Some coaches look at data. Terry Nooner builds a culture around it.
The Wichita State women’s basketball head coach has seen the game from just about every seat in the building. He was a team captain at Kansas during college, then built more than a decade of Division I coaching experience with stops at Southern Illinois, Kansas, Alabama, Maryland and Texas, plus a season as a player development coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now in his fourth season leading the Shockers, Nooner proudly runs ShotTracker’s full coaching stack. We sat down with him to talk about how it’s elevated the way his program practices, scouts and develops players.
A Program Built on CARE and a Chip on Its Shoulder
Nooner took the Wichita State job in April 2023, one year after telling Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider he would only leave Lawrence to be a head coach “at a place like Wichita State.”
Since then, he’s built a roster that plays with an edge. “A lot of times, the kids have a chip on their shoulder,” Nooner said of his Shockers. “We always feel like we’re overlooked, and we have something to prove.”
That mindset matters in today’s game. With 12 new players on this year’s roster, Nooner knows turnover is the new normal. “The coaches who are going to get adjusted to this new era, whoever gets adjusted to it the fastest, are going to be the ones that are going to be the most successful.”
Part of his answer is recruiting to the Shockers’ core values, which spell out CARE: Character, Accountability, Respect and Effort. The other part is data that gets a brand-new team on the same page fast.
Free Throws Aren’t a Water Break Anymore
Nooner’s first ShotTracker moment came during something as routine as a free throw break.
“What kids would do is just think it’s a rest, and they might not be taking it seriously,” he said. “You might be on a far basket; you don’t think the coach is watching you miss two or three in a row.”
With ShotTracker, every rep counts. “If you think a kid is on fire, you can go to it and have live data,” Nooner said. “It’s more than just me looking at it and giving it the eye test.”
In the Shockers’ practice gym, live stats from Helix, our elite practice tool, run on a big TV on the wall. Players tap their own faces in the Go app to see how they’re shooting drill by drill, and coaches can filter by position group, by drill or by the whole session.
Data That Settles the Argument
Every coach has heard some version of “Coach says I can’t shoot the three.” Nooner now has a better reply than his opinion.
“According to the stats and how you did in practice, you’re shooting 18% from three, but in the paint, you’re shooting 60%.”
Today’s players want that kind of proof. “These kids now like data,” he said. “They’re all on AI, ChatGPT and all that kind of stuff. So in essence, I think the ShotTracker apps have been our version of a basketball ChatGPT.”
Transition Basketball, By the Numbers
This season Wichita State is leaning into transition, and ShotTracker shows exactly why. The staff tracks points per possession in transition, in the flow out of transition and in dead-ball sets.
“Our points per possession is way higher in transition than it is when we flow into a play out of our transition,” Nooner said.
In Helix, every stat box links straight to video. Turnovers in transition, threes from the left side versus the right, trips to the paint: one click and the clips are up. “When I got to see just the video part, I was sold,” he said. “And then when you added in the AI parts from Scout and all the stat tracking, that was just the icing on the cake.”
Scouting at the Speed of Light
Nooner uses ShotTracker’s Scout, an AI-powered, voice-activated coaching assistant, to get a jump on opponents. He can ask how Wichita State beat UTSA, or what North Texas ran on baseline out-of-bounds plays in its last three games, and get stats and film back in seconds.
“As the head coach, you have to be on top of every game,” he said. “If it’s a team we haven’t played yet, Scout gives me a precursor for what I’m looking for before I look at the tape.”
Postgame works the same way. A habit from his NBA days, showing players five to eight clips instead of fussing over the box score, is now faster because every possession is already clipped. “Our video people don’t have to create the clips,” Nooner said. “It just helps them get stuff done a lot faster.”
A Partner, Not Just a Platform
For Nooner, the people behind the tech matter as much as the tech itself. “I like doing business with people that I know and trust,” he mentioned. “I have a direct line to the people at ShotTracker who can fix the problem.” That’s by design. Our team has spent days on campus with the Shockers’ staff, and Nooner can text his ShotTracker contact anytime a question comes up. “They’re always one call away,” he said.
It mirrors the culture he’s building in Wichita. “I want it to be a family,” he explained. “I think it’s going to be a big part of us having a great season.”
Our ShotTracker team thinks so, too. Every rep tracked, every possession clipped, every Shocker better for it. That’s greatness measured.
To learn more about how Helix, Pulse, Scout and more ways you can elevate your program, schedule a demo today.
