SMT Marks 18 Years Supporting the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
SMT is again staffing each of the 67 games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, providing every piece of real-time, game-driven statistical interface to the tournament’s broadcast partners. SMT production teams are stationed at every venue, spotting courtside and inputting baskets scored, steals, assists, rebounds, and fouls to update the box score used by commentators for each game.
For the 18th consecutive year, SMT’s tournament technology enables the synchronization of clock, score, and statistics from the games and feeds the data in real-time to SMT’s ticker system and the tournament graphics package. SMT’s SportsCG clock-and-score system captures clock data from scoreboards during the games, while its HoopStat in-game statistics and scoring system provides live statistics for CBS and TBS’ broadcasters and production crew. For this season SMT has integrated its studio ticker solution into the main production studios at both CBS and Turner. During live games, the upper ticker graphic displays live clocks and scores for all in-progress and upcoming games. The lower ticker is used during both live games and studio coverage to display scores and game notes. 
SMT’s Durham, NC-based Data Operations Center serves as the centralized hub where scores and statistics from each game are integrated in real-time to build statistical graphics that can be displayed instantly on-screen. The center accesses the live data to monitor every game, statistic and clock connection during the tournament, as well as historical information from previous games.
SMT’s game-score display system will be the same for all broadcast partners, offering a consistent look for accurate, real-time graphics and statistics that will enhance the viewing experience for each game. Lee Brinson, SMT Director of Special Events, leads SMT’s NCAA men’s tournament team, as he has every year since 2000.
