Did you know ...
- Derek Elston might be the second most efficient player on the IU basketball team?
- Daniel Moore (per 40 minutes) has better numbers than Jordan Hulls, Devan Dumes and Bobby Capobianco?
- Tom Pritchard may rank higher than Jeremiah Rivers when it comes to total efficiency?
- Tijan Jobe and Bawa Muniru may be the least productive? OK, you might have known that.
As a substitute basketball reporter just for Winter break (don't worry - Zina and DeAntae will be back in January), I've decided I'm going to be spending these three weeks crunching numbers on IU basketball stats. (Let's just say I have time to waste.) I think some of it will be interesting to readers.
First, let's look at player efficiency. I'm no John Hollinger, so the formula I used is much simpler. However, according to the person that proposed this formula, the final results are comparable to Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating. The goal of an efficiency rating is to calculate all key player contributions into one number.
Here's the formula: {[(Pts+Reb+Ast+Blk+Stl) - (Missed FG+Missed FT+TO)]/ Minutes]}*100 = Player Rating
The formula weighs heavily on efficiency per minute, so it gets a bit skewed with the seldom-used players, but it definitely provides interesting revelations about IU's team with the formula.
If the IU basketball team, intriguing stats, or mindless numbers interest you, follow the jump.
IU player efficiency ratings
Here (in order) are the efficiency ratings according to the formula above for the top 12 players on the team. If you want to check my numbers, here is ESPN's IU stats page.
- Maurice Creek, 69.58
- Derek Elston, 52.67
- Christian Watford, 46.30
- Verdell Jones III, 35.07
- Tom Pritchard, 34.78
- Jeremiah Rivers, 33.56
- Daniel Moore, 31.57
- Jordan Hulls, 30.37
- Devan Dumes, 29.37
- Bobby Capobianco, 22.11
- Tijan Jobe, 19.67
- Bawa Muniru, 17.39
Calculations
- Here's the breakdown for one player (Creek), so you understand how the number is reached for all players.
- Creek's positive stats: 185 points+41 rebounds+17 assists+5 blocks+14 steals =262 total positive
- Creek's negative stats: 57 missed FGs+9 missed FTs+13 turnovers=79 total negative
- 262 - 79 = 183
- Minutes played: 263
- 183/263 = .6958
- .6958*100 = 69.58
Observations
- Creek ranks highly because he leads the team in scoring yet manages to keep negative stats (missed FTs, missed FGs, TOs) to a reasonable level. Despite scoring 61 more points than any other player on the team, he has missed fewer shots than two players (Jones and Watford) and is just 5th on the team in turnovers.
- Elston has the fewest minutes of the top six players. However, he jumps to second mainly because he is third on the team in rebounds and steals despite less time on the court.
- Rivers might be surprisingly low. Why? He ranks 9th on the team in FT percentage, yet has shot the second-most free throws on the team (i.e. he's missed a lot - 17, to be exact). Rivers also has 14 more turnovers than anyone on the team (38 to Watford's 24).
Season stats observations:
- Watford has a 1:4 assist-to-turnover ratio. Six assists. 24 turnovers.
- The only three players of the 12 without a block? Hulls, Moore (both understandable) and Capobianco.
- Hulls has the best assist-to-turnover ratio (3.1-to-1)
- While Watford shoots 82.1 percent from the free-throw line, no other starter shoots better than 62 percent. Capobianco (not a starter) is just 3-for-11.
There you go. A quick look at IU player efficiency. It's a very stats-heavy ranking (obviously). The next time I post, I'll be looking at player plus/minus - this shows how well a team plays while a player is on the court no matter their statistical production. It should balance out this individual look at players' stats. There are some surprises in the plus/minus category (Jordan Hulls may be the guy you want on the court?)
Here's what I plan to post throughout Winter break:
- Part two: Player plus/minus analysis - how well does the team do when a player is on the court?
- Part three: Team plus/minus analysis - which five player lineup is the most effective on the court?
- Part four: Won/loss profile - what types of teams does IU play well against?
