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Post by kiyoat on Jan 8, 2018 10:42:45 GMT -6
Last year this team hung its hat on a high shooting efficiency and controlling the boards; some of the best in the nation. But, Coach P's motion offense wasn't completely installed, and they faded a little towards the end of the season, as conference teams keyed on AA and shooting slumps just happen. Also we lost size and experience in the post.
This year Coach P identified three areas of focus and improvement: Increasing the tempo, protecting the basketball, and defending more aggressively. The offense is starting to come together, but I think the defense has been much improved all season. Their aggressiveness has led to a ball-hawking and turnover-forcing squad, and is now a strong identity for this team.
Here are some conference stats that illustrate this: (vs. USD number in bold)
Denver scoring offense: 68.1 / 51 (-17.1) NDSU scoring offense: 69.9 / 67 (-2.9) WIU scoring offfense: 80.9 / 58 (-22.9)
Denver turnovers/game 14.4 / 22 (+7.4) NDSU turnovers/game 15.0 / 22 (+7.0) WIU turnovers/game 13.7 / 17 (+3.3)
Denver assists/game 14.2 / 11 (-3.2) NDSU assists/game 18.1 / 20 (+1.9) WIU assists/game 18.8 / 14 (-4.8)
Denver rebounds/game 40.4 / 26 (-14.4) NDSU rebounds/game 37.4 / 26 (-11.4) WIU rebounds/game 37.1 / 29 (-8.1)
Denver FT Att/game 16.4 / 20 (+3.6) NDSU FT Att/game 13.3 / 7 (-6.3) WIU FT Att/game 20.3 / 9 (-11.3)
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Post by elcoyote on Jan 8, 2018 11:54:56 GMT -6
That's some interesting info right there.
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Post by Coyote Fan on Jan 8, 2018 12:56:48 GMT -6
I don't even really have to look at the numbers. The defensive performance at Western Illinois speaks for itself.
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Post by coyoteglory on Jan 8, 2018 13:55:17 GMT -6
I don't even really have to look at the numbers. The defensive performance at Western Illinois speaks for itself. Ditto.
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Post by kiyoat on Jan 16, 2018 15:27:30 GMT -6
Wasn't sure where to put this, but it's a season stat, so this thread will do.
I wanted to look at bench depth/experience/skill. That's a hard one to quantify. The starters can change game-to-game. You can look at minutes or points. I decided to look at "bench points" from the box score, and just considered conference games. Here's the result:
Average bench points per conference game:
NDSU: 33.5 Denver: 28.3 SDSU: 24.0 IPFW: 22.0 USD: 21.8 UNO: 16.0 ORU: 10.8 WIU: 7.0
It's hard to know what is going on with this stat. Bench players can go in for blowouts, or injury, or strategy etc. They can get minutes and experience, but not always points. One thing is constant IMO. If you have a bench that has experience scoring, you have an advantage in the SLT, and in case of injuries.
That's why I like seeing ORU and WIU at the bottom of this list.
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Post by kiyoat on Jan 28, 2018 9:28:32 GMT -6
Now that we have played every team in the conference, let's look at what I think is our signature stat this year: Opponent's Assist-turnover ratio. The Coyote's brand of defense has been consistently disruptive this year, and it severely limits opposing teams' ball control IMO.
Team--A/TO ave - vs USD WIU---1.43-------0.82 (-0.18) SDSU-1.17-------0.91 (-0.09) NDSU-1.15-------0.91 (-0.24) Denvr-0.99-------0.93 (-0.06) *total between 2 games ORU---0.90-------0.89 (-0.01) Omha-0.82-------0.50 (-0.32) FtWne-0.55-------0.36 (-.19)
This may not seem like a huge number, but it stays consistent in high and low scoring games, fast and slow paced games, etc. In fact, only three teams have had a 1.00 or higher A/TO game against us: Creighton(1.11), Oklahoma State(2.00) and Tusla(1.10).
Creighton (1.43 ave) and Oklahoma State (1.33 ave) are both in the top-20 nationally in that stat, and even so, we kept Creighton below their average (and beat them). Tulsa, I think was an aberration game that we should have won. We didn't adjust to their style of defense well, according to Dawn in the interview afterward.
Ball control is huge in the Summit. Our own average A/TO is 1.13, which puts us #43 nationally, but only 4rth in the Summit!
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