Defining Dominance

[Shocknut]

With all the conversation regarding WSU being a Cinderalla, I thought of a couple of angles for consideration.

• We have played 160 minutes of NCAA Tournament basketball and have trailed a total of 12:48.
• We have led the games or have been tied 92.2% of the time.
• We have beat a Big East team, the #1 AP team in the country, LaSalle and Ohio State from the mighty Big Ten.

There has not been anything lucky about our wins. We have played better defense, with more intensity, and hit the clutch shots that good teams make. Two more to go.

Go Shox!

[all valley]

GEAUX SHOX!

[Rlh04d]

I've mentioned those numbers a few times, and I think it can't be said enough. This shouldn't be allowed to be cast as a Cinderella story. This has been dominance through four games.

The smallest lead we've had in any game is 13 against Gonzaga. At points we had leads of 20 against tOSU, 22 against La Salle, 18 against Pitt. Most we've ever trailed was 8 against Zaga. We've only trailed by something like 2:30 in the three non-Zaga games ... right about 2% of those three games.

Not only were Gonzaga, tOSU, and Pitt #1, #7, and #20 in the AP Poll, but they are also currently #4, #6, and #11 in KenPom's ratings. I believe they were all top 10 before playing us. Even La Salle, our "easy" game, beat the co-champions of the Big 12, and the champions of the SEC.

Meanwhile we've played a higher average seed and a higher average AP rating than any of the Final Four teams throughout the tournament.