Post-Tournament Links
kj on Apr 9th 2009
Lucious, Allen break bones
Talk about a game going as badly as it possibly could have. On a positive note, my sense is that a broken bone doesn’t involve major rehab. (Hat tip: MooTheKow.)
Spartans can find motivation in loss to Tar Heels
Draymond Green: Leader. (Hat tip: Jason.)
2009-10 Insanely Too Early Rankings
Consensus: MSU is #3, behind Kansas [...]
UConn Game Recap (4/4/09)
kj on Apr 5th 2009
The Spartans run, not walk, past the Huskies 82-73 in a 74-possession game. StatSheet box score.
At this point, it’s hard to find more words to describe how well this team is playing. This game was almost a carbon copy of the Louisville game in terms of scoring flow: It was back and forth in [...]
Coffee Talk: Who Plays on the Wing?
kj on Mar 19th 2009
Going into NCAA Tournament play, our starting lineup looks like it may finally be completely healthy. Kalin Lucas, Travis Walton, Raymar Morgan, Delvon Roe, and Goran Suton should all be able to play 25-30 minutes per game at near 100%. (Roe is perhaps the exception to this statement, but he’s certainly as ready to contribute [...]
Ohio State Game Recap (3/14/09)
kj on Mar 14th 2009
The Spartans bow out to the Buckeyes 82-70 in a 69-possession game. StatSheet box score.
Your bar graph:
NCAA Basketball Stats
Your bullets:
The difference in 2-point shooting percentages was fairly narrow, so the big differential in the eFG% bar was driven almost entirely by 3-point shooting. They hit 9 of 16 from beyond the arc. We hit 3 [...]
Iowa Game Recap
kj on Feb 26th 2009
MSU scoots by Iowa 62-54 in a 59-possession game. StatSheet box score.
The reflexive thing to say after you’ve beat a vastly inferior team by just 8 points at home is to say the team “lost focus” or “didn’t keep their foot on the pedal.” I’m going to resist that temptation and say MSU did exactly [...]
Minnesota Game Recap (2/4/09)
kj on Feb 5th 2009
The Spartans bury the Gophers 76-47 in a 65-possession game. StatSheet box score.
A very impressive start to the new home-court winning streak, to say the least. MSU did everything we thought they needed to do, and they did it in abundance:
Knocked down perimeters shots (7-12 on 3-pointers).
Controlled both the offensive and defensive glass (42-26 overall [...]
Scatterplot time
kj on Jan 13th 2009
I’ve been meaning to do this for a couple weeks:
A review of the methodology:
Offensive rating is basically an attempt to use all the individual basketball stats currently available to measure a player’s efficiency in using possessions to score points. The rating uses the same scale as team offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions).
Usage [...]