Stats and Stuff

Here's the NCAA Ranking Summary (you have to navigate to get to it) for the PL last year. The news basically shows what everyone else knows: Holy Cross won a lot.

They ranked:
-Third nationwide in scoring defense (BU was 4th, so this may say more about the ability of teams to score than anyone's defense)
-Ninth in aver margin of victory (11.6 pts)
-Third in rebound margin-- 7.9 more rebounds a game than their opponents. The next closest was Lehigh, which had 1.7 more boards a game. This is the most impressive stat-- they were really tall and really good at using it.
-They were also sixth in W/L percentage at 83%. Pretty impressive.

Other notable stats:
-American took nearly 9 three point attempts a game-- making them 11th in the nation.
-Matt Logie took out the frustration of sharing a first name with me by hitting a ridiculous 94.8% of his free throws, putting him second in the nation.
-Jave Meade had 6.2 assists a game, making him 15th in the nation.
-Army's 54 pts/game qualified them as the fourth worst scoring offense in the nation. Ugh. They also averaged SEVENTEEN turnovers a game, making them the 294th best ballhandlers in the nation. Step off the ledge, Mr. Crews.

Conclusions we can make:
-Holy Cross had tall, strong, players.
-Lafayette (17th in the nation with only 16 fouls a game) has girly, womanly players. (joke)
-Jave Meade should have started at the point his Sophomore year.
-Matt Logie is good at shooting when no one guards him.
-Army's basketball team is an abherration unto God and Jim Crews is ruining the otherwise solid reputation of Bobby Knight. I think Jim Crews has another year before he's canned.
-Holy Cross kicked everyone's butts last year (except for AU, once).

Basketball stats are generally not so great predictors. But next installment, we'll try to use them to predict what will go on next year.

matt b  @ 1:48 PM