Project Fabulous Buneary

Preregistration of analyses

Analysis #1

One analysis we will perform deals with how a player’s game score may contribute to their likelihood of scoring a buzzer-beater shot. Since many players appear in the dataset more than once, this analysis would entail averaging the game score of each player for each buzzer-beater shot they have made. With this information, we can look at the relationship between number of appearances in the dataset and average game score to see if there is a correlation between these two values. We can analyze this relationship graphically, and we will also create a regression model to see how well game score accounts for the variation in number of buzzer-beater shots made. We have hypothesized that those players who have more buzzer-beater shots than others will have higher average game scores than those who have scored fewer. Alternatively, it may be the case that game score and number of buzzer-beater shots are not correlated, and the players who hit them may have just been lucky or performed well under pressure despite having an average or below average game.

Analysis #2

Another analysis we plan to perform with looks at the average distance that a player was away from the basket when they made the buzzer-beater shot. With this analysis, we will calculate the average distance away from the basket of each shot. We can represent this graphically and show how the average distances have varied from year to year. Because our dataset only shows successful buzzer beater shots, we have hypothesized that the average distance away from the basket was probably relatively small in order for the player to have been able to successfuly make the shot. Furthermore, as the sport of basketball has aged, it is possible that in recent years the average distance from the basket of buzzer beater shots has increased as players develop new tactics and become better at the game. On the other hand, it is possible that the average distance has been stagnant over time because at the end of a close game, adrenaline can run high or luck can be involved, making it more likely that a player can successfully score a normally inconceivable shot.