MBB: American Rivers Conference

[duckfan41]

Just a comment about ... oddities.

Loras clamped down on defense while giving up 129 in the win? 

It's all relative when you're dealing with "The System." They started actually getting stops on the defensive end which they were not doing much, if at all, in the first half. Most of this started with Demond George's energy from tip to final buzzer, and Jordan Boyd's immediate impact from when he first entered the game.

[RogK]

Judging solely from the stats, the Loras defense probably deserves a fair amount of credit for holding Greenville to 38% two-point shooting (22/58).
That game had a huge number of possessions, so a high score is expected.

[duckfan41]

Judging solely from the stats, the Loras defense probably deserves a fair amount of credit for holding Greenville to 38% two-point shooting (22/58).
That game had a huge number of possessions, so a high score is expected.

I know it won't show up in your stat sheet quite yet, but +1 anyway for the principle of the thing

[Gregory Sager]

Yep. Defense is better measured by points per possession than by raw score, because that's a constant regardless of tempo.

[AndOne]

I see NWU put up 143 last night against Grinnell who scored 90.
In addition to the combined 233 points, the teams combined for 3 Ts—-2 on NWU players, 1 on a Grinnell player. Anybody aware of what spurned the transgressions?

[BLynn]

Sixth man Bahe for NWU got one for taunting after dunking on a GC player

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I see NWU put up 143 last night against Grinnell who scored 90.
In addition to the combined 233 points, the teams combined for 3 Ts—-2 on NWU players, 1 on a Grinnell player. Anybody aware of what spurned the transgressions?

NWU Player 1: "How is this 'System' working out for you guys?"

Grinnell Player: "Shut the F--- up!" (TECH)

NWU Player 1: "Ha. I'll shut the f--- up once you guys figure out how to stop us" (TECH)

NWU Player 2:
""
(TECH)

All in good fun, folks. All in good fun.

[Greek Tragedy]

Yep. Defense is better measured by points per possession than by raw score, because that's a constant regardless of tempo.

Dumb question. How do you figure out how many possessions a team has?

[RogK]

The definition of a possession in basketball is debatable, so it's definitely not a dumb question. The main issue is how to handle offensive rebounds.
I think an offensive rebound should be seen as extending a single possession, not starting a new one. I think Greg researched this within the NCAA statkeeping guidelines and found the opposite, namely that an offensive rebound starts a new possession.
Depending on which of these two options you use, the points-per-possession stat is affected. I fully agree with Greg's comment yesterday that points-per-possession is the best measure of a team's offense and defense.
A sample scenario : team A misses a shot, gets an o-reb, misses another, gets another o-reb, then makes a layup.
I'd see that as a good single possession, since they scored without allowing the opponent to possess the ball. Offensive rebounding is part of offense, defensive rebounding is part of defense.
So, if an offensive rebound "keeps a possession alive," team A scores 2 points per possession, a very good rate. But, if you count this scenario as three possessions, team A has a 0.67 points-per-possession, not real good.
You could also look at it from the perspective of team B, the defense. They allowed 2 points before they were able to regain possession of the ball, a defensive failure I think.
Any particular formula for determining the number of possessions has to decide how to treat offensive rebounds, one way or the other.

[Greek Tragedy]

It's a new possession if the ball hits the rim and the shot clock resets but the same possession on an offensive rebound if it doesn't hit the rim?

[RogK]

Dang it, now you've given me a headache! ha ha
Perhaps there should be different term for what I had in mind. Maybe "extended possession."

[Schipper Strong]

Young Dutch team loses to WRF today 103-77.  You could tell Central graduated their two top scorers. They have a lot to work on. Three point shots were way down from last year, rebounding left a lot to be desired.  On the plus side they did not have a lot of turnovers which is good for a team with a new line-up and they did well at the charity stripe.  It was game one, lots of room to improve and they will.  I think they will do better than 5 and 11 in conference. First conference game at NWU which is probably good as that would be a long shot at any point in the season. We will get that out of the way and things will look up from there.   

[dunkin3117]

Nothing too shocking from this weekends slate of games.  I was a little taken back by how badly Central took it on the chin.  The Dutch lost a lot of scoring, it will be interesting to see how Douma and his staff adjust as the season goes along.  If they are going to rely on Seth Wood taking 15 3's a night, they could be in for a long season. 

The other surprise was Bethany Lutheran knocking off Simpson at home.  FT line looks to have kept them from a W in this one.  Riordan looks as though he picked up right where he left off last season.  He will be a tough match-up for any guard this season. 

An extremely busy week in the ARC. 

Monday
NWU traveling to Bethany Lutheran

Tuesday
Coe hosting Milikin (who defeated UD this past week)
Wartburg hosting Cornell (looks like Wartburg will be returning the favor and be traveling to Cornell the following week)
Simpson travels down to Westminster

Wednesday
UD hosts Edgewood
Luther travels to UW-LaCrosse

Personally, not too intruiged by any of these games.  I think the ARC sweeps.

Bring on the weekend!

[duckfan41]

Loras also hosting St, Scholastica on Friday and Oliver College on Saturday this weekend!

[Greek Tragedy]

Loras also hosting St, Scholastica on Friday and Oliver College on Saturday this weekend!

There's a ton of weekend games. I presume he left off the weekend games on purpose.