MartintheMopMan

You know who Maryland really could have used?   Diamond Stone.

Updated updated KenPom:   #17 Purdue #18 Maryland #19 Indiana

It's in the first post!

Again, conceptually you aren't wrong, but the affirmative statement made by the article is, "[Michigan State's Matt] Costello had 22 against him [on Sunday]. [Northwestern's] Alex Olah had 19 points in 20 minutes [on Jan. 23]. [Wisconsin's] Ethan Happ had 25 [on Jan. 26]." and that is factually untrue for the reasons stated. Costello had 22 points, he didn't have 22 points against him. He had 22 points against everyone who defended him.

I started a post at work that I didn't finish and didn't post that started with "Assuming Maryland beats Minny (and as everyone knows, Minny can't beat anyone)..."   Guess that's out the window. Maryland still has 3 tough games too.

Oh snap! Then I can't believe the article casually leaked it like that!

The Indiana part says:   Indiana (21–6, 11–3): "Can they play all their games in Assembly Hall? If they did, they could win the title. [Freshman center] Bryant is a very poor defender, so you can really exploit that. A lot of big guys have scored against him. [Michigan State's Matt] Costello had 22 against him [on Sunday]. [Northwestern's] Alex Olah had 19 points in 20 minutes [on Jan. 23]. [Wisconsin's] Ethan Happ had 25 [on Jan. 26]. He's just young. He gets caught out of position and that leads to foul trouble. I do think they're better without [sophomore guard James] Blackmon [who was lost for the season with a torn ACL on Jan. 5]. He's a great talent, but it takes away another guy who wants the ball. They're at their best when [senior guard] Yogi [Ferrell] has the ball. [Junior forward Collin] Hartman and [senior guard Nick] Zeisloft are tremendous role players. This is the first time since [Victor] Oladipo and [Cody] Zeller were there that I've seen an Indiana team where everyone is happy offensively. They play so fast on offense that they don't have the same toughness and energy on the defensive end."   Websites might not like it, but whatever. If there is just a little blurb about Indiana then I appreciate when people pull it out so we don't have to all click links.   Anyway... Not to nitpick, because I do agree with the general sentiment of the whole thing, but it's like 50% false. JBJ does not have a torn ACL that we know of. Costello, Olah, and Happ did not score those points against Bryant, they scored those points in games Bryant also played in. You can't count every point each player scored against Bryant, he played 18, 23, and 28 minutes in those games and was not the only one to send those guys to the line. It's unfair to pretend the starters play only against their counterparts the entire game.   Not that anyone cares about this article anymore, that Maryland game. Wow.

Weird vibe from the whole article. Anyone else get that?   The whole intro to the article is talking about how it will focus on the weaknesses and straight-talk, but every SEC team receives a glowing review. Even Vandy.  I mean, cool, they're worse than their roster indicates, but they're still not good this year. It's OK to say that instead of praising how great two of their players are and how they just demand so much when you're playing them.    It was mostly the SEC coaches unwilling to talk bad about the other teams I guess. Big Ten coaches were pretty straight and the ACC ones weren't bad, they're legit awesome at the top half of the conference this year so it's hard to find too many faults in their recognizing it.

So, I was interested in slow basketball v. fast basketball and compared the tempos on Ken Pom.   In the top-50 teams in tempo, there is 1 team in KP's top-25, UNC at 39th fastest. And they can't even beat a team who ran out of players a month ago and is now just picking people from the crowd (@UNC too, so not even a friendly crowd member). If you expand it to KP Top-50, there are 2. FSU at 30th.   In the bottom-50 teams in tempo, there are two top-25s, Texas, 315th and Virginia, 351st. There are 7 Top-50s, I'm not listing 5 more teams, I have work to do.   Come Tourney time, I'll be interested in comparing how quickly the teams who make it are playing but at the moment, it looks like slow ball is king. Though, I'll admit there are statistical aberrations in favor of this result. Namely, teams with bad defenses play faster. Case in point is the fastest team in the country, The Citadel who have almost the worst defense in the country. They average nearly 5 possessions above the number 2 because the other team just scores without resistance.

Predictions for Iowa, Maryland, and Indiana side-by-side   In that order:   Iowa:          [attachment=3439:1.PNG] Maryland:   [attachment=3440:1.PNG] Indiana:      [attachment=3441:2.PNG]   Thanks for playing "Maryland Eastern Shore" so we can't get the charts to line-up Maryland.

This game is going to be a strength-on-strength and weakness-on-weakness brawl. I hope the Hall is rockin' so hard the construction workers have to test its structural integrity before working on Monday.

Not much change, but updated numbers after Purdue and our last games:   [attachment=3437:1.PNG]   [attachment=3438:2.PNG]

13 game winning streak!

OK, have to remember to make a new post in here to bring this to the top on game day.

It rains 234 days a year here. How can everyone drive so poorly? I have to be home in less than an hour!

If we want to have any shot at a piece of that radical rock, we better handle our business at home against Nebraska. Nebraska is decent this year. Not good, not bad, but, meh, decent.   Prediction League:   https://btownbanners.com/topic/9240-prediction-league-game-27-week-15-iu-vs-nebraska-021716/#entry243725   Pick'ems:   https://btownbanners.com/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=12&wid=174   The numbers:   [attachment=3407:1.PNG]   [attachment=3408:2.PNG]   This topic will close at 1930 EST on 2/17.

I remembered!

Denzel Valentine rested for the first month of Big Ten play. His minute accumulation is lower than almost any other player he faces, so he is less likely to be facing the long-term endurance issues of players like Yogi.   If Yogi were in the same position as Valentine, I imagine he would have much fresher legs and we would all be less worried about the minutes our starters are playing in blowouts.   I think there are certainly players who are playing more minutes and showing less fatigue, but your comparison is inapposite. There are almost certainly bigger issues at play with the fatigue of the team though. We can't pretend this is the first time players have looked worn down in February.

Let's add, "missed an evidentiary deadline" to my bad day list.  Though, the opposing attorney and I are on good terms and I anticipate less than a 25% chance of any repercussions.   I can only assume I'm collected all the badness so the team will be showered with goodness. That makes sense.   And you're right Natty, I'd rather be in my lukewarm shower and step out into the heat than huddled around the fire in the den with a hot shower.   Actually, with a good book and a warm blanket, huddling sounds pretty relaxing.

Someone tweet Doc Libby and tell her to remind Yogi if we are dominating in the fourth quarter, he should be tugging his shirt until he gets to rest for the remainder. Not going to get to sit otherwise.

No hot water this morning. That can't be an awesome portend.

All right I'll bite.   What do they want?

Yogi looks exhausted. He needs to schedule a nap.

Well, we have standards. I don't want a coach who can't hold grudges for at least 4 Presidential terms.

For the sake of comparison:   Tom Crean has 3, with 1 more almost there (53/36). Just over 20% of the tracked seasons.