Gameday Content How-To: Building A Creative Process For A College Basketball Gameday

While game day may start on a singular date, the creative process for a gameday starts long before the ball ever tips off, and also long after the game has ended. Before the lights turn on, before the crowd fills up the stands, and before my camera even starts rolling, all the way past when the clock hits 00:00, and the game has sometimes been days past, the story that we as a creative department want to tell has long already been set into motion. The planning, the adaptability, and sometimes, even a little luck, all play a part in capturing the experience and story of a gameday for Arizona Basketball.

First, we start a few days out from the game - how do we want to set the tone to get fans excited for the matchup and for the game they are about to watch? What is the emotion we want our fans to feel? What is the moment that we are building towards? We start by creating a post that will be uploaded 24 hours before tip-off, which is what we have called a game trailer. Here is an example of the game trailer that I created leading up to the matchup with Florida on November 3rd, 2025:

Leading up to the game, there was a lot of talk about how young this team is (over half of the new players on the roster this year are freshmen), and whether or not we could get the job done against Florida, who returned their entire frontcourt, as well as brought in 3 new transfer veteran guards. Moreover, our coach was asked about if he thinks this team can handle the tough schedule that we have this year. So, as our season opener game we not only wanted to build excitement for it being the first game, but also the fact that we were going up against such a great opponent. So, I wanted the game trailer not only reflect the excitement leading up to the first official game, but also wanted to reinforce the belief and the trust this team and these coaches had in each other to go out and win the game. This way, we are effectively engaging our audience and creating a feeling leading up to the game before we ever even step foot on the court.

The day of the game, we'll usually post a gameday graphic in the morning leading up to the game, helping to reinforce the weight and feeling of what's coming. During shootaround a couple hours before the game, we will again post another set of pictures and/or video clips to give fans a glimpse into the final moments of preparation that our team has leading up to tip-off. After preparing the fanbase and followers for what is to come later during game time, for the creative team it is now about making sure we are both technically and mentally prepared for the moment. We need to make sure all batteries are charged, our SD cards are properly formatted and cleared of space to be able to capture the game, and double check camera setups. For me, this is making sure my camera rig is properly set up, as well as the camera set ups for the interns. Once these are set, I notify our interns of their jobs for the night, and what aspects of our shot list they will be tasked with capturing before, during, and after the game.

During the game, everything happens at a perceived accelerated pace. As a creative, you have to be agile and adaptable to what is happening in the game, all while still being able to capture the overall story and feeling of the moment. For example, a dunk isn't just exciting because of the dunk, but because of what follows: the roar of the crowd, the celebrations on the bench, the emotion on the players' faces - these are key details that we as content creators need to capture. We are constantly alert while recording or taking photos, chasing these minuscule moments in time to create the full story. During the course of the game, as highlights are created on the court, we upload them as social content in real time. A clip of a three pointer and celebration from a player and his teammates will be uploaded to social media right away, in order to grab the attention of fans that are not at the game, or additionally grab the attention of those who may not be direct fans, but also are on social media and follow college basketball. These little moments matter, and can ultimately mean the difference between 10,000 total views or 100,000 total views. The balance of creativity while navigating the pressure of the situation of the game can be a defining aspect of who can do this job. In that moment, you need to trust your eye and your instinct to be able to produce quality content.

Once the final horn sounds, our job doesn't stop there - it just begins. The job now largely shifts from the emphasis on the technicality of shooting the game to the creativity found in the storytelling from the game. We take notes on the post game press conferences, looking for sound bites to use in future videos and campaigns. We label and organize hundreds of video clips and photo files. These highlights are then compiled together to create several different cohesive pieces of content. For example, we always create a Top Plays post, highlighting the top individual plays of the game. Sometimes, a cinematic recap is created, showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at what a gameday is like for the players, what the locker room speech is like, what that moment in the huddle was like during a timeout, etc. Ultimately, the content created after the game doesn't just consist of bare highlights, but recaptures the emotions and the tone felt within the game in those split second moments. As a creator, I'm not just helping to produce content, but also helping to shape a memory of the game into the minds of our fans.

The goal every time I step on the court is to make sure the viewer felt something, that they connected with the story - the intensity and focus during warmups, the brotherhood and connectivity in the pre-game huddle or in the locker room, the way our team celebrates with each other, etc. At the end of the day, moments are just moments - but as a creative, it's my job to turn those moments into meaning.