Tag: statistics

Summer Wrap Up: The Unlucky Crusaders

Holy Cross was featured today on SI.com by Andy Glockner for doing something that must be a pretty rare occurrence, being the unluckiest team in America for two seasons in a row. The Crusaders are an astounding 3-20 in games decided by five point or less the past two seasons.

It’s generally assumed that luck doesn’t carry over in that fashion. It’s much more likely that a team will drop back into the middle of the pack the next season. That’s because being “unlucky”, at least how Ken Pomeroy defines it, isn’t caused by any single attribute in a basketball game. Want proof? Just look at teams similar to those Holy Cross squads have done in the past.

Continue reading “Summer Wrap Up: The Unlucky Crusaders” →

Summer Wrap Up: New York’s Best Players According to Value Add

Basketball season is right around the corner and the Value Add metric is starting to pick up steam thanks to a jumpstart from Luke Winn. (You can see some of the work I did with earlier in the summer on this Google link.) One thing I haven’t covered though was the simple question of, “Who was the best player in New York last season?” Well, the answer shouldn’t surprise you.

Continue reading “Summer Wrap Up: New York’s Best Players According to Value Add” →

JUCO recruiting: How it impacts mid-majors

While I was musing last night on Twitter about whether Fairleigh Dickinson might be worse this season than last, an astute follower shot back that there might be hope because of two Junior College All-Americans. Would that be enough? Could that help FDU escape the bottom of the NEC?

Recruiting junior college players is a tricky business. For every success story like Detroit’s Nick Minnerath or Gonzaga’s Marquise Carter there are tons of players that don’t make it. At the mid-major level this is even more apparent. But, even if it’s just for two seasons, when a JUCO recruit pans out it can provide an instant boost (see Wichita State last season). How good though can those players be? Here’s a look at how JUCO’s affect mid-major programs.

Continue reading “JUCO recruiting: How it impacts mid-majors” →

Is slower better in college basketball?

Everyone knows the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. Slow and wins the race. But that hasn’t always been the case in college basketball. Teams like North Carolina, with Roy Williams’ Secondary Break, or Arkansas, and Nolan Richardson’s 40-minutes of Hell, conjure up breakneck paces and 100-point games. The game has been subtly slowing down and teams that can play that game are becoming more successful.

Continue reading “Is slower better in college basketball?” →

Sports analytics are a chance to learn

Today on Grantland there is a post about statistical analysis in sports and the perils and pitfalls of some of the possible applications of data entitled The Math Problem. It is written by Wired’s Jonah Lehrer, who seems to be a really reasonable guy. I guess that’s what makes the post so perplexing. The argument is that statistical analysis is becoming a crutch and that an over reliance on it is preventing teams from focusing on more important aspects of the game.

Continue reading “Sports analytics are a chance to learn” →