Tempo-Free Stat Buffet

While my posting of statistical data won’t be as comprehensive as the Big Ten Wonk’s was in his heyday, I do hope to make some statistics available on a fairly regular basis. Most of those statistics will be limited to the MSU team. I want to spend some time looking at team/player data across the entire Big Ten to provide context, but I suspect time and energy will prevent that from being a frequent event.

Before we get to the data I’ve put together, I’ll point you toward some great data that’s already accessible at kenpom.com. This used to be Ken Pomeroy’s main website and is now linked as the “statistics” section of the Basketball Prospectus website. It appears the data will eventually be moved over to the BP site. Here are the two best pages for MSU data:

Game-by-game tempo-free stats

This page gives you the pace (number of possessions) for each of MSU’s game, along with the four “factors” tracked by Mr. Pomeroy: effective FG%, turnover %, offensive rebounding %, and free throw ratio (free throws made divided by attempted FG on offense; opponents’ free throws attempted divided by attempted FG on defense).

Cumulative tempo-free stats with national rank

This is pretty self-explanatory. Note that MSU currently ranks #1 in the nation in offensive rebounding % at 47.8%.

You’ll note there’s an area for individual tempo-free stats at the bottom of the second page. Those stats haven’t been posted yet. That’s where I come in. I’ve put together a pretty simple spreadsheet containing various individual tempo-free stats for the MSU roster. The PDF of the spreadsheet can be found here:

Nov 30 Individual Stats Update

It’s not that pretty yet; still needs some polishing. But I think it gives us what we need. Here’s a quick run down of the tempo-free columns in the bottom half, with some additional explanation of stats we haven’t talked about yet:

• MIN/G: Minutes played per game. Nine players are currently averaging over 15 minutes per game. That’s pretty good depth, easily satisfying the Wonk’s definition of “Izzo depth.”
• PPWS: Points per weighted shot.
• 2pt%: Standard shooting percentage, but for two-point shots only.
• 3pt%: Three-point shooting percentage. 16 for 32 (50.0%) for Mr. Neitzel to date.
• eFG%: Effective field goal shooting percentage. I think it’s good when both your leading scorers are above 60.0% on this metric.
• FT%: Standard free-throw shooting percentage.
• %ofShots: Percentage of shots taken by a player when he’s on the floor.
• AST/TO: Assist-to-turnover ratio (this is slightly out of order due to formatting). Neitzel’s putting up a fantastic ratio of 4.67.
• OR%: Offensive rebounding percentage. This is the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player pulls down when he’s on the floor. Suton’s 19.4% is phenomenal–and probably unsustainable.
• DR%: Defensive rebounding percentage. Same as OR%, but on the defensive end. Three regulars are above 18.0%–Morgan, Gray, and Suton.
• TR%: Total rebounding percentage. Same as OR% and DR%, but takes into account ALL rebounding opportunities. Keep in mind that the average for this stat is 10.0% by definition–10 players are on the floor for any given rebound.
• AST/100: Assists per 100 possessions played. Walton leads the way at 11.2.
• TO/100: Turnovers committed per 100 possessions played. Gray continues to be the worst offender among the regulars.
• STL/100: Steals per 100 possessions played. Suton shows a nice knack for swiping the ball for a big man–leading the way with 3.3 steals per 100 possessions.
• BLK/100: Blocked shots per 100 possessions played. Ibok has blocked 4 shots in just 56 possessions. Herzog has blocked 2 in just 24 possessions; should we call him “mini-Ibok”?
• PF/100: Personal fouls per 100 possessions played. As I noted in the previous comments section, Ibok is committing a foul every sixth possession.

Now let me offer a mini-critique of Kalin Lucas’s play based on these stats–just to be the contrarian to those who were kind enough to comment under the previous post.

His speed up and down the court has certainly been a revelation. He seems destined to provoke the “Beep Beep”s from Steve Lavin previously reserved for Dee Brown. The problem is that, so far at least, the speed isn’t translating into production:

• He has the lowest PPWS among the regulars.
• His assist-to-turnover ratio is a run-of-the-mill 1.64.
• He’s only making 1.6 steals per 100 possessions.

Several times in the last couple games, it seems like Lucas has turned the jets on to get down the lane only to find himself without anything to do with the ball at that point.  At some point, the penetration will need to become more lay-ups or assists than turnovers.

But I’m happy to cut him some slack. Point guard is the hardest position to learn for an incoming freshman (especially a sub-6′0″ freshman), and we’re only six real games into the season. There’s plenty of time for him to settle in and put that speed to good use.

Anyway, settle up to the TFS buffet, and let us know if you find a tasty morsel in there.

P.S.  Now that I’ve done this the hard way, I’m going to plop down my $24.95 for a Basketball State subscription.  The site is run by tempo-free adherent Kyle Whelliston and promises all this:

Statistics in 16 individual and 20 team categories, team and player performance data since the 2005-06 season, real-time scoreboard maps, conference “Tempo-Free Aerials,” GameGrids, 15 years worth of historical game results, and more!

I’ll let you know how it turns out.