The Hot Hand in Sports

"THE BEST TEAM TO EVER TAKE THE FIELD" (SPORTS ILLUSTRATED ) "THE MOST DOMINANT TEAM IN SPORTS" AND "WOMEN AMONGST GIRLS" (ESPN.COM ) As many readers are aware, last week the University of Ok...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2022/06/how-does-oklahomas-current-softball-run.html

Those of you who follow Big 12 men's basketball closely probably noticed the score of Iowa State's home-court loss to Oklahoma State last Wednesday night (March 2): 53 to 36 . Yes, the Cyclones s...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2022/03/iowa-state-university-men-enter-and.html

I have just finished reading The Hot Hand, a March 2020 release by Wall Street Journal writer Ben Cohen. I had cornered the market on hot hand books from 2011-2020 (see image in right-hand co...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2020/07/review-of-other-hot-hand-book.html

Bill James has conducted and posted on his website a new study of players' general offensive streakiness in baseball. Using a large sample of player-years (e.g., Lou Brock in 1967), James ranked...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2019/05/new-study-by-bill-james-on-general.html

Today's hiring of Mick Cronin as UCLA men's basketball coach provides an opportunity to dissect a cold streak in Bruin basketball, namely one national championship in the past 44 years, fol...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2019/04/cronin-takes-over-ucla-basketball.html

Houston Rockets guard James Harden has set the sports world ablaze as a one-man scoring machine. Wednesday night in New York, Harden scored 61 points, extending his streak of scoring at least 30...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2019/01/harden-mania.html

For a large chunk of the 20th century, Boston had one professional sports team that, despite several close calls, could not win a championship. It had another that couldn't lose in the final roun...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/12/streaks-in-city-4-boston.html

The Washington Capitals begin play in the Stanley Cup finals tonight, seeking to end a 26-year title drought in the nation's capital within the four major North American sports (football, baseba...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/05/streaks-in-city-3-washington-dc.html

ESPN The Magazine has an online article today on the Golden State Warriors' offensive explosiveness . Specifically, the article provides statistics on the Warriors' frequency of going on 10-0 and...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/05/warriors-explosiveness.html

With Wednesday night's blowout regular-season-ending win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers set a record for most consecutive wins entering the playoffs (16). By this measure, the ...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/04/76ers-all-time-hottest-nba-team.html

I occasionally get asked how I got interested in streaks. There's no way to know for sure, but I suspect that growing up in Los Angeles as a basketball fan in the early 1970s was a factor. This e...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/02/streaks-in-city-2-los-angeles.html

Happy New Year! Today, I am introducing a new feature for 2018 on the Hot Hand blog, which I'm calling "Streaks in the City." Each entry will feature a different North American city and discuss...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2018/01/streaks-in-city-1-believeland-or.html

Today on ESPN.com, there's a big article on hot-hand research. The article is written primarily through the lens of Klay Thompson and his deep-launching Golden State Warriors teammates, but also...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2017/06/major-espncom-article-on-three-point.html

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team goes for its 100th straight win tonight, hosting South Carolina in a nonconference match-up. The 100-game mark seems mainly about symbolism, ...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-university-of-connecticut-womens.html

Tonight, in the nation's capital, the Columbus Blue Jackets will try to tie the NHL record of 17 straight wins, held by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins . Here's a chronicle of how the team's 16...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2017/01/columbus-blue-jackets-seek-to-tie-nhl.html

As most NBA fans have probably heard by now, the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kevin Love scored 34 points in the first quarter last night in leading his team to a 137-125 victory over visiting Portland....

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/11/gotta-love-it-34-points-8-of-10-on.html

With the opening ceremonies for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics getting underway tomorrow, swimming enthusiasts are anticipating whether -- and to what degree -- Michael Phelps will be able to e...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/08/michael-phelps-looks-to-extend-olympic.html

Perhaps it’s the Cubs’ historical futility – anyone can have an off-century , paraphrasing former manager Tom Trebelhorn. Or perhaps it’s the reputations of current team executive Theo Ep...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/07/whats-up-or-in-this-case-down-with-cubs.html

Serena Williams continues to defy the age curve, winning the Wimbledon women's singles title earlier today. At 34 years old (born September 26, 1981 ), Williams is now the oldest player, woman o...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/07/serena-williams.html

As I wrote about in my book Hot Hand, maintaining some types of streaks is more pressure-packed than maintaining others. In baseball, a streak of getting at least one hit per game, while not an e...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/04/obscure-baseball-card-fine-walt-dropo.html

As of a few days ago, I had never heard of Trevor Story , a 23-year-old rookie shortstop for the Colorado Rockies. With so much else going on in the sports world such as March Madness, the Master...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/04/heres-story-of-man-named-story.html

With the men's NCAA basketball Final Four getting underway tomorrow, the player getting the most attention is Oklahoma's Buddy Hield. His Sooner squad will face Villanova, with North Carolina and...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/04/has-buddy-hield-regained-his-yield.html

With the annual NCAA men's basketball tournament getting underway, I wanted to apply a measure I originally developed for the Golden State Warriors, namely offensive "explosiveness," to the leadi...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/03/explosiveness-of-highly-seeded-ncaa.html

Last Friday, ESPN.com ran a piece documenting the best 100-game stretches in U.S. college sports and major pro leagues such as the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. At the time the article appeared, the U...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-decade-of-uconn-womens-basketball.html

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! As part of the NBA's package of Christmas telecasts, the champion Golden State Warriors (27-1) will host Cleveland (19-7) in a rematch of last season's final...

http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-importance-of-six-minute-scoring.html