#190: Professor Sameer Deshpande is at the forefront of sports analytics

Sameer Deshpande is an assistant professor of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Much of his work is applied in sports settings, where he has emerged as a leader in the field. Sameer is a BIOS fellow and key partner as we’ve continued deepening the connections between sports and research. In this conversation, we discussed:

1.     The type of research Sameer conducts. Using probability to quantify all of our uncertainty. Bayesian Statistics.

2.     Sameer’s journey to academia. Math competitions. Mentors and supporters along the way. Early studies that got him started in the field.

3.     The relatively small data analytics community in professional sports. 

4.     Study on the “plate discipline” of MLB players.

5.     Study on surface-type and concussions in the NFL.

6.     Study on associations between football participation during adolescence and mental health during young adulthood.

7.     Study estimating NBA players’ impacts on their teams’ winning. (Dirk was #1.)

8.     Teaching statistics and “meeting students where they are.”

9.     Being a BIOS fellow: “It’s super interesting and inspiring…Working in sports research can be isolating…There are people who I’ve met through BIOS who I never would have spoken to and there’s a lot of fruitful collaborative work that can happen…BIOS has been a great way for connecting people…BIOS embraces the cross-cutting nature of this campus.”

10.  Research that’s coming up: Spatial variation/heat maps for NBA players – modeling that allows us to use data smartly in new ways; Decathlon – Can new limits be reached and what would it take?

11.  The Dallas Cowboys.