Basketball Scoring For PalmOS® Handhelds
Hoops, the basketball scoring application for PalmOS® allows you to do real-time scoring of basketball games. Hoops is simple to use--the optimized one touch interface does the right thing, updating all stats necessary for each game event, allowing you to easily keep up with the fast pace of the game. Your selected individual stats are always displayed on-screen; a game summary, detailed team and individual stats are one button away.
Hoops runs on all PalmOS® devices with PalmOS® 3.0 or greater.
Download Hoops
In the evaluation version of Hoops all features are available, but the playing time is recorded in minutes only, not minutes and seconds, and statistics will stop incrementing after reaching a count of five.
Hoops4 uses a different format for saving and restoring data than previous versions. There is no support for restoring games from previous versions of Hoops into Hoops4.
Registering Hoops
To register Hoops and enable all its features, purchase Hoops at
Handango.com. When you purchase,
you will be asked to enter your Palm User ID. The Palm User ID (sometimes
called the HotSync ID or name) is used to generate a registration code that
you enter into Hoops using the Register menu item.
The registration code is given to you when you purchase from
Handango.com. If you purchase from
stickmansoftware.com using Paypal, be sure to enter your Palm User ID in
the "Enter Palm User ID" box on the Payment Review page.
You can find your Palm User ID by running the unregistered version of Hoops on your device and selecting "About" from the Hoops menu. Scroll to the end of the about message and you will find your Palm User ID.
The main screen of Hoops shows the application name hoops and the current game score at the top of the screen. The arrow pointing to a team name is the possession arrow--possession will go to that team on the next jump ball.
The main portion of the screen contains a legend line showing the statistics that may be recorded for the home team, followed by the names and statistics of the players currently in the game. This is followed by the same information for the visiting team.
When hoops is first run a new game named "default" is created, the home team is named "Home" and the visiting team named "Visitor". The default players are numbered with numbers normally not allowed in games. This allows you to begin scoring a game with default numbers, and rename the players as you go, and you probably won't get duplicate players.
Tapping on the hoops title or the menu silk button brings up the hoops menu. See Menu Functions below for detailed description of menu options.
Here is an example of a hoops roster:
My Team
1 Player1
2 Player2
3 Player3
4 Player4
5 Player5
6 Player6
7 Player7
8 Player8
9 Player9
10 Player10
11 Player11
Many scorekeepers want to list the players in numerical order to make it easy to find a player in the scorebook. To do this, enter the player's number first on the roster line, then their name on the same line. Hoops will sort the display of players in the game in numerical order.
Hoops maintains its own database of rosters that you enter, but you may also import MemoPad memos that are formatted as rosters. To do so, use the menu item "Import Memo" on the Rosters screen. Enter the name of the memo (this is the team name, the first line of the memo), and Hoops will import the roster. To access this roster, touch the "Open" button and select the roster by name.
You may find it easier to enter your rosters on your PC by creating them in the Palm Desktop MemoPad.
You may also delete rosters from Hoops by selecting "Delete Roster" from the Roster screen memo and selecting the roster to delete. This only deletes rosters from Hoops, rosters that are entered in the MemoPad are still available for importing. If two rosters are named the same, both will appear in the list, and the order will be consistent. So, to determine which to delete, open the first, determine if it is the one you want to delete, and if it is, then select the first one in the delete rosters list.
You may want to create your rosters using the MemoPad portion of the Palm Desktop. This makes typing and editing them easier. Then, in Hoops, select "Rosters", then in the Rosters screen, select "Import Memo" and type the name of the roster (the first line of the Memo, which should be your team name). Then, touch "Open" on the Rosters screen and open your imported roster.
To create a new game, select New Game from the menu. When you create a new game, the current game is automatically saved. You can restore previously saved games using the Restore Game menu item. On the new game screen, touch the Home Team or Visitor Team buttons to select a team. There are two options, plus the list of teams currently in the Hoops Roster.
The New Team option allows you to create a new team roster from within hoops. When this option is selected, you are prompted for a team name, then taken to the Hoops Roster screen. Create the new roster and select Save and then Quit. When you again touch a team select button, the newly created team appears in the list.
The Temporary option tells Hoops to create a temporary roster for you while you simply supply the team name. The roster will contain 10 players, numbered in numerical order from 60 through 69 if the home team, 80-89 if the visiting team. This is a quick way of setting up a team you are not interested in scoring in detail. It is also useful in creating a team for which you have no roster available. During game scoring you can use the rename function to correctly identify the players.
When you are done touch the "OK" button. A default name for the game is created using the first three letters of each team name and the current date. Hoops will verify that the name is unique. If you wish, you can rename the game at this point. After setting the game name, the next two screens allow you to set the starting lineups of the two teams if you desire. By default, the first five players in the roster are listed as starters. You may simply dismiss these screens and configure the starting lineups later if you wish.
To record statistics simply tap the appropriate statistic and Hoops will "do the right thing". For example, if you tap the field goals made statistic for a player Hoops will increment the field goals made field, the field goals attempted field, update the total points for the player and update the game score line at the top of the screen. Tapping the field goals attempted field simply increments field goals attempted. The same method is used for entering free throws.
For three point goals, tapping the three point goals column pops up a list from which you select made or missed as appropriate. The three point goals column is updated, along with the points and score if "made" is selected.
The other three statistics columns (by default rebounds, assists and fouls) simply increment when tapped.
The rebounds stat is total rebounds and increments every time that a rebound-defined button is touched, but also is linked to the offensive rebounds stat such that when an offensive rebound is recorded, the rebounds stat also increments. This is the "normal" practice when reporting stats separately for offensive rebounds and rebounds in most newspapers. Hoops breaks out total rebounds, defensive and offensive rebounds in various statistics reports, but the default behavior in this version of Hoops is that the rebound stat displayed on the main screen or in the extended stats screen is total rebounds.
Tapping the points field for a player pops up a dialog allowing you to record additional stats--blocks, turnovers, offensive rebounds, technicals and steals by default. This dialog shows the stats that are not displayed on the main screen, the totals of those stats for this player and the player's name.
To record a stat, touch the number for the stat or the name of the stat and Hoops will do the right thing. These stats behave identically to simple stats on the main screen, including the use of fix mode. This dialog is dismissed automatically when you touch a stat number. You can also dismiss it by touching the Cancel button.
Team fouls are recorded automatically and displayed on the bottom line of the screen using the notation "H-#" for the home team, displayed on the left, and "V-#" for the visiting team, displayed on the right. If you have set up the game properly using the configuration screen, Hoops will prompt you at the proper time to clear the team fouls. You may also clear team fouls manually by touching either team foul button.
Bench Fouls
If you wish to add team fouls when you don't know the player to charge the
foul to, select the menu item Bench Fouls. The dialog displayed
allows you to record technical fouls charged to the bench, and increment
team fouls without charging the foul to an individual player.
Since fix mode works in this screen, you can also use
this to manually correct your team foul count if you find it inaccurate.
Simply add team fouls if your count is too small, and use fix
mode to decrement the count if it is too large.
Substitutions
Tapping a team name on the main stat screen will display the substitutions screen for that team. The substitutions screen allows you to select via checkbox the players currently in the game. All players on the roster are shown on this screen. You can quickly clear the roster by using the Clear button.
The home team substitutions screen is also accessible by using the Calendar key (which is aligned under the home team fouls button). The visitor team substitutions screen is also accessible by using the Memo Pad key (which is aligned under the visitor team fouls button).
Pressing the clear button clears all the checkboxes. Sometimes this is the easiest way to handle mass substitutions.
If you press "OK" and have selected fewer than five players, Hoops will
warn you, but allow you to continue. If you have selected more than 5
players, you must deselect players until 5 or fewer are selected before
Hoops will allow you to leave the screen.
Quick Substitutions
Quick substitutions that replace one player with another may be made by
touching the name of the player leaving the game. A list of all players on
the team roster who are not playing is shown. Select the player that is
going into the game and the team list will be redrawn in correct sorted
order.
New Player is also a choice in this list. If you select New Player you can enter a player who is not currently on the roster. This player will be substituted for the player that was selected and the new player will be added to the roster.
The "Rename Player" choice allows you to change the name of the player selected. The change is recorded in the roster. No substitution is made in this case.
To leave fix mode simply tap the fix mode button a second time.
Touching the Game button or the ToDo key brings up the game summary screen which allows you to access specific statistics on a team or player basis, view the period-by-period score and compare statistics using the statistics comparison window and view shot charts if you are using them. The period-by-period score changes format to properly display two-period or four-period games and adds up to two overtime periods if necessary. The current period and time remaining in the current period are shown on the title line.
The four buttons below the line score allow you to select what statistics are displayed in the scrollable statistics window below. The current statistics displayed and the teams or players referenced are displayed immediately below the buttons. You may scroll the statistics window using the scroll bar or the page up and page down keys on your handheld.
The leftmost button is the "Home Team" button. Statistics selected with this button are displayed sorted for all players on the home team. The button is labeled with the home team's name.
The second button is the "Compare" button. Statistics selected with the "Compare" button are displayed as a comparison between the home and visiting teams.
The third button is the "Visitor Team" button. Statistics selected with this button are displayed sorted for all players on the visitor team. The button is labeled with the visitor team's name.
The fourth button is the "Player" button. Selecting this button first allows the selection of one of the teams by name, and then any player on the roster of that team. The statistics displayed are for that individual player. You may also select to display shot charts for individual players or a team if you have recorded them. When the shot chart display is active, you may select another player from the same team by touching the player name button at the tope of the shot chart screen. See Shot Charts for how to do shot charting.
The Bench Fouls, and Time
Outs windows are accessible as menu items on the Game Summary
screen.
Visitor Team Foul Button
The visitor team foul button shows the current number of visitor team
fouls. Touching it allows you to reset the team fouls manually if desired.
Time Outs
Access the time out screen through the Time Out menu item. To record
a timeout, touch the appropriate type of timeout for the team.
Timeouts may be configured on the configuration screen. When an overtime period is entered, Hoops will prompt you for the proper number of timeouts for the overtime. Fix mode also works on the time out screen, allowing you to correct any errors. The timeout screen records the period and time of the period at which each timeout in the game was taken.
When you select a statistic to be displayed, you can select a statistic already displayed in another column. When you do this, Hoops will swap the two columns. This is a quick way to move stats from column to column.
In Hoops4, you may also configure three point goals to be shown using the made-attempts method used for two point goals, and free throws to be show as free throws made with a dialog for made or missed. To do this, simply touch the 3G or FT legend label for the home team and select your choice.
It is often easier to configure three point goals as made and missed since
you can then record them with one touch during a game. Using the
extra touch for free throws is usually better since you have more time to
record the results of a free throw.
Configuration
The configuration screen allows you to modify various aspects of the game to coincide with differing rules. The options are:
To set these configurations, select the Gui Configuration item in
the Options menu.
Rebound Prompts
When this is checked, Hoops will prompt with a list of players in the game
following a missed shot. Selecting a player will credit that player
withe the proper rebound type, offensive or defensive. Selecting a
team will credit a team rebound.
Assist Prompts
When this is checked, Hoops will prompt with a list of the four players
eligible for the assist following a made field goal. Selecting a
player credits an assist.
Shot Charts
Shot chart prompting has multiple levels of configuration. First,
selecting Shot Location Prompt enables shot charting. Second,
touch the Home or Visitor button to bring up the enable shot
chart screen for the team you want to shot chart. On this screen,
check all the players for which you wish to do shot charting. Third, if
you check Draw Player Shotchart on Prompt then Hoops will draw all
the player's attempted and made shots when the prompt is given.
The Export Data menu item brings up the Export Statistics screen which allows you to save statistics for the current game in a variety of formats.
Select a team and a format, then press Export Data to Export the data.
The CSV Memo selection will save the data to a Memo Pad memo in CSV format suitable for importing into Excel or another spreadsheet.
The TAB Memo selection will save the data to a Memo Pad memo in TAB delimited format suitable for importing into Excel or another spreadsheet. This is particularly useful for Mac users.
See also using Excel for statistical analysis
The Season Stats screen allows you to create and view season statistics for a team. Initially you must touch the Load button to either create a new season stat database or load a previously created season stat database.
When you select New, you are prompted for a name for the season stat database. Following creation of the database, you can add games to it by touching the Add button and selecting a game by name and then a team. When you add a game to a season database or when you load an existing season database, a list of the games that have been accumulated is shown.
You can view stats by player for the season database by touching Player and selecting the player.
You can view stats for a team sorted by player by touching Stats and selecting the statistic you wish.
To start with, score only one team. For the second team, if you score, just score shooting and use only one player--this gives you team stats, which can be informative. Remember you can ignore foul out warnings.
Using the prompts available might be too much if you want to record lots of stats. The prompts are useful, but they take time and can be a distraction. Particularly shot charting for all players is difficult. If you want shot charts for all players, then ignore floor stats while you learn.
Use the Page Up button on your handheld to start and stop the clock-it's easy to reach while holding the handheld and you don't have to look down from the game to use it.
Remember, when you use Hoops, all the other fans at the game will be envious, and will continually ask you for stats during the game.
To avoid this problem, try to verify your stats during the quarter break before you reset the clock to change periods.
Your data should now be in columns including the stat labels as headers.
If you use OpenOffice Calc instead of Excel, you can still use the above procedure, but you must install the add-on "Text To Columns for Calc" to have the same functionality for converting the CSV data into columns. To install this add-on, follow the instructions here: how-to-convert-text-to-columns-in-openofficeorg-calc. Note that when you download the add-on, it is a zip file. Point to this zip file when you install using the menu item "Tools/Package Manager". In the dialog box, select "Add" and then select the "TextToColumns-20061003.uno.pkg.zip" file. Then close Calc and reopen. Now you will have an entry "Text to columns" under the menu item "Tools/Add-Ons".