021 NFL Season
Bite-sized data storyline chunks from this NFL season. My two favorites are Trevon Diggs and his 11 INTs being the most since 1981, and Deebo Samuel's nine rushing TDs, the most ever for a WR.
Tom Brady's QB Records
A 538 summary piece that shows Brady's ranking amongst statistical categories, and then compares his legacy to Peyton from a rolling four-game Elo average by career game number.
Modeling Player and Team Performance in Basketball
Research Paper that focuses on the methods for quantifying and characterizing basketball gameplay from both the team and player levels. Grab a fresh cup of coffee for this one, it's good.
Soccer Expected Points Tutorial in R
A step-by-step guide to creating a bump chart for the progression of Expected Points (xP). Includes data set links and code to reproduce.
Soccer Data Science Stages Project Example
This piece walks through the stages of a data science project using soccer as its crutch. Abbreviated peek at problem formulation, data collection and cleaning, analysis and modeling, and presenting the findings.
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Unexpected Points Added is curated and maintained by Patrick Hayes.
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