CBBpy: A Python-based web scraper for NCAA basketball

Purpose

This package is designed to bridge the gap between data and analysis for NCAA D1 basketball. CBBpy can grab play-by-play, boxscore, and other game metadata for any NCAA D1 men's or women's basketball game. Inspired by the ncaahoopR package by Luke Benz - check that out if you are an R user!

Installation and import

CBBpy requires Python >= 3.9 as well as the following packages:

• pandas>=2.0.0
• numpy>=2.0.0
• python-dateutil>=2.4.0
• pytz>=2022.1
• tqdm>=4.63.0
• lxml>=4.9.0
• joblib>=1.0.0
• beautifulsoup4>=4.11.0
• requests>=2.27.0
• rapidfuzz>=3.9.0
• platformdirs>=4.0.0

Install using pip:

pip install cbbpy

Or upgrade an existing installation:

pip install --upgrade cbbpy

The men's and women's scrapers can be imported as such:

import cbbpy.mens_scraper as s
import cbbpy.womens_scraper as s

Functions available in CBBpy

NOTE: game ID, as far as CBBpy is concerned, is a valid ESPN game ID

s.get_game_info(game_id: Union[str, int]) grabs all the metadata (game date, time, score, teams, referees, etc) for a particular game.

s.get_game_boxscore(game_id: Union[str, int]) returns a pandas DataFrame with each player's stats for a particular game.

s.get_game_pbp(game_id: Union[str, int]) scrapes the play-by-play tables for a game and returns a pandas DataFrame, with each entry representing a play made during the game.

s.get_game(game_id: Union[str, int], info: bool = True, box: bool = True, pbp: bool = True) gets all information about a game (game info, boxscore, PBP) and returns a tuple of results (game_info, boxscore, pbp). info, box, pbp are booleans which users can set to False if there is any information they wish not to scrape. For example, box = False would return an empty DataFrame for the boxscore info, while scraping PBP and metadata info normally.

s.get_games_season(season: Union[str, int] = None, info: bool = True, box: bool = True, pbp: bool = True) scrapes all game information for all finished or in progress games in a particular season (defaults to the current season). As an example, to scrape games for the 2020-21 season, call get_games_season(2021). Returns a tuple of 3 DataFrames, similar to get_game. See get_game for an explanation of booleans info, box, pbp.

s.get_games_range(start_date: Union[int, datetime], end_date: Union[int, datetime], info: bool = True, box: bool = True, pbp: bool = True) scrapes all game information for all finished or in progress games between start_date and end_date (inclusive). As an example, to scrape games from November 30, 2022 to December 10, 2022, call get_games_season('11-30-2022', '12-10-2022'). Returns a tuple of 3 DataFrames, similar to get_game. See get_game for an explanation of booleans info, box, pbp.

s.get_games_team(team: str, season: Union[str, int] = None, info: bool = True, box: bool = True, pbp: bool = True) scrapes all game information for all finished or in progress games in a particular season (defaults to the current season) for a given team. As an example, to scrape games for Duke's 2020-21 season, call get_games_team('duke', 2021); for their current season, you can just call get_games_team('duke'). If a given team does not have an exact match in the static list of teams scraped from ESPN's site, this function will scrape the games for the closest fuzzy-matched team (e.g. if "valpo" is provided as the team, the function will scrape the games for "Valparaiso"). Returns a tuple of 3 DataFrames, similar to get_game. See get_game for an explanation of booleans info, box, pbp.

s.get_games_conference(conference: str, season: Union[str, int] = None, info: bool = True, box: bool = True, pbp: bool = True) scrapes all game information for all finished or in progress games in a particular season (defaults to the current season) for all teams in a given conference. As an example, to scrape games for the A10's 2017-18 season, call get_games_conference('a10', 2018); for their current season, you can just call get_games_conference('a10'). If a given conference does not have an exact match in the static list of conferences scraped from ESPN's site, this function will scrape the games for the closest fuzzy-matched conference (e.g. if "am east" is provided as the conference, the function will scrape the games for "America East Conference"). Returns a tuple of 3 DataFrames, similar to get_game. See get_game for an explanation of booleans info, box, pbp.

s.get_game_ids(date: Union[str, datetime]) returns a list of all game IDs for a particular date.

s.get_player_info(player_id: Union[str, int]) returns a DataFrame describing the player's info from ESPN's bio page.

s.get_teams_from_conference(conference: str, season: Union[str, int] = None) returns a list of the teams in the given conference for a season (defaults to the current season).

s.get_team_schedule(team: str, season: Union[str, int] = None) returns a DataFrame of a team's schedule for a given season (defaults to the current season). If a given team does not have an exact match in the static list of teams scraped from ESPN's site, this function will scrape the schedule for the closest fuzzy-matched team (e.g. if "valpo" is provided as the team, the function will scrape the schedule for "Valparaiso").

s.get_conference_schedule(conference: str, season: Union[str, int] = None) returns a DataFrame of the schedules for all teams in a given conference for a given season (defaults to the current season). If a given conference does not have an exact match in the static list of conferences scraped from ESPN's site, this function will scrape the schedules for the closest fuzzy-matched conference (e.g. if "am east" is provided as the conference, the function will scrape the schedules for "America East Conference").

Examples

Function call:

import cbbpy.mens_scraper as s
s.get_game_info('401522202')

Returns:

Function call:

import cbbpy.womens_scraper as s 
s.get_game_boxscore('401528028')

Returns (partially):

Function call:

import cbbpy.mens_scraper as s
s.get_game_pbp('401522202')

Returns (partially):

Function call:

import cbbpy.mens_scraper as s
s.get_player_info('5105865')

Returns:

Function call:

import cbbpy.womens_scraper as s
s.get_team_schedule('davidson', 2022)

Returns (partially):

Function call:

import cbbpy.mens_scraper as s
s.get_conference_schedule('ovc', 2015)

Returns (showing the middle of the output):

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions, requests, or suggestions at dnlcowan37@gmail.com.