2015 Season - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[SB Shock]

This series takes a quick look at how WSU has performed statistically so far in the 2014-15 season and also looked back through at 2013-14 for reference.

The categories I looked were:

Opp Game FG% vs WSU Season Defense FG%
Opp Game 3pt% vs WSU Season Defense 3pt FG%
WSU Game FG% vs Opp Season Defense FG%
WSU Game 3pt% vs Opp Season Defense 3pt%
RB Differential
Offensive Scoring
Defensive Scoring

Blue means GOOD, Red means worse. The 2013-14 presents through the Non-Conference Games (no conference games), while the 2014-15 is thru Drake.

This will be a multi-post.

[SB Shock]

The first thing to look at is RPI between 2014 and 2015. Because quality of opponents can be important. 2014 is based off final RPI, 2015 RPI are based of the forecasted RPI from RPIforecast.com site.

There is two charts, first shows RPI sorted for both season from lowest to highest. 2nd shows the difference between two season. What we see is WSU is having some bad luck with lower tier opponents who seem to be struggling.

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[Dan]

The Good - upper classmen leadership, some talent in the freshmen class
The bad - the recruiting hole in our sophomore class, players on our bench not qualified to play at WSU
The Ugly - post depth

[SB Shock]

This next charts shows how WSU has scored and played defense relative to their opponents average.

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[SB Shock]

Next is the WSU Shooting in comparison relative to what their opponents is giving up for the season. You can see WSU slumped in recent game but WSU is actually shooting 3pt a little better than 2014 to this point.

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[SB Shock]

Here is a look at how WSU opponents have rebounded (rebound differential) versus their season average. 10 out of the 12 WSU opponents in 2015 season have are out rebounding their opponents. Take Utah, they are outrebounding their opponents by +9, but against WSU that RBD difference was on +3, thus WSU relative to their season average performed +6.

WSU has out rebounded their opponents 8 of their 12 opponents, but have actually outperformed 11 of 12 opponents (with Drake being their worst performance). In comparison to 2014 season WSU is struggling, on average their differential has decreased by -2.6 rebounds or -27% decrease.

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[SB Shock]

Here is opponent shooting percentage relative to their season average. You can look at this as either how they were up for WSU and shot better than normal, or you can look at it as WSU Defense knocked them down from their season average.

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[SB Shock]

So far WSU scoring margin

Offense - Pts above their opponent avg allowed: +7.1 per game (+9.3 - 2014)
Defense - Pts their opponents scored versus their avg per game: -8.6 per game (-10.7 - 2014)

[wufan]

Good stuff!

[SB Shock]

Here is comparison for Pts off Turnovers, Pts in Paint, Fast Break Pts, Bench Pts and 2nd chance Points. Very similiar results between the 2014 and 2015 season. Only 2 areas where there is significant difference. 2015 squad is +2 better on Points on Turnovers but is -5.9 in points in paint.

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[WSUwatcher]

Actually, SB, there's one other significant difference visible in your chart immediately above. Last year's team was three points stronger off the bench than its opponents; this year's bench is two points weaker than its opponents' bench.

Of course, looking at who's on this year's bench vs. last year's, that's hardly a surprise.

[wufan]

The weaknesses in this years team per the stats are the same that I have seen with my eyes. Some of the similarities are things I've taken for granted.

[wsushox1]

I do not know if stats are kept routinely for this but I would be very interested to see a points in transition comparison. This team struggles to score, and it needs to be more aggressive in transition. If that means jacking up a shot off of one pass, then I am fine with it as long as it is open. It's not as if we are getting a ton of open looks off of our late clock offense anyways.

Run the ball and shoot. Whatever happens happens.

[wsushox1]

I am an idiot as SB Shock has already put the charts for transition points up

[SB Shock]

Actually, SB, there's one other significant difference visible in your chart immediately above. Last year's team was three points stronger off the bench than its opponents; this year's bench is two points weaker than its opponents' bench.

Of course, looking at who's on this year's bench vs. last year's, that's hardly a surprise.

Good catch!