The sport of college basketball is ripe with independent content creators and analytics nuts sharing their insights about the game with fans online. It’s a crucial part of the college basketball experience for most fans, originating with sites like KenPom but expanding vastly since that site’s launch in 2004.
Luckily for Ken Pomeroy, the creator of the invaluable college basketball analytics site, practically every mainstream outlet has come around to citing his work properly. If there’s ever an efficiency statistic mentioned during a broadcast or in an article, there will likely be a “per KenPom” to accompany it.
But that’s not necessarily the same level of respect other independent creators in the space are receiving. And this weekend, one smaller creator, @cobrastats on X, called out a major broadcaster for lifting his/her work several times over the years without attribution.
Cobra is accusing the Fox college basketball account of posting nearly identical insights and graphics to its much larger following mere hours after the @cobrastats account originally posted the same insights. Cobra includes six examples of Fox posting graphics that are practically identical to the work he/she published a short time before.
I want to acknowledge that @CBBonFOX has repeatedly taken content and ideas from myself and others – and will likely continue to do so.
Below are 6 examples (just ones I’m aware of) where nearly identical posts to mine were shared hours later. pic.twitter.com/iwqyA1CHjx
— cobra. (@cobrastats) March 21, 2026
CBS Sports college basketball writer Matt Norlander called the practice a “Pretty gross/blatant lifting of data and research here,” before asking, “How about we never see this again,” and tagging the Fox college basketball account.
Pretty gross/blatant lifting of data and research here. How about we never see this again, @CBBonFOX. @cobrastats does awesome work and deserves credit and amplification of his stuff, not repackaging without citation. https://t.co/DpzuExBwH4
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 21, 2026
Another independent basketball content creator, the @itsAntWright account with nearly 100,000 followers, similarly concurred that his work had been “sniped several times” by Fox. “Use anything you want,” Wright wrote, “just drop a tag lol it’s really not hard.”
I’ve also been sniped several times, it’s pretty annoying.. use anything you want, just drop a tag lol it’s really not hard https://t.co/02WYMegvpv
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) March 21, 2026
The popular NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners account also said the Fox college basketball account had lifted its content.
Yeah they sorta just do that. Had many of mine snagged too
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 21, 2026
Cobra, whose content centers on Purdue athletics, stressed that the account doesn’t generate any revenue, but it sets a dangerous precedent that larger accounts like Fox’s can take content from independent creators without consequence.
Worse, it sets a precedent.
When one of the biggest CBB accounts does this – even after being called out repeatedly – it normalizes taking content.
That’s what’s most disappointing. There are incredible CBB creators who deserve to be highlighted, not stolen from.
— cobra. (@cobrastats) March 21, 2026
For Fox, it’s a simple fix. Start citing where these stats were first published before taking them and passing them off as if they’re your own. Even if many of these stats are publicly available, it’s clear that they’re coming from other smaller creators who deserve to be acknowledged.
Fox did not respond to our request for comment on this story.
