NCAA Coaches Use Tech for Game-Changing Challenges

0:00On March 16th, for the first time in the NCAA tournament, coaches can use a timeout to challenge certain referee calls like goal tending out of bounds. Plays or block charge fouls. Avergenia, director of analytics, Matt Hart reviews every close call on his iPad from the bench, signaling head coach Ryan Odom with a quick finger. Toral, if it's worth fighting. This new rule, rolled out this season, aims to speed up late-game reviews by limiting what officials check on their own. Coaches now handle most disputes strategically, saving their one challenge. Successful ones earn a second, but failures cost it all. Virginia loves it, having lost just once all year in a blowout. Coaches and staff rave about the edge it gives, Odom fully trusts Hart's calls, calling them quick and spot on. Other programs vary, some coaches double check themselves, but everyone sees the high stakes, especially now in March Madness, where wrong challenge. Could, and to run. Hart, a former player who joined Virginia after stints overseas and at other schools, uses special software with multiple camera angles and baseline.

1:07Views for fast decisions. Analytics show challenges pay off most leading games, so they save them for sure things, focusing on the 90% that are out of bounds. As Virginia, the number three seed in the Midwest region faces right state this Friday. Hart's role could turn heroes into key players or spotlight. Tough moments across the bracket.