Ken Pomeroy is Upset With CBS/Turner Over March Madness Coverage
If you follow college basketball or made a bracket this year, odds are you've heard of Ken Pom Dot Com. It's a popular site that ranks college basketball teams based on a bunch of advanced metrics I won't try to explain because, well, I'm no advanced metrics expert here.
What I am an expert at is seeing something spicy on social media and turning it into a blog. This one is about Ken Pomeroy, the creator, owner, facilitator, etc., of the famous kenpom.com, calling out CBS/Turner on Twitter for not mentioning his website by name despite referencing his stats throughout the tournament.
And don't just take Pomeroy's word for it. I also noticed this too. If you listened to the broadcasts and think back on the times announcers said things like, "seconds per possession," you too will remember not hearing, "that stat came from Ken Pom Dot Com." They definitely referenced it during the LSU/Michigan game and didn't say anything about Ken Pom.
Anyway, here's Pomeroy's point.
Seconds per possession, average height, minutes continuity, adjusted offense/defense/tempo are not facts like FG%. They are computed using someone's home-grown formulas, for which you paid basically nothing to get that info. (2/4)
— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) March 23, 2021
And it's not just me. CBS/Turner has been citing other esoteric stats without credit. In addition to being the right thing to do, as a fan, I'd love to know where I can get that information. In short, CBS/Turner's policy of citing things w/o attribution is lame. Do better. (4/4)
— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) March 23, 2021
In the wild World Wide Web West, things like this happen all the time. Not everyone links back to the original source, which is the same thing as an announcer not mentioning which site they pulled the stat from in a broadcast. Sometimes they do, like on ESPN when they pull a stat from ESPN Stats & Info. Best believe they say where they got it.
But that's because it benefits their site. Ken Pom has no deal with CBS/Turner. Why would they mention his name? Well, because he did the work and they're using his stats for free. Give the man the credit he deserves.