My Beloved 86 Bloggees (Welcome Jeff):
On Wednesday night, Georgia handed Arkansas its first loss at home in a 60 - 59 victory http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102020019 . The key was limiting the Hogs' Rotnei Clarke to just 8 shots, only making 3 of them, including 2 of 4 from long range. Do you see a trend on how to beat Arkansas...defending Clarke has to be your primary focus. I bet Vandy and coach Kevin Stallings would like another shot at Clarke after he burned the ' Dores with 36 last week.
Arkansas 6 ' 9 senior forward, Delvon Johnson, impersonated both an SEC star who graduated last year and a current SEC freshman . His 7 blocked shots reminded us of former Mississippi State center, Jarvis Varnado, the all-time career NCAA leader in blocked shots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNoAwyoRMNE . On the other hand, Johnson's paltry 1 for 6 at the free throw line were the exact numbers of Florida freshman, Will Yeguete, in his last game against Vanderbilt. NEXT
I attended the strangest college basketball game Thursday night, when Davidson defeated Samford 62 - 49 http://samfordsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/sam0203.html . First of all, because of icy and sleet conditions, the Samford website discouraged fans from attending, indicating it was a a "closed-door event". I had driven a few hours earlier and slightly spun a bit so I could understand making safety a priority. But, near game time, the conditions improved so I went ahead and it was not dangerous at all. There must have been 100 or so in the stands.
Here is the stat that blew me away. I have never seen it before, especially by a team like Samford that runs the "Princeton Offense" emphasizing backdoor layups. Samford had 2 assists during the game. That's right 2 and none by a starter.
I decided to look at the NCAA definition of "assist" http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Basketball/2010EZ.pdf thinking maybe I don't know exactly what it is. On page 9 it indicates that an assist is "when the player makes, in the judgment of the statistician, the principal pass contributing directly to a field goal.....An assist should be more than a routine pass that just happens to be followed by a field goal. It should be a conscious effort to find the open player or to help a player work free." Nothing new there.
How can that happen just two times in 40 minutes by a team, especially one known for passing? I guess a lot of the credit goes to Davidson's coach Bob McKillop who had his team playing tough defense on the perimeter and in the paint.
I now have another stat to examine when I look at box scores...in previous blogs, I noted the rare stat of a three-pointer shooter missing all of his double-digit attempts which I check for regularly.... from now on I will also look for a miniscule team assists number! Yes, I need therapy, but all college basketball junkies like us, generally do. NEXT
On Thursday night, Tennessee got a break at Auburn. With star Scotty Hopson out with a sprained ankle, the Volunteers were a bit vulnerable. However, War Eagle starting center 6 ' 10 Rob Chubb also missed the game because of an indefinite suspension for violation of team rules and they were no match for the Vols 69 - 56 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201102030028 . Chubb had just scored a career high 18 points in his previous game when Auburn upset South Carolina at Columbia.
Rob, as Jay Leno asked Hugh Grant after he was caught paying for companionship, "What the heck were you thinking?" http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/hugh-grant/1204887/ NEXT
Butler blew a 10-point lead in the last 6 minutes and lost at lowly Youngstown State Thursday night, 62 - 60 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102030685 . The Bulldogs are in 5th place in the Horizon League and have a 14 - 9 record overall, including losing 4 of their last 5. What a difference a year makes! Losing Gordon Hayward to the NBA draft and the Utah Jazz has been devastating. In case you were wondering, Hayward has had a pedestrian NBA rookie season averaging 3.4 points a game in 11.7 minutes http://www.nba.com/playerfile/gordon_hayward/index.html NEXT
I found another free amazing website for basketball junkies http://statsheet.com/mcb . I do want to warn you that you could spend a crazy amount of time looking at the stats it offers.
For example, I love the +/- stat which indicates the difference between points scored and points given up by a team while a certain player is on the court during a game. This website also lets you see the +/- stat for when a player is not in the game. Then it subtracts the two, calling it RR (Roland Rating) which quantifies how much better or worse a team played during the game when a player was on the court compared to when he was on the bench.
Go to http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/player/florida/kenny-boynton/plus_minus . Many Gator fans were disappointed in Kenny Boynton's play in last Saturday's loss at Mississippi State and this shows why. During the 30 minutes Boynton was on the court the Gators scored 43 points but gave up 64 for a +/- of -21. When he was on the bench, the Gators scored 21 points and only gave up 7 for a +/- of 14. Therefore, during the game the Gators were 35 points (RR) worse off when Boynton played than when he didn't play. To Boynton's defense, he has had only 4 other negative RR ratings and 3 of them were in Gator wins.
Also, the website shows a similar set of +/- figures for players during Clutch time, the last 5 minutes of regulation and OT when the deficit is 5 points or less. Boynton has 5 games with a negative RR numbers compared to 2 games with a positive RR in Clutch situations.
Of course this is not an exact measurement of a player's performance because of the other 4 teammates on the court and which players of the opposing team are playing, but it surely can show a trend.
It is endless with regard to what you can find on this website. Now go check out your favorite team and you can really find out how its players have performed this year or in recent years. THAT'S IT
Enjoy.....ESPN GameDay is in Gainesville this Saturday....on ESPNU at 9:00 am CST, ESPN at 10:00 am and 7:00 pm before the Gators and Kentucky battle on ESPN at 8:00....Alabama at Tennessee at 4:00 pm on Fox Sports Net should be a battle,
Barry
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