Hoop 1, XOS make scouting overseas a slam dunk for colleges, NBA clients

By Ken Kerschbaumer

For years Hoop 1 Video, a service provider for basketball scouts, has relied on videotapes and overnight delivery to send game videos of overseas competitions to professional and college scouts looking to find the next phenom. But now, with the help of XOS Technologies, the company is moving into the digital age, relying on Internet distribution.

Hoop 1 is a well known basketball content provider that has serviced NBA and NCAA basketball teams for more than 20 years, says John Castles, XOS basketball product marketing manager. Together, we ve been able to put in place a solution that will save basketball teams a significant amount of time in obtaining scouting video.

The solution involves Hoop 1 capturing all television and satellite basketball games and also having access to European League video. However, Hoop 1 will now have the ability to distribute the content in a Windows Media digital format on the Hoop 1 Web site. As a result, XOS basketball partners using XOS NG Hoops 1.0 (the next generation editing system) can download and directly import the video for editing purposes.

It provides an extremely efficient process for teams to acquire and edit video, whether they re at home or on the road, said Mitch Kaufman, Hoop 1 founder. Currently many teams use DVD s that require digital conversion prior to editing, not to mention arrival delays of up to a few days. Now, teams can import digital video directly into the XOS system immediately following a game. It doesn t get any faster that that!

Ray Thompson, XOS VP of product marketing, says the goal is to cut down on the need to bulk capture and duplicate games. With the use of WM9 and a cable modem users will be able to download a game in 40 minutes.

Hoop 1 has been providing content to college and NBA basketball teams for well over 20 years, primarily getting content from Europe, Australia, and Asia, says Thompson. It s difficult for guys in the states to evaluate talent overseas, especially when the games aren t televised here. But Hoop 1 makes it possible.

XOS has 28 of 30 NBA teams as clients, so the deal with Hoop 1 will make it easier than ever for those teams to check out the next foreign phenom. Anything Hoop 1 captures we can offer for download, says Thompson. We ll supply some basic metadata like the teams and when the game was played, and then we can post the games by quarter and make it available.