Video Demo for Computing Your AccuScore

Here are the numerical values for each shot outcome, depending on where the shot lands in relation to the basket:    

0 = shooter missed the rim entirely (backboard only got the same score)

1 = shot hit the outside of the rim and bounced away from the imaginary “cylinder” rising     upward from the rim toward the ceiling

2 = shot hit the inside of the rim and the ball crossed the imaginary cylinder above it

3 = shot hit the rim more than once or rolled around the rim and out

4 = shot hit the rim but went in (even if it only slightly nicked the rim)

5 = shot swished in “off-center”, either directly or after banking off the backboard

6 = shot swished in “dead center”, either directly or after banking off the backboard

As you can see in this scoring system, if you hit a swish, but a little off-center, you earn 5 points. Dead-center shots, however, now earn 6 points. You can most easily tell a swish as a 5 vs. a 6 by noticing the direction of the ball after it goes through the net: if it drifts to the floor to the right or left, that’s a 5 – if it drops straight down to the floor you have a 6!

Tip: if you are shooting alone and want to record your Accu-Scores, you may want to stop after taking a few shots to write down your numbers. Or, you can video record each round to replay and write in the score for each shot. This will prevent you from forgetting those scores and more closely resemble the number of shots you will take in an actual game each trip to the line.  Video recording your shooting can have the added benefit of providing visual feedback of any technique/form differences you see that relate with the outcome of each shot.  

Of course, shooting partners can keep score for each other, gather rebounds, video-record the shooter’s performance, and offer helpful feedback – but only give feedback to the shooter if solicited, as this might annoy or distract them.  I suggest you take rounds of 10 shots so you can easily calculate your average score for that block (e.g., 43 points would equal a strong 4.3 Accu-Score shot average).  However, average scores won’t vary as much with improvements in accuracy, so it might motivate you more if you compare raw totals and later chart your average Accu-scores across 10-shot rounds.  

One final note to coaches who may want to incorporate this scoring method for their players: I originally used 2 raters for every shot taken in my research because it was a scientific study.  Someone with a discerning eye may wonder how easy it would be to bias the score – was that a 1 or a 2? – and thereby question the effects I later claimed.  My raters were in virtually perfect (99%) agreement when they scored participants’ shots; and some of these raters did not even play basketball!