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Post by Grizzfan1 on Dec 20, 2015 0:35:47 GMT -5
Pretty solid night for the Horizon: Of course we all know about OU's result over Washington!!
Detroit (MERCY) 95
Central Florida 89
Valpo 74
Missouri State 45
Cleveland State 69
Belmont 67
Loyola (CHI) 64
UIC 47
Michigan 105
Youngstown State 46
Northern Kentucky 79
Southeast Missouri State 69
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Post by blackandgold on Dec 20, 2015 9:35:48 GMT -5
An interesting trend is emerging this season: this knock-down, plodding league we all heard about is starting to have some teams that are pushing tempo. Of the top 26 teams in KenPom's adjusted tempo (basically the number of possessions per game), the Horizon League currently has four:
3 - Green Bay 8 - Detroit 17 - Oakland 26 - UIC
It will be interesting to see if this trend keeps up during conference play, where pace of play usually slows down a notch regardless of conference.
Another stat of note is that Valpo is currently ranked third in the nation in defensive efficiency (points per possession), which is quite a feat and puts their defensive among those of Oklahoma, Purdue, Louisville, San Diego State, etc.
Valpo lost the only two times they gave up more than 1 point per possession to the other team. Amazingly, Oakland has only lost when giving up more than 1 point per possession, but the crazy thing about that is we are averaging 1.14 points per possession on offense in our losses! So in our three losses we gave up an average of 1.23 points per possession, but are averaging giving up less than 1.00 points per possession in our wins! That is just an unreal split. If you take out those losses (or even if the numbers from those three losses would have been a little lower), we'd be talking about the best Oakland defense in the history of the program. Sadly, those numbers will stay in Oakland's season-long averages and skew what has otherwise been a stout defensive club.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I like Oakland's chances of scoring efficiently against Valpo's elite defense. This Oakland offense is looking a lot like the 2010-11 team, which was top 10 in the country in efficiency. Pair that with a better-than-average defense and I like that combo in any Horizon League game, including three potential match-ups with Valpo.
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Post by Grizzfan1 on Dec 20, 2015 10:22:27 GMT -5
An interesting trend is emerging this season: this knock-down, plodding league we all heard about is starting to have some teams that are pushing tempo. Of the top 26 teams in KenPom's adjusted tempo (basically the number of possessions per game), the Horizon League currently has four: 3 - Green Bay 8 - Detroit 17 - Oakland 26 - UIC It will be interesting to see if this trend keeps up during conference play, where pace of play usually slows down a notch regardless of conference. Another stat of note is that Valpo is currently ranked third in the nation in defensive efficiency (points per possession), which is quite a feat and puts their defensive among those of Oklahoma, Purdue, Louisville, San Diego State, etc. Valpo lost the only two times they gave up more than 1 point per possession to the other team. Amazingly, Oakland has only lost when giving up more than 1 point per possession, but the crazy thing about that is we are averaging 1.14 points per possession on offense in our losses! So in our three losses we gave up an average of 1.23 points per possession, but are averaging giving up less than 1.00 points per possession in our wins! That is just an unreal split. If you take out those losses (or even if the numbers from those three losses would have been a little lower), we'd be talking about the best Oakland defense in the history of the program. Sadly, those numbers will stay in Oakland's season-long averages and skew what has otherwise been a stout defensive club. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I like Oakland's chances of scoring efficiently against Valpo's elite defense. This Oakland offense is looking a lot like the 2010-11 team, which was top 10 in the country in efficiency. Pair that with a better-than-average defense and I like that combo in any Horizon League game, including three potential match-ups with Valpo. Well stated B&G!!
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Post by oudrummer on Dec 20, 2015 10:31:30 GMT -5
So glad to have numbers people in this fan base to break this stuff down. I love it and it's fascinating but I don't have the patience to do the analysis you guys do. Thanks!!
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Post by ouguy on Dec 24, 2015 7:46:38 GMT -5
Milwaukee has beaten Wisconsin and Minnesota now, that's two Big Ten teams in one season!! I don't care which teams it is, if you go 2 for 2 against arguably the best conference in bball, that's impressive. I feel like we give OU and Valpo a lot of coverage and conversation, but maybe we should be fearing Milwaukee more. They have more impressive wins than Valpo does so far, by a lot.
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Post by Pioneer on Dec 24, 2015 8:38:38 GMT -5
Agreed. Milwaukee has looked formidable for the last few seasons and they are better this year. No easy victories.
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Post by oudrummer on Dec 24, 2015 9:19:16 GMT -5
I hate Tiby. I wish he was a grizzly.
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Post by biglew on Dec 24, 2015 9:50:03 GMT -5
All right. I'm going to be that guy ... Can we get Oakland, Valpo, and Milwaukee in the tournament?
Wins like this can get us back to a top 10 conference.
So as a league we have knocked off the following power 5 teams...
Wisconsin (Milwaukee) Minnesota (Milwaukee) Oregon State (Valpo) Washington (Oakland)
Did I miss anyone?
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Post by Grizzfan1 on Dec 24, 2015 10:02:36 GMT -5
All right. I'm going to be that guy ... Can we get Oakland, Valpo, and Milwaukee in the tournament? Wins like this can get us back to a top 10 conference. So as a league we have knocked off the following power 5 teams... Wisconsin (Milwaukee) Minnesota (Milwaukee) Oregon State (Valpo) Washington (Oakland) Did I miss anyone? The Panthers will be right up there with OU and Valpo by the end of February. Don't know if they'll have enough to knock either off but that's March Madness for you. They will be in a decent post season tourney I fully believe. PS. Hopefully we can add Virginia to that list.
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Post by PantherU on Dec 26, 2015 17:07:51 GMT -5
All right. I'm going to be that guy ... Can we get Oakland, Valpo, and Milwaukee in the tournament? Wins like this can get us back to a top 10 conference. So as a league we have knocked off the following power 5 teams... Wisconsin (Milwaukee) Minnesota (Milwaukee) Oregon State (Valpo) Washington (Oakland) Did I miss anyone? The Panthers will be right up there with OU and Valpo by the end of February. Don't know if they'll have enough to knock either off but that's March Madness for you. They will be in a decent post season tourney I fully believe. PS. Hopefully we can add Virginia to that list. We'll match up fairly well with you guys. Felder may score 50 and Hooper could go 10-for-10 from three, but we'll match up well otherwise haha. Valpo...it's hard to say, because we just don't know who is going to be available and when.
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