079: Plotting some plodding possessions
Plus, some Sunday morning thoughts.
Plodding possessions
North Carolina won in Charlottesville for its first time in its last nine tries yesterday. Carolina beat Virginia 54-44. The game featured around 60 possessions.
Both teams were inefficient. UNC scored about 0.90 points per trip compared to Virginia’s putrid 0.73 points per possession.
There was even a four-plus minute stretch early in the first half when the score didn’t change at all.
Prompt possessions
Kentucky beat Alabama yesterday by 22 points. The final score was 117-95.
Both teams were efficient. The Wildcats scored 117 points over about 80 possessions, good for 1.46 points per trip. Alabama scored 1.19 points per possession.
The two teams combined for 100 points in the first half or two more points than UNC and UVA combined to score for its entire game.
Teams play different styles. It makes people question if its the same sport. Yes, it’s the same sport, and that’s what makes the sport unique.
The mothership presents a bad product
No one asked me, but ESPN can do a better job presenting college basketball. I’m confident there are tons of talented people that work at ESPN and care about what they produce.
The presentation is not good right now.
the split screens during game action
an in-game analyst repeatedly suggesting a fifth-year player at one school might have committed to the opposing school during game action (Cory Alexander)
the stupid headline on this graphic
a suspect whistle in a game resulting in a picture-in-picture of a coach before we show a replay of the actual play
the constant programming that collides into each other, and requires you to login to the app to catch the start of a game, and you rarely stay logged in
Fox, CBS, and even the CW all do a much better job of presenting the sport.
Apologies for the rant.
The ACC league office is going through it
The ACC fined two of its women’s basketball programs already this season for complaints about the officiating in games. Louisville’s Jeff Walz was reprimanded and the school was fined $20,000. Courtney Banghart, the acting president of the Women’s College Basketball Coaching Association, and North Carolina were fined $5,000.
NC State’s DJ Horne was reprimanded earlier this season for flashing double middles towards an official in a game. And I’m sure we’ll see some sort of fine for the court storming debacle at Wake Forest yesterday.
It feels like an awful lot of drama and unforced errors for the league as of late. Unfortunately, can’t see it getting any better when the league expands again next season.
Virginia and Wake Forest had wildly different weeks
Virginia lost two games by a combined 44 points. Wake Forest won two games by a combined 37 points.
Virginia maybe has the better résumé today, while Wake Forest has superior predictive metrics.
As far the tournament odds, check out the discrepancy from Bart Torvik’s tool:
Not sure anyone wants to play either team, though, it’s probably for different reasons:
Virginia because of the pace (362nd in tempo)
Wake Forest because of the talent
Anyhow, thanks for reading thus far and as a reminder, another plug for two tools that might help you follow along during the rest of the men’s college hoops season:
CBB Conference Index: standings, head-to-head records, and fun with quadrants
WABStick: compare the résumés of two teams using wins-above-bubble