Some Corn, Wheat and Water for Your Thursday Night

Sorry, was out of town for a few days, so I will try to catch up on my promise. Final two conferences will be tomorrow hopefully.

(You like that quick 2 second stat posted during the MSU-Wisconsin game? Sometime after the Spartans had spent about a 1:30 period rebounding their 6 misses, they threw up a "41.5% offensive rebounding percentage was 5th best in the nation by MSU" stat. Tack another one up on the tempo-free world)


BIG 12

The Great:
Kansas - Every has lauded (including here) Texas A&M's stout defense, however it's the Jayhawks that have actually produced the better overall numbers, coming on as of the last half-dozen games. .87 points-per-possession allowed is a full 2.2 standard deviations less than the league average of 1.03. (Side note: they're shooting 53.9% from inside the arc, 1.9 stdev's better than the average)

The Ugly:
Colorado - Almost as bad as MSU in league play, the Buffs are turning it over on 25.2% of their possessions, or a full 2.3 stdevs above the average of 20.3%.

Nebraska - While shooting about around the average at 49.5%, they are only hauling in a league-worst 18.5% of their misses, compared to a league average of 30.2%. That amounts to a full 2.5 stdevs off of the mean. Offensive boards? We hardly knew thee.




MVC
Smaller league, less deviations from a mean. Still some interesting notes:

The Great:
Southern Illinois - Much like Kansas, the pride and joy of their league in terms of defensive prowess. Currently, they're sitting at .93 ppp, a full 1.94 stdev's below the 1.05 average. Oh they're also forcing a league-best 23.9% turnover rate, also 1.93 stdev's above the 20% average.

The Ugly:
Drake - Worst defense in the conference is giving up 58% efg against a league average of 52%, 2.14 stdev's above. That's built on a 43.2% 3-pt shooting defense that is 2.44 stdev's above the average of 37%. Better luck by their opponents or a weak perimeter presence?

Indiana St - Take your pick in this offensive-devoid metropolis of poor shooting. .94 points-scored per possession is 2.2 stdev's below the league average of 1.05. 41.7% 2-pt shooting is 2.34 stdev's worse on their way to posting 44.9% efg shooting against a conference average of 52%. That win against Butler feels like it was eons ago.



(Not to degrade any one team... I shouldn't talk as my alma mater is the worst in it's league in just about every known stat. NIT in 2015 baby! Some interesting far extremes nonetheless...)