This should hopefully make most people happy about our five spot

[cliftonparksufan]

This is a response to all of the posts about our three guys and who should be playing and who has faults, etc. We know we don't have one complete player but if you take the stats of our three guys, I think we are still in much better shape at the five than 95% of the teams in the top 25. DC2 and BMK are both averaging just under 15 minutes per game for a total of 29.1. Xmas is averaging 21.9 MPG so if you take half of his minutes and stats, it adds up to a nice tidy 40.05 minutes per game. I know stats is not the answer to every question but I find it hard to believe that any of our three guys are going to make the deciding difference in any games we might not win. That unfortunately will come down to poor shooting nights by our core four.

DC2
14.4 minutes per game
5.0 PPG
4.9 RPG

BMK
14.7 MPG
2.4 PPG
3.3 RPG

Xmas
10.95 MPG
2.55 PPG
2.0 RPG

This gives the team a total of 9.95 PPG and 10.2 RPG. That's a double/double. I think most fans would sign up for that right now. How many other teams are getting those numbers from their centers. Combine that with Fair, Cooney, CJ and Grant and that's exactly why we are rated #4.

 

[Dave85]

Tonight we have to win the rebounding battle.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Tonight we have to win the rebounding battle.

Indiana has a bunch of 6'7 guys (Sheehy, Williams, Davis and Hollowell) in addition to 6'10" Vonleh. The only decent team they have played so far was Yukon and they lost by one at MSG. Vonleh only played 10 minutes and had four fouls. He is averaging 10 rpg in 21 minutes but only had two against Yukon. That could be key.

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

Without a reference point, it's hard to take much away from your analysis. If you combined the top 3 big men for other top teams, I imagine they would see better production than 10 and 10.

Maybe not, but again, it's impossible to tell without context.

 

[Garbs]

Without a reference point, it's hard to take much away from your analysis. If you combined the top 3 big men for other top teams, I imagine they would see better production than 10 and 10.

Maybe not, but again, it's impossible to tell without context.

he is not combining the top 3 big men, he is combining the stats at center

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

he is not combining the top 3 big men, he is combining the stats at center

He's counting some minutes of Rak at the 4, then.

And fine, combine the 40 minutes of Center play from the other top programs, and I bet it would exceed 10 and 10

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Maybe not, but again, it's impossible to tell without context.

Basically the context is within each team. How important is the center position to that team compared to the other four spots. Plus I think it's different with a team that plays a 2-3 zone. You need to anchor it and not necessarily play match up.

All three of our "centers" are averaging over 60% shooting the ball so if you were the coach would you say you want them to shoot more. Would you run more plays to them or let Ennis continue to run the offensive sets that he has.

If you want to take the stats a step further, our "centers" are averaging five offensive boards a game, yet are only taking six shots per game. If they are putting the ball up 50% of the time they get an offensive rebound that would mean that they are only shooting the ball three times based on passing into the block. Not very many but not to quibble with 927 wins either.

Sure, 10 and 10 is not much on the surface, but in the world of Syracuse basketball with Fair and Grant and Ennis and Cooney, it fits the bill.

 

[PeteCalvin]

We have more fouls to give at the center position. There is no other team that has our depth there. To me, that is the big difference.