Year to Date - Scoring and Efficiency Way up

[jncuse]

Just scanned all the threads on the first page, but not sure if this has been mentioned.

Per KenPom, year to date comparitive

2016 vs 2015

PPG: 73.7 vs 68.0 (up 8%)
Efficiency (per 100 possessions) - 101.4 vs 98.9 (up 2%)
Pace (Possessions per Game) - 72.1 vs 68.2 (up 6%)

While the increase in scoring was expected due to the decreased shot clock, there was also a concern that the efficiency may slightly worsen from the current levels.

It's good to see that wiht the extra possessions teams on average are also more efficient.

 

[bballbeadle]

That was a very interesting post! Thank you.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Having watched a few games this year now we have a much better product to watch than last year. The new emphasis on eliminating the random bump and grind seems to be working and the shorter shot clock is preventing coaches from choking the life out of games. BUT college hoops looked really good last season before conference play began and then with the turn of the year the old rules came back and the game got unwatchable again.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Same deal as most years: some rule or another is a "point of emphasis " and then once conference play starts they forget all about it. This year, in our games, it has been the moving screen. By the time we play Pizz they will call exactly zero of them even though PU commits 3 moving screens per eye gouge (translation: a crap ton of them).

 

[orange79]

We should probably wait a little longer than 2 games before assuming a trend. Just MO.

 

[jncuse]

We should probably wait a little longer than 2 games before assuming a trend. Just MO.

This is not just Syracuse 2 games. It is a sample of all NCAA games this year vs last year at the same point (which is over 300). The margin of 73.7 vs 68.0 held after yesterday. 300 is a fairly large sample, so in my view enough to make observations at least. And to try to understand why.

 

[jncuse]

Having watched a few games this year now we have a much better product to watch than last year. The new emphasis on eliminating the random bump and grind seems to be working and the shorter shot clock is preventing coaches from choking the life out of games. BUT college hoops looked really good last season before conference play began and then with the turn of the year the old rules came back and the game got unwatchable again.

It is a Year to Date comparison over the same period last year. So there are real improvements in non conference play.

That being said you raise a good point about points of emphasis regarding contact, and those get enforced early. I don't think there was many emphasis points at the beginning of ast year, but there was certainly some 2 or 3 years ago that were enforced early as well, and just faded away.

The increase in efficiency trend vs. last year would seem to be largely due to tougher enforcement at beginning of 2015 vs beginning of 2014. But they could very well do the same thing they did 2 or 3 years ago when they had that push on contact, and just let it die.

 

[orange79]

This is not just Syracuse 2 games. It is a sample of all NCAA games this year vs last year at the same point (which is over 300). The margin of 73.7 vs 68.0 held after yesterday. 300 is a fairly large sample, so in my view enough to make observations at least. And to try to understand why.

Ah. I thought they were SU numbers.