WSU is a very balanced team

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

KenPom has WSU ranked #17 today. Interestingly, they are one of only 7 teams that rank in the top 25 of both offensive and defensive efficiency. #25 on offense, #15 on defense. I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone on this board that WSU is one of the most balanced teams in the country.


Interesting examples of not so balanced teams:

Rank	Team	Off Eff Rank	Def Eff Rank
5	North Carolina	2	56
6	West Virginia	61	2
14	SMU	5	72
18	Iowa State	3	116
19	St Mary's	6	89
20	Duke	4	122
21	Valpo	126	3
28	UConn	96	11
30	Florida	132	6
31	Notre Dame	1	236
33	Michigan	16	126
34	Butler	10	156

What the heck Notre Dame?!?!

[RoyalShock]

Maybe ND is trying to become the next Loyola Marymount?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Interesting tangent...

Going off the ranks, Notre Dame vs Duke is a dream matchup for those who like scoring. Sure enough, this past Saturday, Notre Dame beat Duke 95-91 in a game with a modest 70 possessions! To put this in perspective, WSU's high point total of the year (98 vs Nevada) was accomplished in 78 possessions.

[Cdizzle]

Didn't kenPom have an article a couple years ago that an overwhelming majority of F4 or Championship teams were in the Top 15 or 20 of BOTH AdjO and AdjD? I'll see if I can find the link.

Also, I know kenPom takes injuries into account somewhat, but given how drastically the injuries impacted the team early in the year, AND how high we are still rated, AND the fact that we are now getting healthy, would you be willing to concede that WSU IS, in fact, one of the elite teams in the country this year that is more likely to make the F4 than go one-and-done in the tournament?

[Kel Varnsen]

Didn't kenPom have an article a couple years ago that an overwhelming majority of F4 or Championship teams were in the Top 15 or 20 of BOTH AdjO and AdjD? I'll see if I can find the link.

Also, I know kenPom takes injuries into account somewhat, but given how drastically the injuries impacted the team early in the year, AND how high we are still rated, AND the fact that we are now getting healthy, would you be willing to concede that WSU IS, in fact, one of the elite teams in the country this year that is more likely to make the F4 than go one-and-done in the tournament?

One of the big problems with that is our seed. We will likely not get a favorable matchup at all with our current seed line. If we can get into the 5-6 line and avoid playing a 1-2 seed until at least the Sweet 16, we have a decent shot (and there's the possibilty that a 1-2 seed loses the first weekend).

Most high seeds are more likely to lose in the first round than go to the Final Four. There are much fewer variables. We are no exception.

I don't think we are "elite" this year. I also don't think any team is truly "elite" this year. It's that wide open. And I think I've read the KenPom blog on this, but that would take some digging haha.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

My negativity about WSU's chances in March is not a negativity about WSU's efficiency the past 2 months. I agree that WSU has been consistently dominant against mediocre competition. My main theory is that WSU has weaknesses that MVC teams just don't have the personnel to expose very often.

I think WSU is performing about on par with how many of the elite teams around the country would perform if inserted into the MVC. However, I feel that this is deceptive to how WSU will perform against better competition, specifically, better competition with strong interior players.

Just my opinion. I'll admit it is more of an eye test and matchup concern than something I can point to via statistics.

[jdshock]

Didn't kenPom have an article a couple years ago that an overwhelming majority of F4 or Championship teams were in the Top 15 or 20 of BOTH AdjO and AdjD? I'll see if I can find the link.

Also, I know kenPom takes injuries into account somewhat, but given how drastically the injuries impacted the team early in the year, AND how high we are still rated, AND the fact that we are now getting healthy, would you be willing to concede that WSU IS, in fact, one of the elite teams in the country this year that is more likely to make the F4 than go one-and-done in the tournament?

I remember that too, but I wasn't able to dig up the exact article. Here's the closest I got: http://247sports.com/Article/What-ma...-team-35899762
Other interesting note: we have easily the hardest NCSOS of any top 50 team.

[Perezident]

Also, I know kenPom takes injuries into account somewhat, but given how drastically the injuries impacted the team early in the year, AND how high we are still rated, AND the fact that we are now getting healthy, would you be willing to concede that WSU IS, in fact, one of the elite teams in the country this year that is more likely to make the F4 than go one-and-done in the tournament?

I definitely agree that WSU is a very good team, maybe even "elite", and slowly but surely getting recognized as such. But more likely to make the F4 than one-and-done? Even for an elite team, I suspect it's more likely that you lose in the first round rather than win four in a row against increasingly difficult opponents. I'm sure someone smarter than me could settle this with some science.

[asiseeit]

1. I don't believe there are ANY "elite" teams this year
2. I like our back court, team defense and depth
3. UNI's Koch exposed our biggest weakness which is post defense
4. I think there are 4-5 teams that stand a little above the next twenty but are beatable
5. You can throw a blanket over the teams ranked 6-20 with ANY capable of putting together a run
6. Personally, I thing we belong somewhere in the 15-20 range right now
7. Hopefully, in March we will reach our long range shooting potential at the right time
8. If MM and CF get hot we will be dangerous for anyone

[Cdizzle]

8. If MM and CF get hot we will be dangerous for anyone

Good news for WSU, and bad news for everyone else:

Tournament games are not played at home.

McDuffie and Frankamp are averaging 22ppg on 54% shooting and 48% 3PT shooting away from home.

[Ricardo del Rio]

January 31. Then we will know.

[bighouse]

1. I don't believe there are ANY "elite" teams this year
2. I like our back court, team defense and depth
3. UNI's Koch exposed our biggest weakness which is post defense
4. I think there are 4-5 teams that stand a little above the next twenty but are beatable
5. You can throw a blanket over the teams ranked 6-20 with ANY capable of putting together a run
6. Personally, I thing we belong somewhere in the 15-20 range right now
7. Hopefully, in March we will reach our long range shooting potential at the right time
8. If MM and CF get hot we will be dangerous for anyone

UNI's Koch made 3 shots on 9 attempts. 33% from the floor down from his average in league play of 70%. I would say he exposed a poor whistle in the post on both ends of the floor. 17 total fouls called on players playing the 5 spot. I think our 5s have done a fair job against some quality posts.

[Stickboy46]

My negativity about WSU's chances in March is not a negativity about WSU's efficiency the past 2 months. I agree that WSU has been consistently dominant against mediocre competition. My main theory is that WSU has weaknesses that MVC teams just don't have the personnel to expose very often.

I think WSU is performing about on par with how many of the elite teams around the country would perform if inserted into the MVC. However, I feel that this is deceptive to how WSU will perform against better competition, specifically, better competition with strong interior players.

Just my opinion. I'll admit it is more of an eye test and matchup concern than something I can point to via statistics.

I don't see many teams with really strong interior players this year though? The only one I've seen is Purdue. Their 6'10 250, 7'0 250, and 7'2 282 front court is scary. Though I think we destroy them on the outside.

Many of the predicted strong inside players have flopped this year.

[Cdizzle]

An interesting note, WSU's bigs have played their best games, by far, against the best competition. They were fantastic against Utah, UNLV, and Evansville, winning each of those matchups. I don't see too many teams in the country with better post players than those teams. There are a few, for sure, but not many. And given the results against those good interior players I would like our chances against other good players, even if they are better still.

[ShockdaWorld]

KenPom has WSU ranked #17 today. Interestingly, they are one of only 7 teams that rank in the top 25 of both offensive and defensive efficiency. #25 on offense, #15 on defense. I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone on this board that WSU is one of the most balanced teams in the country.


Interesting examples of not so balanced teams:

Rank	Team	Off Eff Rank	Def Eff Rank
5	North Carolina	2	56
6	West Virginia	61	2
14	SMU	5	72
18	Iowa State	3	116
19	St Mary's	6	89
20	Duke	4	122
21	Valpo	126	3
28	UConn	96	11
30	Florida	132	6
31	Notre Dame	1	236
33	Michigan	16	126
34	Butler	10	156

What the heck Notre Dame?!?!

That defense is why a team like UNI was able to defeat UNC and ISU. Yes, both were missing their starting point guards, which helped, but if you defend poorly and let their shooters get comfortable and hot, they have a puncher's chance to knock you out. They can't beat good defense, but they can beat good offense.