Basketball Statistical Review

A couple weeks ago I posed these questions.....

1. How many major team categories did BGSU finish LAST in?
2. What was Bowling Green's top statistical category?
3. What was our top ranked player in an individual category?
4. Who had a higher PPG scoring average? Bowling Green or Toledo?

I supposed I should have clarified that I was looking at the MAC stats as published on the website, and I was looking at conference games only, because that eliminates all the issues about who you scheduled and who you played.

And, I think its important to remember that we were 7-9 in conference play, and that's as many MAC wins as we had the previous two seasons combined. Some of the internal stats aren't very good--but at least we won some games. I think we saw this year a team that has a ways to go, but who I hope are on the road to turning it around.

Also, and let's not discount this, we defended our home court, going 6-2 in home MAC games. We also won a MAC road game, something we did not do the season before, though we were 1-7 on the road.

So, the answers.....

How many major team categories did BGSU finish LAST in?

(only) 2:

• Scoring Margin (-7.5)
• FT% (63.3%)

The scoring margin is something that is surprising, you don't expect to see a team be almost .500 and have that kind of deficit. The reason is that we had a 36 point loss at Akron and a 46 point loss at Buffalo to drag the numbers down.

And free throw %. That's just a shame, in fact. We were always good at that under DD, and we were pretty poor this year, and we needed every point we could get. We had the fewest FTs made in the MAC (186), and only two teams got to the line less than us...NIU and Miami.

What was Bowling Green's top statistical category?

Blocked shots We led the MAC with 5.69 per game.

What was our top ranked player in an individual category?

Brian Moten was 2nd in 3-FG%, 44.4%. (Otis was also ranked high in blocked shots.) The point here is that for a 7-9 team, we didn't get a lot of statistical production.

Who had a higher PPG scoring average? Bowling Green or Toledo?

Trick question...it was a tie. The much maligned Toledo offense, with its PG chased off the team, etc, etc, scored 60.9 PPG. Just like we did. (Tied for 10th in the MAC).

What does all this mean?

Offensively, we just had lots and lots of challenges. We were:

• 10th in scoring, 12th in FT%
• 8th in 3FG%
• 11th in 3s made
• 8th in assists
• 11th in turnover margin
• tied for 9th in offensive turnovers
• 8th in offensive rebounds

The bright spot, we were 6th in FG%.

I guess if you want to boil it down, we could shoot OK, but didn't get enough shots because we didn't take care of the ball, and we made a lot more 2s than our opponents did, putting us a little further behind, and then add in this missed free throws and you have a team that has a hard time scoring points.

Defense was not a lot better.

• 9th in point allowed (note a couple big games inflate this number a little)
• 8th in 3FG% defense
• 10th in rebound margin
• 10th in steals.
• 12th in turnovers forced.

and finally,

• 5th in FG% defense
• 1st in blocked shots
  

What does this mean. We were building this team on defense, and we did limit the opposition from shooting on us. However, they seemed to do a little better on 3s than on 2s, and that tells me that the inside D was good but the outside D (guards) was less good. Plus, teams got the benefit of more possessions, since we forced so few turnovers. Finally, once the ball hit the boards, they got some second chances, too.

One last thing must be noted....our team has been KILLED by fouls over the past few years.

Comically, the MAC does not publicize foul stats, probably, as I have said before, to shield their embarrassingly poor officiating. Still, the NCAA does keep the stat (which makes the MAC even funnier, almost cute, like a little kid hiding the note from his teacher), so we can figure out what was going on.

Two years ago, we fouled 23.1 times per game, (we're talking all games now, not just MAC), and only 6 teams in D1 fouled more.

This past season, we cut that to 18.3, and were 148th our of 328 teams. That's significant.

FTs overall still hurt us. We lost 3 points a game here (which is twice as good as last year). In fact, overall, we made 1 more FT than our opponents. Our entire margin is on FTs and treys. But, we fouled less, and gave up fewer free shots, and that represents improvement.

I guess my point is, you wouldn't guess we were 7-9 looking at these stats. But we were, and that's what really matters. All these numbers will have to improve, though, if we're going to win the 13 games it took to win the MAC this regular season.