ShareI love Big Ten basketball. There, I said it. While the league has endured more than its fair share of ridicule and scorn over the past few years from those who aren’t enamored with the style of play, it’s what I grew up on and what I still follow religiously today. I’m sure each of you has a love for something that conventional wisdom might tell you not to. Like the Chicago Cubs or Jimmy Dykes. Ok, there’s no excuse for the second one, but you get the idea.
Plus, if you want to hear Gus Johnson calling basketball games, you’re going to have to watch Big Ten hoops. So get over it.
Throughout the season I’ll be taking periodic looks inside the conference, so with a couple weeks of the season under our collective belts, here are ten numbers to know about the Big Ten through Tuesday’s games.
155.5 – Trevor Mbakwe’s free throw rate. No really, it is. Minnesota’s relentless power forward has attempted 42 free throws compared to 27 field goals. His gaudy rebounding percentages have remained intact, and in fact, his offensive rebounding rate has actually improved. With questions remaining in the Gopher backcourt, Mbakwe will be counted on to shoulder the load if Minnesota is going to make noise in the Big Ten. Look for a huge performance from him in the Old Spice Classic starting on Thursday.
78.8 – Offensive Rating for Michigan State’s Draymond Green. Sparty’s senior captain is one of the my favorite players in all of college basketball, but he is off to a brutal start. To put this into context, his 107.2 ORtg last season was the lowest of his career. Obviously the sample size is small, so it’s too early to press the panic button. However, his shooting has dropped off dramatically from both two-point and three-point range where he is hitting 36.6 and 16.7 percent, respectively. Green’s rebounding percentages are relatively flat, but his assist rate has dipped while his turnover rate has climbed, fueled largely by 10 turnovers in the first two games. Part of this can be attributed to trying to do too much as MSU struggles to find a true point guard, but he simply has to be more in control if the Spartans want to bounce back from last year’s disappointing 19-15 season.
76.3 – Effective field goal percentage for Purdue sharpshooter Ryne Smith. Smith actually had one of the top ORtg’s in the nation last season, but you may not have noticed because his usage rate was just 10.6. His high ORtg was fueled largely by his prolific outside shooting and his complete lack of turnovers. While Smith’s usage rate has seen only a slight increase this season, he has maintained his torrid shooting by connecting on 18-of-34 from beyond the arc, including eight triples against High Point. Smith was held to just three points in Purdue’s loss to Alabama, but it’s clear the Boilers will be relying on him to be a consistent double-digit scorer this season.
61.2 – Indiana’s effective field goal percentage, which ranks fourth in the country. The Hoosiers are hitting 61.5 percent of their two-pointers, led by a staggering 80.6 percent from Cody Zeller, but they are also knocking down just over 40 percent of their threes. You can attribute some of that success to the opponents, but there are a number of things to like about Indiana’s start this year. In addition to solid shooting from the field, the Hoosiers have also seen their free throw rate skyrocket (although their 47 attempts against Savannah State are skewing that a bit). Backcourt mates Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones are complementing each other well as offensive facilitators, as evidenced by a 61.7 assist rate compared to a poor 49.8 mark last year. Perhaps most importantly, IU is showing signs of life on the defensive end, but I’ll save that for another post.
26.9 – Assist rate for Michigan freshman Trey Burke. I was as skeptical as anyone as to how the Wolverines would look offensively without Darius Morris at the point. Burke’s assist rate is still a far cry from the gaudy 44.2 Morris posted last season, but it is encouraging for Michigan’s future. He has scored at least 13 points in each of the last four games, culminating in career highs of 17 points and nine assists against Duke. The team’s offensive efficiency numbers have steadily improved after a few ugly early season performances, but given their offensive philosophy, shooting 30.2 percent from beyond the arc isn’t doing them any favors.
26.2 – Not only is this the number of miles in a full marathon, it’s also the percentage of three-pointers Ohio State has hit this season. That’s a hefty decline from last year’s 42.3 percent clip from beyond the arc, which ranked tops in the nation. Everyone knew the loss of Jon Diebler would hurt, but it may be felt even more than originally believed. The good news is that OSU is attempting a smaller percentage of three-pointers than they did last year, which at least shows they acknowledge their struggles in that area. Still, the Buckeyes need at least a couple reliable shooters to emerge to keep defenses from sagging in on Jared Sullinger.
21.8 – Block rate for Illinois big man Meyers Leonard, which is currently the best in the nation. Without Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis on the roster for the first time in what feels like eight years, the Illini were counting on a big season from Leonard, who played just over eight minutes per game as a freshman. So far he’s delivered with 13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and a ridiculous 4.5 blocks per game. In addition to blocking roughly one of every five shots taken while he’s on the floor, his rebounding percentages on both ends of the floor are both near the top of the conference.
12.0 – Northwestern’s turnover rate. It was only natural to have huge concerns about what might happen to the Wildcats without Juice Thompson running the point. Through four games, their turnover rate is tops in the nation. While John Shurna and Drew Crawford are doing most of the scoring, Northwestern is relying heavily on freshman Dave Sobolewski at the point. His 19.2 assist rate isn’t spectacular by any means, but he’s taking good care of the ball with just a 10.7 turnover rate. Sobolewski’s free throw rate has also been solid, and Bill Carmody has continued to praise a level of poise that belies his youth.
0.58 – Points per possession against Wisconsin. That almost needs no embellishment, but they have held three of their four opponents to 33 points or less. For the game. They have surrendered just 0.54, 0.71, 0.60, and 0.51 points per possession in their first four contests, which is unbelievably impressive regardless of the level of competition. Questions remains as to who will emerge to help Jordan Taylor on offense once they start to play better teams, but it’s clear that the team will remain elite defensively. For what it’s worth, Taylor is scoring just 8.3 points per game so far, while Jared Berggren, Ben Brust, and Josh Gasser are all averaging in double figures and shooting better than 40 percent from deep, led by Gasser’s absurd 84.6 percent mark from downtown.
0 – Number of losses to teams outside of the Top 25. This obviously has nothing to do with advanced stats, but the league’s six losses have come at the hands of #1 North Carolina (Michigan State), #2 Kentucky (Penn State), #6 Duke (Michigan, Michigan State), #13 Alabama (Purdue), and #25 Creighton (Iowa). Suck on that, haters.
Follow me on Twitter (@AndyBottoms) for more of my thoughts on college basketball
Share
