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Message: [QUOTE="Knicks411, post: 108311, member: 767"] Well, like I said, the actual defensive efficiency numbers were slightly better in 2010 than 2011 (allowed, adjusted, .89 points per possession in 2010, .904 last year; I think just the distribution of teams meant that we ranked higher last year vs 2010). I wouldn't say the 2011 defense was better than the 2010 because they ranked 2 spots higher, it's never that easy, especially because, as I pointed out, the 2010 teams allowed fewer points per trip. We can throw out the adjusted numbers, and just look at the raw numbers; maybe you can quibble with the adjustments Pomeroy makes or what have you. In 2010, we allowed .937 points per possession. (We played a tougher than average schedule, thats why the adjustment takes it down to .89). Last year, it was .949. So either way, the 2010 team looks better by about .01 points per trip. Like I said before, I guess 2011 simply ranked higher because of the distribution of various teams and how many points they allowed; either way you look at it, the teams were pretty close, which I would guess is not what the average, even average hardcore SU fan might think. The reason I think this is is that the defense became the story of the 2010 team early in the season. Bobby Knight was dissecting it on ESPN, etc, everywhere you looked they were talking about our defense. (Probably started because we bottled up a UNC team that we all thought was going to be better than they were). Once those narratives begin to get written, it's hard to change it. But the fact of the matter is, as that season went on, our defense definitely declined. Just looking at the BE season; we allowed 7 teams to score a point per possession or more against us; 5 of those 7 came in the final 7 games of the year, and in the other 2 games, we allowed about .98 and .97, which is good, but wasn't at the level we were at prior to that. All of this is a long winded way of saying not that our defense in 2010 was bad or anything like that. It was very good. Best defense in the BE during the regular season. And I'm not saying 2011 was better. But I just think that defense has been overrated a little because of the narrative that was written early in the season that was never really adjusted when we got a little shredded in the last 6-8 games. And for whatever its worth, we're 10th in defensive efficiency this year. [/QUOTE]

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