Moving through a review of the season, I wanted to take a look at how our players fared in individual statistics. If you read the blog, you know there is no chance this will turn into a rip on anyone. I just want to see how individuals contributed to the team on a measurable basis, and how they ranked with their conference peers. Anything I have to say about how the team under-performed (and there was plenty) was covered in the team reviews.
No Falcon led the MAC in any category. The closest things to the top were a few cases where our guys were #2. Scott Thomas was #2 in steals and Otis Polk was #2 in blocked shots. We had a few other guys lurking around in there. Let's take a look at what we have, with some comments sprinkled in along the way as appropriate (or, when I feel like it).
Conference Games Only
Scoring
Thomas #7
Brown #27
Polk #28
Nothing too surprising here. We didn't score a lot, and it shows here.
Rebounds
Thomas #11
Polk #13
FG%
Marschall #4
Polk #5
With our "inside out" play, you really need this kind of shooting on the inside. Although Otis was frustrating in the pre-MAC season with his field goals, he did bring it around for the MAC season. Erik Marschall had a real knack for getting to the basket.
Assist
Jakubowski #5
FT%
Jakubowski #6
Steals
Thomas #2
Jakubowski #14
Thomas is deadly in the corner of that zone, and when he gets the ball in the corner, he's athletic enough to make something happen on the other end.
3fg%
Brown #5
Jakubowski #7
Note a good percentage on low attempts. Nothing wrong, however, with only taking the 3 when it is open for you, especially in our offense.
Blocked Shots
Polk #2
A/t
Jakubowski #9
Off Rebounds
Polk #5
I'm not sure why, but Otis was much better on the offensive boards than the defensive boards.
Def Rebounds
Thomas #3
This is a pretty good result for a guy with Thomas' size. He was very tough on the defensive boards and it demonstrates his value even when he does not score.
Minutes
Thomas #4
Brown #12
Jakubowski #14
With 3 of the top 15 players, you can see our relative lack of depth. We clearly had no one to spell Scott Thomas.
Possession %
Thomas #11
Our first "new" or tempo free stat, this simply looks at how many of your team's possessions you used up, with a shot or turnover. The idea here is that a player with a great scoring average can get there by shooting all the time, and if you add in turnovers, they may not be as valuable as they thought, since the team only gets so many possessions in a game. The fact BG does not have someone in the top 10 reflects the solid team play that made us as good as we were.
Floor %
Polk #7
This reflects the percentage of possessions for a player where points were scored....including assists. All this means is that when Otis got the ball, there were only 6 players better at getting points.
Offensive Rating
No one in top 19
This measure looks at points per 100 possessions. Clearly, a reflection of our team's struggle to score consistently.
Shot Pct
Thomas #12
Scott Thomas was #12 in the MAC in terms of how many of our shots he took, again reflecting a team approach on offense.
Effective FG%
Marschall #12
Polk #13
Brown #14
When your best players are inside players, you will be harmed on this measure, which counts 3FG as 1.5 of a 2FG.
True Shooting
Marschall #16
This is a measure of all shooting, including free throws.
+/-
Marschall #3 (+141)
Thomas #11 (+79)
I think this is interesting. One of my off-season projects will be to dive into this whole +/- thing and see what might be available to learn. In 16 MAC games, BG was 141 points better when Erik Marschall was on the floor than when he was not, which is about 9 points a game, and pretty impressive in a league where the average margin of victory is much less. Scott Thomas was +79, though he hardly left the floor, which is something we need to figure out. Anyway, my instincts are that this is a very effective way to identify valuable players, and that these two players were the ones we relied on most.
TO%
Thomas #22
Jakubowski #65
This looks at turnovers per individual possession. (If you have the ball a lot, you will make more turnovers; in comparison, if you don't, you shouldn't be making them). We identified in the offensive review that we turned the ball over too many times for a slow tempo team without a ton of great shooters, and that conclusion is reflected here.
FT %
Medlock 35%
Kool 31%
Thomas #13 (26%)
Finally, this stat reflects the percentage of points scored on free throws. I list it only to show something that is important for the development of Scott Thomas. The MAC's best scorers were getting around 1/3 of their points at the free throw line...and Coach Orr correctly says that any scorer has to get to the line in those kind of numbers. Something to work on in the off-season.
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