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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Why is it the most wonderful time of the year?

Well, among other reasons, because individual tempo-free numbers are up at KenPom!

It's obviously still very early--with just 400 minutes of basketball under the belts of the 2009-10 Spartan basketball team (and only 120 of those against BCS-conference-level competition)--so the numbers are still what economists would call "advance."  But, hey, they're new numbers.  So we must analyze them.

Player bullets after the jump (explanation of individual tempo-free numbers is here):

Star-divide

  • Kalin Lucas' shooting numbers are looking pretty spiffy: .557/.429/.756.  Having more offensive options on the floor this season may be helping boost his 2-point shooting percentage, as he doesn't have to try to manufacture shots late in the shot clock as often as he did last season.  His assist rate is down a bit (even more so compared to where it was during nonconference play last season), a function of playing at the 2-guard spot alongside Lucious more often.
  • Draymond Green ranks in the top 500 nationally in 7 different tempo-free categories.  But we've already waxed poetic on his efficiency.
  • Durrell Summers is the only player among the top 7 Spartans (by minutes played) with an offensive rating below 114.  His stands at just 95.9.  His 2-point (.492) and free throw (.840) percentages are pretty solid, though.  Three-point shooting (.240), offensive rebounding (4.9), and turnovers (23.3) are the areas that need to improve.
  • Raymar Morgan's numbers are pretty good considering the injury issues early on: offensive rating of 114.8, contributing on the boards (10.4/16.6), steal rate at 2.8.  It's all about finding some level of consistency: 4 games with 16+ points, 3 with 4 points or fewer.
  • Derrick Nix is sporting a stellar offensive rebounding percentage of 20.0 and a nice block rate of 6.0 in his limited minutes.  I don't think I need to mention what his statistical weakness is, do I?
  • Chris Allen is a "role player"?  His Shot% is down from 28.4 last season to 22.0 this season.  The upside is he's shooting a very efficient .647 from 2-point range and an acceptable .364 from beyond the arc.  The downside is he's completely disappeared against good compeititon: total of 14 points vs. Gonzaga/Florida/UNC.
  • Delvon Roe's got some nice numbers for a guy who went scoreless in his first two (concussion-affected) games: top 150 in both offensive/defensive rebounding percentage, as well as block percentage, and a .604 two-point shooting percentage.
  • Korie Lucious is doing exactly what he needs to do from a statistical standpoint: distributing the ball with frequency (assist rate of 32.1) and keeping the turnovers down (TO% of 17.8, way down from last year's 32.0).
  • Austin Thornton is turning the ball over (26.2) and fouling too much (10.0 fouls created per 40 minutes) when he gets on the floor.
  • Garrick Sherman's numbers are decent (2pt% of .542, OffReb% of 13.9), especially considering a fairly high percentage of his minutes have come at the starts of games.
  • Isaiah Dahlman is leading the team in offensive rating at 135.8 (hitting 3 of 6 three-point attempts).  But he still doesn't find a way to get involved in the offense with regularity when he's on the floor: usage rate of 11.8.

We'll leave off there and take a look at some of the team-level numbers later this week.  It's never good to open all your present at once, right?

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Lucas and Green are having phenomenal years

They are our two best players from a statistical standpoint. I’ve been impressed with how Lucious has brought down his turnover rate – he was pretty bad last year but this year he is a very solid ball handler. He’s the poster child for The Geeks analysis on improvements from freshman to sophmore year. If no one else heats up from the perimeter I have no problem playing Lucas at off guard more and letting Lucious run the offense, other than it makes us even shorter which would not be good for the defense.

Roe is playing well but I was expecting more. He’s good at taking advantage of good opportunities, which is good in some ways – he’s not forcing things – but I would like to see him be more agressive offensively. Part of the problem may be that he plays out of position against bigger players a lot of the time because Nix/Sherman/Herzog are playing limited minutes.

by TheCrestedHelm on Dec 16, 2009 7:45 AM CST reply actions  

Sherman and Nix

I really like what I see from these two players (with a notable exception). By the end of the year I believe they both will be making major contibutions to the Team. Anybody fell the same?

by tien_3 on Dec 16, 2009 3:49 PM CST reply actions  

There's definite potential there

The question is whether Izzo is willing to give one or both 10+ minutes per game in conference play (and live with the freshman mistakes) to give them enough experience to be a factor in the NCAA Tournament.

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 16, 2009 6:20 PM CST up reply actions  

BB of the Decade.

SI just named MSU BB as the Team of the decade. Congratulations to Coach Izzo, all the Teams and to all true Spartans!!

by tien_3 on Dec 16, 2009 6:48 PM CST reply actions  

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