KenPom Rankings

[sufan59]

I had a thought, I feel it's highly more likely that the preseason metrics are indicating the floor for the team and not the ceiling and here's my argument as to why. It's a question of whether you think the pieces around Naithan George is better at Syracuse than Georgia Tech and the pieces this season at Syracuse is better for Donnie Freeman and JJ Starling. My guess is that the efficiency numbers are quantified based on reasonable efficiency improvements with an extra year of experience, but the baseline would be based on the efficiency they had on the rosters they were with last year. You could make the counter argument that these three players are on worse rosters this season and they underperform preseason metrics. Just something to watch because I'm not sure how the preseason data could quantify the efficiency improvements due to the complete change in roster makeup for these three players especially. Excited for this season, this is really a crossroads year for the program.

 

[Niastri]

"according to KenPom, our defense efficiency looks terrible."

Look at the site/ratings. Our Drtg is 100.9, which (looking down the column) is... an outlier. Schools with Drtg >100 don't pop up in masse until the 90s.

Is what I'm saying. This the KenPom ratings thread, not the "how great or crap our defense is" thread.

Hmm, you didn't say "Ken Pom thinks our defense is going to be terrible." You said

our defense looks terrible.
back to the other threads - it's gonna be run and gun, last men standing.

which is a very different statement. Ken Pom is merely taking last seasons ratings and making up ratings for new players and then putting them into a "made up isht" sandwich.

I wasn't necessarily arguing with you with my post, merely going player by player to see if we are likely to be better. My conclusion is that we will be a lot better.

Your opinion is welcome to vary, but I'd like to hear why you think we will still be terrible on defense.

 

[atlanticuse]

Your opinion is welcome to vary, but I'd like to hear why you think we will still be terrible on defense.

Okay, I'll bite.

Coaching.

Resources or not, last year, we gave up a bunch of leads in the second half. Or fell further behind. And the year before, too, but not as egregious.
Is that coaching? or conditioning. Dunno. We'll see this year. I guess if we can brute force people into mistakes and/or drag out leads, then we good.

 

[RedtheGOB]

"according to KenPom, our defense efficiency looks terrible."

Look at the site/ratings. Our Drtg is 100.9, which (looking down the column) is... an outlier. Schools with Drtg >100 don't pop up in masse until the 90s.

Is what I'm saying. This the KenPom ratings thread, not the "how great or crap our defense is" thread.

Kenpom Off and Def efficiencies are based on last year as of the preseason rankings today. They are replaced over the 1st 2 months of this season.

 

[Orangezoo]

3 more days and we get our first preview of what we have. Hang in there all…

 

[eastcuse]

Okay, I'll bite.

Coaching.

Resources or not, last year, we gave up a bunch of leads in the second half. Or fell further behind. And the year before, too, but not as egregious.
Is that coaching? or conditioning. Dunno. We'll see this year. I guess if we can brute force people into mistakes and/or drag out leads, then we good.

I am also worried about the coaching, but to be fair our defense was falling apart before Red. One of the big differences I see is the level of athleticism those teams had compared to the early 2000s-2016. You have to have desire, but you also have to be athletic to play good defense. We've had guys that are too slow or too small, or can't jump. It looks to me like we at least improved the physical ability to defend.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

3 more days and we get our first preview of what we have. Hang in there all…

But I want to be mad NOW, not in three days!!

 

[pearl31]

Kenpom Off and Def efficiencies are based on last year as of the preseason rankings today. They are replaced over the 1st 2 months of this season.

Yes.
And so when you've done a complete roster overhaul via the portal, as we have, our KP #s right now are even that much more worthless-
said another way, the numbers and projection right now are based entirely on last year's group of ragtag misfits, almost all of whom are gone

 

[Sherman20]

"according to KenPom, our defense efficiency looks terrible."

Look at the site/ratings. Our Drtg is 100.9, which (looking down the column) is... an outlier. Schools with Drtg >100 don't pop up in masse until the 90s.

Is what I'm saying. This the KenPom ratings thread, not the "how great or crap our defense is" thread.

Actually our projected defensive efficiency rank is 100th in KenPom (projected offensive efficiency is 49th). Which would be a big improvement over the last few years when we were terrible, like sub-150 (207 in 2022,185 in 2023 and 152 in 2025). I think we’ll be better than 100. Hopefully closer to top 75 or maybe inside the top 50. We’ll see. In 2024, we finished 85th. That team had some good athleticism but was a mess as a team. I think this team is more athletic and experienced, seems to be developing better strength and conditioning, and should be able to defend. The offense should be much improved too—ideally in the top 50 or higher.

 

[Orangezoo]

Actually our projected defensive efficiency rank is 100th in KenPom (projected offensive efficiency is 49th). Which would be a big improvement over the last few years when we were terrible, like sub-150 (207 in 2022,185 in 2023 and 152 in 2025). I think we’ll be better than 100. Hopefully closer to top 75 or maybe inside the top 50. We’ll see. In 2023, we finished 85th. That team had some good athleticism but was a mess as a team. I think this team is more athletic and experienced, seems to be developing better strength and conditioning, and should be able to defend. The offense should be much improved too—ideally in the top 50 or higher.

Honestly 22-23 wasn’t very athletic as a team at all. I’d say this team has more athleticism top to bottom in about a decade. That doesn’t mean it translates by any means to anything guaranteed of course.

 

[Sherman20]

Honestly 22-23 wasn’t very athletic as a team at all. I’d say this team has more athleticism top to bottom in about a decade. That doesn’t mean it translates by any means to anything guaranteed of course.

That was my mistake. In 2023-2024 (not 2022-23), we finished 85th in defensive efficiency (Red’s first year). I fixed that above. That team was fairly athletic with Maliq, who was a defensive whiz and steals maestro, an athletic freak in Quadir Copeland (playing more as a sophomore), plus Starling, Mintz, Benny (kicked off the team), Bell and others. But that team was also immature and undisciplined. (2022-23 was JB’s last year and we were still playing mostly zone.) This year’s team has more athleticism than any of the others cited above, plus maturity and experience. We should rate higher than 85 in defensive efficiency—hopefully much higher.

 

[Orangezoo]

That was my mistake. In 2023-2024 (not 2022-23), we finished 85th in defensive efficiency (Red’s first year). I fixed that above. That team was fairly athletic with Maliq, who was a defensive whiz and steals maestro, an athletic freak in Quadir Copeland (playing more as a sophomore), plus Starling, Mintz, Benny (kicked off the team), Bell and others. But that team was also immature and undisciplined. (2022-23 was JB’s last year and we were still playing mostly zone.) This year’s team has more athleticism than any of the others cited above, plus maturity and experience. We should rate higher than 85 in defensive efficiency—hopefully much higher.

Yeah that team had some athletes for sure. I’d say on paper this years team has still a good bit more but I follow.

 

[atlanticuse]

Actually our projected defensive efficiency rank is 100th in KenPom (projected offensive efficiency is 49th). Which would be a big improvement over the last few years when we were terrible, like sub-150 (207 in 2022,185 in 2023 and 152 in 2025). I think we’ll be better than 100. Hopefully closer to top 75 or maybe inside the top 50. We’ll see. In 2024, we finished 85th. That team had some good athleticism but was a mess as a team. I think this team is more athletic and experienced, seems to be developing better strength and conditioning, and should be able to defend. The offense should be much improved too—ideally in the top 50 or higher.

But… this is based on our players’ history.

Coaching is a major factor - x-factor.