Wednesday, March 16, 2005
BONUS March-Madness-edition PPWS
There's no trick to putting up a nice number for points per game (PPG). Just shoot a lot. But who would get the most points from the same number of shots?
To answer that question we turn to the handy stat that not only measures scoring efficiency, it also captures more than just points from the field (unlike, say, points per shot or "PPS"). This stat takes in both FGA's and FTA's. It's points per weighted shot (PPWS), developed cannily by John Hollinger (The Basketball Prospectus) and renamed brazenly by Wonk.
Here are the current numbers for the top 16 seeds:
PPWS
1. Salim Stoudamire, Arizona (1.42)
2. J.P. Batista, Gonzaga (1.39)
3. James Augustine, Illinois (1.35)
4. Dee Brown, Illinois (1.34)
5. Derek Ravio, Gonzaga (1.33)
6. Larry O'Bannon, Louisville (1.32)
7. Chris Ellis, Wake Forest (1.31)
8. Jawad Williams, North Carolina (1.31)
9. Joel Smith, Washington (1.31)
10. Marvin Williams, North Carolina (1.29)
11. Matt Walsh, Florida (1.29)
12. Joey Graham, Oklahoma State (1.29)
13. Taron Downey, Wake Forest (1.28)
14. Taquan Dean, Louisville (1.28)
15. Josh Boone, Connecticut (1.27)
16. Luther Head, Illinois (1.27)
17. Sean Dockery, Duke (1.27)
18. Eric Williams, Wake Forest (1.27)
19. J.J. Redick, Duke (1.26)
20. Aaron Miles, Kansas (1.26)
21. Roger Powell, Illinois (1.26)
22. Anthony Roberson, Florida (1.25)
23. Brandon Jenkins, Louisville (1.25)
24. Wayne Simien, Kansas (1.24)
25. Shelden Williams, Duke (1.24)
26. Ivan McFarlin, Oklahoma State (1.24)
27. Rashad McCants, North Carolina (1.23)
28. Chris Paul, Wake Forest (1.23)
29. David Noel, North Carolina (1.23)
30. Sean May, North Carolina (1.23)
31. Kyle Visser, Wake Forest (1.22)
32. Hakim Warrick, Syracuse (1.22)
33. Brandon Roy, Washington (1.21)
34. Channing Frye, Arizona (1.21)
35. Ravi Moss, Kentucky (1.21)
36. Kevin Bookout, Oklahoma (1.21)
37. Taj Gray, Oklahoma (1.20)
38. Raymond Felton, North Carolina (1.20)
39. Lawrence McKenzie, Oklahoma (1.19)
40. Jermaine Watson, Boston College (1.19)
41. Nate Robinson, Washington (1.19)
42. Bobby Jones, Washington (1.19)
43. Terence Roberts, Syracuse (1.18)
44. Justin Gray, Wake Forest (1.18)
45. Stephen Graham, Oklahoma State (1.18)
46. Francisco Garcia, Louisville (1.18)
47. Christian Moody, Kansas (1.18)
48. Sean Mallon, Gonzaga (1.18)
49. Daniel Bobik, Oklahoma State (1.17)
50. Tre Simmons, Washington (1.17)
51. Ronny Turiaf, Gonzaga (1.17)
52. Jared Dudley, Boston College (1.17)
53. JamesOn Curry, Oklahoma State (1.16)
54. Kelenna Azubuike, Kentucky (1.16)
55. Jamaal Williams, Washington (1.15)
56. Adam Morrison, Gonzaga (1.15)
57. Corey Brewer, Florida (1.15)
58. Lee Melchionni, Duke (1.15)
59. David Lee, Florida (1.15)
60. Terrell Everett, Oklahoma (1.15)
61. Josh Pace, Syracuse (1.14)
62. Alex Galindo, Kansas (1.14)
63. Charlie Villanueva, Connecticut (1.13)
64. Vytas Danelius, Wake Forest (1.13)
65. Randolph Morris, Kentucky (1.13)
66. Craig Forth, Syracuse (1.13)
67. Jaison Williams, Oklahoma (1.13)
68. Gerry McNamara, Syracuse (1.12)
69. Will Conroy, Washington (1.12)
70. Lee Humprhey, Florida (1.12)
71. Juan Diego Palacios, Louisville (1.11)
72. Trent Strickland, Wake Forest (1.11)
73. Rudy Gay, Connecticut (1.10)
74. Chuck Hayes, Kentucky (1.10)
75. Craig Smith, Boston College (1.10)
76. Hakeem Rollins, Washington (1.10)
77. Patrick Sparks, Kentucky (1.10)
78. Ellis Myles, Louisville (1.10)
79. Jackie Manuel, North Carolina (1.09)
80. Lorenzo Wade, Louisville (1.09)
81. Denham Brown, Connecticut (1.09)
82. Keith Langford, Kansas (1.09)
83. Michael Lee, Kansas (1.09)
84. Rajon Rondo, Kentucky (1.08)
85. Sean Marshall, Boston College (1.08)
86. Hilton Armstrong, Connecticut (1.08)
87. J.R. Giddens, Kansas (1.08)
88. Al Horford, Florida (1.07)
89. Drew Lavender, Oklahoma (1.06)
90. Deron Williams, Illinois (1.06)
91. Erroll Knight, Gonzaga (1.06)
92. Daniel Ewing, Duke (1.05)
93. Mustafa Shakur, Arizona (1.04)
94. Jamaal Levy, Wake Forest (1.04)
95. Hassan Adams, Arizona (1.04)
96. Rashad Anderson, Connecticut (1.03)
97. Jack Ingram, Illinois (1.03)
98. Mike Jensen, Washington (1.03)
99. Melvin Scott, North Carolina (1.03)
100. Ivan Radenovic, Arizona (1.02)
101. Ramel Bradley, Kentucky (1.01)
102. Marcus Williams, Connecticut (1.01)
103. Rich McBride, Illinois (0.99)
104. Chris Rodgers, Arizona (0.97)
105. John Lucas, Oklahoma State (0.97)
106. Louis Hinnant, Boston College (0.95)
107. DeMarcus Nelson, Duke (0.94)
108. Bobby Perry, Kentucky (0.93)
109. Louie McCroskey, Syracuse (0.91)
110. Shavlik Randolph, Duke (0.91)
111. Nate Doornekamp, Boston College (0.91)
112. Nick Smith, Illinois (0.90)
What it means. Give Salim Stoudamire 12 FGA's and six FTA's and he'll likely score about 21 points. Give Nick Smith the same number of shots and he'll likely score about 13. Prodigious and efficient scorer Salim Stoudamire, Wonk salutes you!
Finally: an interview with Wonk you can actually read!
Last week Wonk noted he'd been interviewed by the good people at the Moline Dispatch--but, um, no one outside the Quad Cities could read it because the Dispatch is a paid site. Well, good news! Your intrepid blogger was interviewed by the indefatigable Scott Long of The Juice Blog and this time you can actually read it (a key benefit). Here it is! Scott also interviewed the indispensable Ken Pomeroy, who revealed that he has entered his office pool. Wonk says: Ken Pomeroy entering an office pool is a little like Meryl Streep saying she's going to audition for the local community theater group. Ken's office mates might as well just hand him their money now.
In today's less Wonk-ish venues....
Iowa will face Cincinnati tomorrow in Indianapolis, a game that marks a homecoming for Hawkeye coach Steve Alford. As for Bob Huggins' team, can the Bearcats bounce back from their woeful first-round C-USA tournament loss to South Florida? Get your pondering here....If there's one question Wonk gets more than any other from the alert readers it's this: "Wonk, how does Bob Hansen feel about Iowa making the tournament?" Link here and all will be answered! (Is it just Wonk or does the Iowa City Press-Citizen have an unerring knack for the most boring and extraneous note that can be struck in any given news cycle? "SPACE ALIENS LAND IN IOWA CITY, CONQUER EARTH--Seth Gorney's aunt said to be 'mildly surprised.'")
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan says Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott "knows us better than 90 percent of the coaches out there. He knows what we do. It's a tough match up for us." McDermott's former grad assistant, Saul Phillips, is on the staff at Wisconsin....Glass-is-half-full award! Mark Stewart of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel professes to see "improved guard play" from the Badger backcourt. This after Wisconsin's guards went 7-of-24 from the field against Illinois....Profile of Clayton Hanson here.
Minnesota players Moe Hargrow and Adam Boone are missing out on the NCAA tournament. Hargrow is sitting out a year after an aborted transfer to Arkansas. Boone has missed the entire season while recovering from an injured right arm.....Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune devotes this morning's column to a profile of Gopher guard Aaron Robinson.
Dave Dye of the Detroit News reminds the nay-sayers that this is the same Michigan State team that went to the Elite Eight two years ago. Well, yes. The problem, though, it that it's also the same team that lost in the first round to Nevada one year ago....Meme of the Decade award-winner! Good grief, yet another article (Wonk is not making this up) on State looking for greater consistency from Paul Davis....The Spartans say they respect and will be ready for Old Dominion's Alex Loughton.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber says he's not worried about his team's recent shooting woes because they're playing their best defense of the season....Three-headed monster profile here. Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News says Dee Brown, Luther Head, and Deron Williams comprise "the greatest three-man backcourt in NCAA basketball history, surpassing the trio that claimed the 1997 championship for Arizona (Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon)."...Profile of ordained Pentecostal minister Roger Powell here.
Oracular Illini observer Mark Tupper says Illinois is nothing less than...(cue John Facenda!) America's Team.
Chicago Tribune columnist Skip Myslenski looks at the history of upsets that have taken place in 5-12 tournament games over the years.
Indiana fans are looking to next year and talking big. Very, very big.
Wonk back!
Don't just mutter ineffectually; email me!
Players we don't want to see bald--Day 3
Welcome to Day 3 of Wonk's EXCLUSIVE coverage of Big Ten Players We Don't Want to See Bald!
Longtime readers will recall an idyllic bygone era known as Monday, when your intrepid blogger noted that Iowa rebounding machine Greg Brunner has shaved his head in honor of a pledge he had made to do so if the Hawkeyes made the tournament. This made Wonk speculate aloud that: a) this probably won't be a good look for Brunner (indeed, it's not); and b) there are likely many other players in the conference we don't want to see bald. And how! Judging from the reaction of the alert readers, the very idea of some Big Ten stalwarts sporting reflective lids fills Wonk's readers with Edvard Munch-level horror!
Yesterday alert reader Doug K. compared a hypothetically bald Nick Smith to "the vulture in the old Bugs Bunny cartoon. You know, the one who had to bring home something for dinner for his mother." This inspires one alert reader to add the following....
Wonk,
I was going to photoshop a bald Nick Smith and place him next to the Looney Toons buzzard, but I simply didn't have the time last night.
Regards,
Drew S.
Hopefully Drew can get some free time tonight!
Meantime, Wonk offers his own nomination: Deron Williams. For some reason Wonk envisions a hypothetically bald Williams as looking much too much like Orson Welles in the last reel of Citizen Kane: rich, bald, a tad pudgy, overseeing a global empire of newspapers and radio stations--the parallels are eerie!
Keep those nominations coming!
¶ 7:18 AM
There's no trick to putting up a nice number for points per game (PPG). Just shoot a lot. But who would get the most points from the same number of shots?
To answer that question we turn to the handy stat that not only measures scoring efficiency, it also captures more than just points from the field (unlike, say, points per shot or "PPS"). This stat takes in both FGA's and FTA's. It's points per weighted shot (PPWS), developed cannily by John Hollinger (The Basketball Prospectus) and renamed brazenly by Wonk.
Here are the current numbers for the top 16 seeds:
PPWS
1. Salim Stoudamire, Arizona (1.42)
2. J.P. Batista, Gonzaga (1.39)
3. James Augustine, Illinois (1.35)
4. Dee Brown, Illinois (1.34)
5. Derek Ravio, Gonzaga (1.33)
6. Larry O'Bannon, Louisville (1.32)
7. Chris Ellis, Wake Forest (1.31)
8. Jawad Williams, North Carolina (1.31)
9. Joel Smith, Washington (1.31)
10. Marvin Williams, North Carolina (1.29)
11. Matt Walsh, Florida (1.29)
12. Joey Graham, Oklahoma State (1.29)
13. Taron Downey, Wake Forest (1.28)
14. Taquan Dean, Louisville (1.28)
15. Josh Boone, Connecticut (1.27)
16. Luther Head, Illinois (1.27)
17. Sean Dockery, Duke (1.27)
18. Eric Williams, Wake Forest (1.27)
19. J.J. Redick, Duke (1.26)
20. Aaron Miles, Kansas (1.26)
21. Roger Powell, Illinois (1.26)
22. Anthony Roberson, Florida (1.25)
23. Brandon Jenkins, Louisville (1.25)
24. Wayne Simien, Kansas (1.24)
25. Shelden Williams, Duke (1.24)
26. Ivan McFarlin, Oklahoma State (1.24)
27. Rashad McCants, North Carolina (1.23)
28. Chris Paul, Wake Forest (1.23)
29. David Noel, North Carolina (1.23)
30. Sean May, North Carolina (1.23)
31. Kyle Visser, Wake Forest (1.22)
32. Hakim Warrick, Syracuse (1.22)
33. Brandon Roy, Washington (1.21)
34. Channing Frye, Arizona (1.21)
35. Ravi Moss, Kentucky (1.21)
36. Kevin Bookout, Oklahoma (1.21)
37. Taj Gray, Oklahoma (1.20)
38. Raymond Felton, North Carolina (1.20)
39. Lawrence McKenzie, Oklahoma (1.19)
40. Jermaine Watson, Boston College (1.19)
41. Nate Robinson, Washington (1.19)
42. Bobby Jones, Washington (1.19)
43. Terence Roberts, Syracuse (1.18)
44. Justin Gray, Wake Forest (1.18)
45. Stephen Graham, Oklahoma State (1.18)
46. Francisco Garcia, Louisville (1.18)
47. Christian Moody, Kansas (1.18)
48. Sean Mallon, Gonzaga (1.18)
49. Daniel Bobik, Oklahoma State (1.17)
50. Tre Simmons, Washington (1.17)
51. Ronny Turiaf, Gonzaga (1.17)
52. Jared Dudley, Boston College (1.17)
53. JamesOn Curry, Oklahoma State (1.16)
54. Kelenna Azubuike, Kentucky (1.16)
55. Jamaal Williams, Washington (1.15)
56. Adam Morrison, Gonzaga (1.15)
57. Corey Brewer, Florida (1.15)
58. Lee Melchionni, Duke (1.15)
59. David Lee, Florida (1.15)
60. Terrell Everett, Oklahoma (1.15)
61. Josh Pace, Syracuse (1.14)
62. Alex Galindo, Kansas (1.14)
63. Charlie Villanueva, Connecticut (1.13)
64. Vytas Danelius, Wake Forest (1.13)
65. Randolph Morris, Kentucky (1.13)
66. Craig Forth, Syracuse (1.13)
67. Jaison Williams, Oklahoma (1.13)
68. Gerry McNamara, Syracuse (1.12)
69. Will Conroy, Washington (1.12)
70. Lee Humprhey, Florida (1.12)
71. Juan Diego Palacios, Louisville (1.11)
72. Trent Strickland, Wake Forest (1.11)
73. Rudy Gay, Connecticut (1.10)
74. Chuck Hayes, Kentucky (1.10)
75. Craig Smith, Boston College (1.10)
76. Hakeem Rollins, Washington (1.10)
77. Patrick Sparks, Kentucky (1.10)
78. Ellis Myles, Louisville (1.10)
79. Jackie Manuel, North Carolina (1.09)
80. Lorenzo Wade, Louisville (1.09)
81. Denham Brown, Connecticut (1.09)
82. Keith Langford, Kansas (1.09)
83. Michael Lee, Kansas (1.09)
84. Rajon Rondo, Kentucky (1.08)
85. Sean Marshall, Boston College (1.08)
86. Hilton Armstrong, Connecticut (1.08)
87. J.R. Giddens, Kansas (1.08)
88. Al Horford, Florida (1.07)
89. Drew Lavender, Oklahoma (1.06)
90. Deron Williams, Illinois (1.06)
91. Erroll Knight, Gonzaga (1.06)
92. Daniel Ewing, Duke (1.05)
93. Mustafa Shakur, Arizona (1.04)
94. Jamaal Levy, Wake Forest (1.04)
95. Hassan Adams, Arizona (1.04)
96. Rashad Anderson, Connecticut (1.03)
97. Jack Ingram, Illinois (1.03)
98. Mike Jensen, Washington (1.03)
99. Melvin Scott, North Carolina (1.03)
100. Ivan Radenovic, Arizona (1.02)
101. Ramel Bradley, Kentucky (1.01)
102. Marcus Williams, Connecticut (1.01)
103. Rich McBride, Illinois (0.99)
104. Chris Rodgers, Arizona (0.97)
105. John Lucas, Oklahoma State (0.97)
106. Louis Hinnant, Boston College (0.95)
107. DeMarcus Nelson, Duke (0.94)
108. Bobby Perry, Kentucky (0.93)
109. Louie McCroskey, Syracuse (0.91)
110. Shavlik Randolph, Duke (0.91)
111. Nate Doornekamp, Boston College (0.91)
112. Nick Smith, Illinois (0.90)
What it means. Give Salim Stoudamire 12 FGA's and six FTA's and he'll likely score about 21 points. Give Nick Smith the same number of shots and he'll likely score about 13. Prodigious and efficient scorer Salim Stoudamire, Wonk salutes you!
Finally: an interview with Wonk you can actually read!
Last week Wonk noted he'd been interviewed by the good people at the Moline Dispatch--but, um, no one outside the Quad Cities could read it because the Dispatch is a paid site. Well, good news! Your intrepid blogger was interviewed by the indefatigable Scott Long of The Juice Blog and this time you can actually read it (a key benefit). Here it is! Scott also interviewed the indispensable Ken Pomeroy, who revealed that he has entered his office pool. Wonk says: Ken Pomeroy entering an office pool is a little like Meryl Streep saying she's going to audition for the local community theater group. Ken's office mates might as well just hand him their money now.
In today's less Wonk-ish venues....
Iowa will face Cincinnati tomorrow in Indianapolis, a game that marks a homecoming for Hawkeye coach Steve Alford. As for Bob Huggins' team, can the Bearcats bounce back from their woeful first-round C-USA tournament loss to South Florida? Get your pondering here....If there's one question Wonk gets more than any other from the alert readers it's this: "Wonk, how does Bob Hansen feel about Iowa making the tournament?" Link here and all will be answered! (Is it just Wonk or does the Iowa City Press-Citizen have an unerring knack for the most boring and extraneous note that can be struck in any given news cycle? "SPACE ALIENS LAND IN IOWA CITY, CONQUER EARTH--Seth Gorney's aunt said to be 'mildly surprised.'")
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan says Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott "knows us better than 90 percent of the coaches out there. He knows what we do. It's a tough match up for us." McDermott's former grad assistant, Saul Phillips, is on the staff at Wisconsin....Glass-is-half-full award! Mark Stewart of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel professes to see "improved guard play" from the Badger backcourt. This after Wisconsin's guards went 7-of-24 from the field against Illinois....Profile of Clayton Hanson here.
Minnesota players Moe Hargrow and Adam Boone are missing out on the NCAA tournament. Hargrow is sitting out a year after an aborted transfer to Arkansas. Boone has missed the entire season while recovering from an injured right arm.....Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune devotes this morning's column to a profile of Gopher guard Aaron Robinson.
Dave Dye of the Detroit News reminds the nay-sayers that this is the same Michigan State team that went to the Elite Eight two years ago. Well, yes. The problem, though, it that it's also the same team that lost in the first round to Nevada one year ago....Meme of the Decade award-winner! Good grief, yet another article (Wonk is not making this up) on State looking for greater consistency from Paul Davis....The Spartans say they respect and will be ready for Old Dominion's Alex Loughton.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber says he's not worried about his team's recent shooting woes because they're playing their best defense of the season....Three-headed monster profile here. Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News says Dee Brown, Luther Head, and Deron Williams comprise "the greatest three-man backcourt in NCAA basketball history, surpassing the trio that claimed the 1997 championship for Arizona (Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon)."...Profile of ordained Pentecostal minister Roger Powell here.
Oracular Illini observer Mark Tupper says Illinois is nothing less than...(cue John Facenda!) America's Team.
Chicago Tribune columnist Skip Myslenski looks at the history of upsets that have taken place in 5-12 tournament games over the years.
Indiana fans are looking to next year and talking big. Very, very big.
Wonk back!
Don't just mutter ineffectually; email me!
Players we don't want to see bald--Day 3
Welcome to Day 3 of Wonk's EXCLUSIVE coverage of Big Ten Players We Don't Want to See Bald!
Longtime readers will recall an idyllic bygone era known as Monday, when your intrepid blogger noted that Iowa rebounding machine Greg Brunner has shaved his head in honor of a pledge he had made to do so if the Hawkeyes made the tournament. This made Wonk speculate aloud that: a) this probably won't be a good look for Brunner (indeed, it's not); and b) there are likely many other players in the conference we don't want to see bald. And how! Judging from the reaction of the alert readers, the very idea of some Big Ten stalwarts sporting reflective lids fills Wonk's readers with Edvard Munch-level horror!
Yesterday alert reader Doug K. compared a hypothetically bald Nick Smith to "the vulture in the old Bugs Bunny cartoon. You know, the one who had to bring home something for dinner for his mother." This inspires one alert reader to add the following....
Wonk,
I was going to photoshop a bald Nick Smith and place him next to the Looney Toons buzzard, but I simply didn't have the time last night.
Regards,
Drew S.
Hopefully Drew can get some free time tonight!
Meantime, Wonk offers his own nomination: Deron Williams. For some reason Wonk envisions a hypothetically bald Williams as looking much too much like Orson Welles in the last reel of Citizen Kane: rich, bald, a tad pudgy, overseeing a global empire of newspapers and radio stations--the parallels are eerie!
Keep those nominations coming!
¶ 7:18 AM
