Graduate Student's First Conference Experience Ends with a Major Win
This fall, Tyler Barlow, a first-year master’s student, earned top recognition for his research on player fatigue in men’s college basketball, winning the poster competition at the Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference (CMSAC)—one of the leading academic sports analytics conferences in the country.
A Leading Conference in Sports Analytics
The Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference is widely regarded as one of the top academic gatherings for sports analytics in the United States. Over 1.5 days, the conference brings together industry professionals, academics, and students for research presentations, keynote talks, and interactive poster sessions. Poster presentations—like Tyler’s—take place in open halls where attendees can walk through, ask questions, and discuss ideas with presenters.
Faculty in the department encouraged Tyler to submit his work because of the strength of his research and the clarity of the story his model revealed. His project demonstrated that players’ performance tends to decrease the longer they remain on the court, capturing a measurable fatigue effect that could influence optimal playing-time strategies.
“We look for opportunities for students to gain meaningful research experiences,” said Dr. Jared Fisher. “By the time Tyler submitted to CMSAC, his results were compelling, intuitive, and ready to be shared with a wider audience. We were thrilled to see his work recognized.”
From Classroom to Research Lab
Tyler joined the research group in Spring 2024 after showing strong interest and preparation in sports analytics coursework and lab meetings. His passion for both data science and basketball made him a natural fit for the basketball analytics research team.
Hailing from Connecticut and Massachusetts, Tyler completed his undergraduate degree with a Data Science emphasis and a minor in Mathematics. He has previously interned at Fidelity Investments in Boston, where he worked on AI models, and with a government agency in Washington, D.C., where he gained experience in data cleaning and pipeline development. His long-term goal: a career in sports analytics.
Research Spotlight: Measuring Fatigue in College Basketball
When asked about his project, Tyler explained:
“My research project is on measuring fatigue in Men’s College Basketball. Dr. Fisher and Dr. Sandholtz approached me about working in the basketball lab, and their idea was to find a statistical method to measure fatigue. As a huge basketball fan, it was the perfect blend of school and personal interests.
We measure fatigue as a decrease in a player’s Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM) based on time spent on the court. We found that players’ RAPM estimates tend to decrease linearly with time played in a given game.”
These findings support the idea that strategic playing-time distribution can enhance overall team performance—insights that could be valuable for coaches and analysts alike.
A Memorable First Conference Experience
Attending CMSAC for the first time was a highlight for Tyler:
“My experience was fantastic. It was great connecting with other students, professors, and industry leaders. I especially enjoyed listening to Dean Oliver from ESPN talk about his work in sports analytics. I even got a couple of interviews out of the networking opportunities. Overall, it was an amazing experience.”
An Unexpected—and Meaningful—Win
The moment he learned he won the poster competition came as a surprise:
“I was in an Uber to the airport when the awards were announced. Someone I met at the conference emailed me to congratulate me, and the official email came a couple days later. It was gratifying to know that our work was understandable and had practical application.”
What’s Next
Looking ahead, Tyler plans to continue developing this research as part of his master’s project. He and his faculty mentors are currently collaborating with additional researchers to apply fatigue modeling to the BYU basketball team.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to find results that can be directly applicable to the team,” he said.
To see Tyler's poster, click here!