Frequently Asked Questions

Each game gets two scores blended together. Importance (before tipoff) is based on team rankings, betting spreads, rivalry history, TV coverage, playoff implications, and star player matchups. Excitement (after the game) is computed from win probability swings, lead changes, close finishes, overtime, and upsets. The combined score determines the tier.

Must-Watch (78+): marquee matchups and wild finishes — roughly 5-10% of games on a given day. Interesting (55-77): solid games with real stakes. Meh (35-54): nothing special on paper. Diehard Only (below 35): only worth it if it's your team.

Scheduled games are scored on projected importance — team rankings, spreads, rivalry, national TV, and star matchups. Once a game finishes, the score updates based on what actually happened. A blowout between top teams will drop; an overtime thriller between unranked teams will rise.

For completed games, we analyze the win probability curve to find the most exciting stretch and give you a timestamp. Skip the boring first half and start where it gets good — with no score context and no hint about who's winning.

Everything is behind two layers of protection. Game cards show only the matchup and excitement tier — no scores, no outcomes. Tap a game to expand it and see a spoiler-free recommendation. Then only when you explicitly tap Reveal do you see the final score, win probability chart, and full details. The two-tap design means you won't accidentally spoil a game just by scrolling past it.

The tier gives you a sense of whether the game was worth watching — a Must-Watch was likely a great game, and a Diehard Only probably wasn't. But it doesn't reveal the score, who won, or what happened. Since high scores can come from a variety of factors — a tight finish, an overtime, a huge upset, a star performance, or just two elite teams in a close one — you can't pin down exactly what's driving the rating. You'll always go in with some uncertainty, which is the point.

Mute push notifications from ESPN, Bleacher Report, The Score, and any other sports apps — they all push scores by default. Avoid Twitter/X and Reddit until you've checked your tiers. Check SportsRec first, queue up the Must-Watch games, then go dark until you've watched them.

College basketball (every D-I game, powered by analytics rankings and star player tracking), NBA (standings-based importance, rivalries, star performance data), NFL, and college football. CBB and NBA are the primary focus with the deepest scoring models.

Analytics-based predictive rankings that account for strength of schedule, offensive and defensive efficiency, and tempo — not just win-loss records. These are combined with the AP Top 25 poll for name recognition. Both factor into matchup importance scoring.

Game scores, schedules, and win probability data come from ESPN. Betting lines come from a combination of The Odds API, ESPN's embedded odds, and model-based predictions. College basketball rankings use public analytics data. All data is processed in real-time.

During live games, scores update every 30 seconds. Completed games are scored immediately after they finish. The daily briefing refreshes when you open it. Past dates are cached so they load instantly.

Yes — everything on the site is currently free. No account, no login, no ads. Works in any browser and you can install it as an app. Down the road we may explore premium features for power users, but the core experience of finding which games are worth watching will always be free.

Yes. On iPhone, open sportsrec.app in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, Chrome will prompt you to install automatically. SportsRec is also available on the iOS App Store. All versions are free.

Thuuz Sports was a game excitement rating app that scored live games on a 0-100 scale using factors like pace, parity, and momentum. Stats Perform acquired the technology in late 2020 and shut down the consumer app in February 2021. SportsRec was inspired by the same idea — which games are worth watching? — but uses a completely different methodology (win probability curve analysis, matchup importance scoring, star player tracking) and was built from the ground up with spoiler-free design at its core, which Thuuz never had.