tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post4954542844885739339..comments2024-03-07T05:17:49.252-05:00Comments on Boiled Sports: Boilermetrics: Centers of AttentionJ Moneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09925161304409415806noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post-23193735704037722942013-02-15T15:30:47.959-05:002013-02-15T15:30:47.959-05:00Thanks, Plang. And you know we treat long-time Big...Thanks, Plang. And you know we treat long-time Big Ten refs with all the respect they deserve here.<br /><br />Andrew, yeah, the offense is pretty much bad in all respect except offensive rebounding. 37.4% is 33rd in the country, and in-conference 35.4% is 3rd in the Big Ten. <br /><br />Defensively, the only significant problem is that they're not forcing turnovers: 17.3 TO% (308th) and 7.1 Steal% (329th). The only guard who has any kind of steal percentage is Anthrop, and that's in limited minutes even when he was healthy. (They're allowing more offensive rebounds in conference play, but that has a lot to do with caliber of opponent.)<br /><br />The shooting itself is bad compared to all DI teams ... like, bad. From 3, 30.6% is 294th. From 2, 44.8% is 280th. From the line, 63.3% is 320th. There are 347 teams in DI this year. (Amazingly, Purdue isn't even last in the conference. Wisconsin, thanks to Ryan Evans-Prime, is shooting 61.8% at the line.) Offensive efficiency is above average, though, primarily due to the offensive rebounds and a lower turnover rate (19.1%, 117th overall). <br /><br />That's about as far as the stats go ... from there, they really work better as supplements to what you see on the court. For example, the lack of chemistry and effort: on offense, you can see a lack of spacing, people not moving without the ball, poor communication, that kind of thing ... and a lack of leadership when these things happen over and over again and no one is getting the other players together and getting them to see what's going on. Then you look at the stats and see yeah, they're not getting a lot of assists ... shouldn't a motion offense be generating assists? zlionsfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02966540737106797756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post-91142660742576650342013-02-15T15:03:17.689-05:002013-02-15T15:03:17.689-05:00@zlionsfan - the knickerblogger link was exactly w...@zlionsfan - the knickerblogger link was exactly what I had been looking for. I had looked at the kenpom's site but never really got much out if since I ran into the paywall frequently. Thanks for the references, hope to see some more of your articles on the site in the future! Not that the regulars don't do a bang up job I am kidding obviously.<br /><br />The narrative for this years team that pops up everywhere is that their lack of chemistry, lack of effort, lack of leadership has had a large part in their demise. The effort can be seen plain as day at times but I was curious just to see what type of additional insight some of these stats might have in pointing out the weaknesses of the team. Unfortunately I guess the question this year is not just what the weaknesses are since its pretty much.....everything, more like how bad is their bad compared to the rest of the league or all of D1 CBB.<br /><br />Thanks again.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09054373427285892463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post-71083006883937576492013-02-15T14:12:07.902-05:002013-02-15T14:12:07.902-05:00Nice write up. I don't know enough about the ...Nice write up. I don't know enough about the kid to assume he will stay at Purdue all 4 years, but I hope he does.<br /><br />Also - the Hightower remark made me do a spit-take.<br />Planghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02653369707738276129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post-49352822925810695202013-02-14T23:24:01.624-05:002013-02-14T23:24:01.624-05:00Thanks, Andrew! The CS major in me would have love...Thanks, Andrew! The CS major in me would have loved to see this kind of stuff 25 years ago. (Of course it would have been in USENET groups and such, seeing as how there wasn't exactly an internet or external email ...)<br /><br />Starting points: <a href="http://kenpom.com/" rel="nofollow">kenpom.com</a> has an overall ratings page and a blog that explains the theory behind a lot of what the main guy, Ken Pomeroy, does. For $20 a year, you get detailed stats at the conference, team, and player level, going back to 2002-03. I subscribe because I love this stuff; you might want to read some of his posts before you commit money to it.<br /><br />It's an NBA site, but the principles are similar: <a href="http://knickerblogger.net/a-laymans-guide-to-advanced-nba-statistics/" rel="nofollow">knickerblogger.net</a> has a lay guide to advanced stats.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/" rel="nofollow">basketball-reference.com</a> has good data on NBA players, and their college site has similar data on NCAA players (although not nearly as far back). Basically, I'd recommend all of the sports-reference sites if you're into this kind of thing. <br /><br />Finally, <a href="http://hoop-math.com/" rel="nofollow">hoop-math.com</a> has some interesting data from play-by-play information. Suggestion: do not look at Purdue's shooting percentage on two-point jump shots. <br /><br />Just remember that, like with baseball, this is just another perspective ... and like football and hockey, there's a lot of team play in basketball that can't really be quantified properly. zlionsfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02966540737106797756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36696801.post-12359619760284848082013-02-14T15:54:54.115-05:002013-02-14T15:54:54.115-05:00@zlionsfan - LOVED THE ARTICLE. Have really been ...@zlionsfan - LOVED THE ARTICLE. Have really been wanting to learn more about the advanced stats behind basketball and with the way this season has gone I think it would be a welcome distraction to break down games with this type of material. Learning the Sabrmetric principles in baseball really opened up a whole other perspective for me and I think it could do the same for a lot of Boiler basketball fans. Perfect example was last night when Tim Doyle says that Byrd is the best shooter in the conference (kudos to J Money for calling out this BS in his game wrap up). Saw a few minutes later on Twitter that he doesn't even rank in the top 15 percentage wise. This type of 'analysis' being spouted out on a regular basis from the major media outlets of BTN and EsPN it can make you want to pull your hair out. If there are any advanced stats articles or sites you could recommend as introduction to the subject I would love to do some more reading. I realize this is the Boilermaker Enginerd coming out in me but I can’t help it.<br /><br />Ever Faithful, Ever True!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09054373427285892463noreply@blogger.com