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Message: [QUOTE="fanfanclubclub, post: 48194, member: 787"] Providence's Vincent Council led the Big East in assists per game last season, with 5.9. Scoop had 5.8. (I know, I know, Scoop had one more total assist, but fewer assists per game) Does that mean that Vincent Council is obviously a great point guard? Is Vincent Council good enough to start at point for the Cuse, pushing Triche out of position and putting MCW and Waiters on the bench? Of course not! Why? Because despite his many assists, Council was a low efficiency chucker, just like Scoop. Scoop has better percentages, but took a higher percentage of two point shots (relative to threes and free throws), so Council's terrible 1.11 points per shot wasn't much worse than Jardine's lousy 1.17 points per shot. Council scored a tiny bit more (13.7 vs. 12.8). I'm not saying that Council is quite as good as Scoop: he isn't. Scoop is better, but not by a ton: as the advanced metrics demonstrate. The argument that, "Scoop led the big east in assists, ergo, he is good enough and people questioning him are crazy" is illogical nonsense. Leading the Big East in a basketball card statistic does not necessarily make a player good enough to play a lead role on a top 5 team. Over the years, a number of mediocre guards have led the Big East in assists: * Chris Thomas (twice), ND * Tory Jackson (twice), ND * Eugene Lawrence, St. Johns and now Vincent Council. None of these guards would be good enough to start for the Cuse this season at point. So the fact that Scoop led the Big East in total assists, and came in second in assists/game, doesn't mean that he is good enough to start for us. Jardine's appearance on the Wooden preseason list doesn't mean anything either ([I]see[/I] Kevin Jones, Peyton Siva, [I]et al[/I]). Pretty much all advanced metrics agree: Scoop is not efficient. [URL='http://kenpom.com/playerstats.php?s=ORtg&y=2011&=BE'] Under Kenpom stats[/URL], for example, Scoop (104) is substantially less efficient than out-of-position Brandon Triche (108) and injured Kris Joseph (109). Every other statistical measure of efficiency I have seen gives Scoop poor marks. So please, if someone has an empirically-informed, statistical argument that demonstrates Scoop is a national championship type efficient point guard: please share. Otherwise, can we please stop praising Scoop for finishing second in Big East assist rate and for having one more assist than Vincent Council? [/QUOTE]

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