Thursday, February 02, 2006

Wolfpack Players' Conference-Only Stats

Individual statistics that include every game played are here. You can compare those numbers to the conference games-only stats, which I have compiled below. In the tables, you'll find every statistic tracked by Pomeroy plus a few extras. I've bolded numbers that are of particular interest.

Conference Games Only
Player%MinO Rtg%Poss%ShotseFG%Reb%OR%DR%FTR
Ilian Evtimov75.811018.019.858.19.13.913.129.0
Gavin Grant43.38922.019.047.114.73.922.967.6
Cam Bennerman86.712418.220.465.84.42.95.546.6
Tony Bethel83.312016.720.667.67.92.511.91.4
Ced Simmons70.011524.721.459.715.110.818.393.5
Engin Atsur87.011117.118.753.75.60.59.641.8
Andrew Brackman45.811122.120.155.38.34.611.276.3

The first thing I noticed was Gavin's offensive offensive rating. His inefficiency is made to look even more glaring by his teammates. He has been the Pack's best defensive rebounder, though, and he does a good job of getting to the free throw line.

In case you're wondering, Tony Bethel has one (1) free throw attempt in conference play--thus the miniscule free throw rate. He's gotta work on that. Since he has handled most of the point guard duties, it's weird that he's had so much trouble getting to the line. At the least, he should be getting FTAs as often as Atsur. But this minor nitpick doesn't change the fact that Tony has been fabulous in conference play. I am a little concerned that he's shooting at an unsustainable percentage.

It's amazing how evenly distributed the field goal attempts are. Even Simmons, who is using the most possessions on the team, doesn't have a shot percentage that's much higher than his teammates (though his %Shots is deflated by fouls in the act of shooting since missed attempts in that situation do not count).

Is it any wonder that the Wolfpack doesn't offensive rebound very well? You can also see why we have problems in this area when Simmons is on the bench.

Conference Games Only
PlayerARateTORate%Blks%StlsPPWSPts/40Rebs/40TO/40PF/40
Ilian Evtimov21.621.601.71.2514.16.12.74.0
Gavin Grant16.327.21.40.81.0713.49.84.22.8
Cam Bennerman16.417.50.72.31.4117.62.92.22.4
Tony Bethel37.221.11.12.11.3614.15.22.52.5
Ced Simmons15.017.011.12.01.2419.210.02.94.7
Engin Atsur33.716.30.32.11.1512.83.82.03.5
Andrew Brackman13.722.35.90.41.2917.75.63.47.2

[By the way, PF = personal fouls; the last four columns are per-40 minute stats]

Here's a big problem which is illustrated to an extent by the %Stls column: State has shown a complete inability to force turnovers (even moreso in conference). Conference foes are turning the ball over on only 15.9% of their possessions. Note that if a team averaged 15.9% for the season, they'd rank 6th in the country in TO rate. In eight conference games, Wolfpack opponents have turned the ball over 89 times--a little over 11 per game. NC State's average turnover rate in conference play is over 19%, and although that's not bad, it's obviously not better than 15.9%. That edge in TO% gives opponents more shots at the basket, more opportunities to go to the free throw line, and more opportunities to extend their possessions via offensive rebounds.

I'm sure the coaches hold their "deflections" statistic (and whatever else they track) close to the vest, but if we were to get a look at those numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if we found that they were down this season.