Thursday, August 04, 2005
BONUS mid-hiatus post! On pace....
Big Ten Wonk will return for real on November 1--but your intrepid blogger momentarily interrupts his otherwise total off-season hiatus for a single post on tempo....
Wonk's been running some numbers in the off-season in an attempt to bring some light to the eternal discussion on which conference plays the fastest--and which league plods along the slowest. Blogger extraordinaire Ken Pomeroy, of course, already has data on every team's average number of possessions per game--numbers based on each team's entire season. (More on possession-based stats and tempo here.)
Building on Ken's indispensable endeavors, this blogger thought it would be interesting to zoom in a bit and look specifically at the closed ecosystems of conference play. (BONUS self-promotion! Blogging hath no dedication like that exhibited by a hoops fan parsing the box score of a TCU-UAB game for insight into a conference that no longer exists in anything like its former state.)
So, without further ado, here's how fast the seven "power" conferences played last year, from quickest to most glacial....
Average possessions per game, 2005 (conference games only)
1. ACC (72.2)
2. Pac-10 (71.2)
3. C-USA (68.4)
4. Big 12 (67.1)
5. Big East (66.7)
6. SEC (66.5)
7. Big Ten (63.8)
ACC (average: 72.2)
1. North Carolina (77.6)
2. Maryland (77.6)
3. Clemson (73.4)
4. Georgia Tech (73.3)
5. Duke (73.3)
6. Wake Forest (71.6)
7. Virginia (71.6)
8. Virginia Tech (70.5)
9. Miami (70.0)
10. Florida State (69.0)
11. NC State (66.1)
Pac-10 (average: 71.2)
1. Washington (75.4)
2. Arizona (73.3)
3. USC (72.9)
4. Stanford (72.1)
5. UCLA (71.9)
6. Oregon State (71.8)
7. Arizona State (71.5)
8. Cal (70.7)
9. Oregon (68.8)
10. Washington State (63.1)
C-USA (average: 68.4)
1. Charlotte (72.0)
2. Tulane (71.7)
3. Cincinnati (71.4)
4. Louisville (71.4)
5. UAB (71.3)
6. E. Carolina (70.0)
7. TCU (69.6)
8. Memphis (68.8)
9. South Florida (67.8)
10. Southern Miss. (66.6)
11. Houston (65.9)
12. DePaul (64.9)
13. Marquette (63.7)
14. St. Louis (62.2)
Big 12 (average: 67.1)
1. Texas Tech (69.7)
2. Colorado (69.3)
3. Nebraska (69.3)
4. Iowa State (68.5)
5. Texas (67.1)
6. Oklahoma State (67.0)
7. Kansas (66.8)
8. Kansas State (66.2)
9. Oklahoma (65.9)
10. Missouri (65.5)
11. Baylor (65.0)
12. Texas A&M (64.6)
Big East (average: 66.7)
1. Connecticut (71.9)
2. Villanova (69.6)
3. Providence (69.4)
4. Syracuse (68.5)
5. St. John's (67.1)
6. Seton Hall (66.4)
7. West Virginia (66.3)
8. Boston College (65.2)
9. Pitt (65.1)
10. Notre Dame (65.1)
11. Rutgers (64.7)
12. Georgetown (61.6)
SEC (average: 66.5)
1. Miss. State (69.9)
2. Auburn (68.3)
3. Kentucky (67.8)
4. Georgia (67.1)
5. LSU (66.5)
6. Arkansas (66.0)
7. Mississippi (65.9)
8. Florida (65.6)
9. South Carolina (65.5)
10. Vanderbilt (65.4)
11. Tennessee (65.3)
12. Alabama (64.1)
Big Ten (average: 63.8)
1. Minnesota (67.7)
2. Iowa (66.9)
3. Michigan State (64.7)
4. Penn State (64.7)
5. Ohio State (64.6)
6. Illinois (63.7)
7. Purdue (63.1)
8. Wisconsin (63.0)
9. Michigan (62.2)
10. Northwestern (61.4)
11. Indiana (60.0)
Wonk herewith posts these numbers without further comment. Another pioneering bit of work in the field of cognitive dispersion? Unconscionable sloth and indolence? You make the call!
Nah, I'll return to these when I get the old girl up and running again in November. Until then.... ¶ 6:10 AM
Big Ten Wonk will return for real on November 1--but your intrepid blogger momentarily interrupts his otherwise total off-season hiatus for a single post on tempo....
Wonk's been running some numbers in the off-season in an attempt to bring some light to the eternal discussion on which conference plays the fastest--and which league plods along the slowest. Blogger extraordinaire Ken Pomeroy, of course, already has data on every team's average number of possessions per game--numbers based on each team's entire season. (More on possession-based stats and tempo here.)
Building on Ken's indispensable endeavors, this blogger thought it would be interesting to zoom in a bit and look specifically at the closed ecosystems of conference play. (BONUS self-promotion! Blogging hath no dedication like that exhibited by a hoops fan parsing the box score of a TCU-UAB game for insight into a conference that no longer exists in anything like its former state.)
So, without further ado, here's how fast the seven "power" conferences played last year, from quickest to most glacial....
Average possessions per game, 2005 (conference games only)
1. ACC (72.2)
2. Pac-10 (71.2)
3. C-USA (68.4)
4. Big 12 (67.1)
5. Big East (66.7)
6. SEC (66.5)
7. Big Ten (63.8)
ACC (average: 72.2)
1. North Carolina (77.6)
2. Maryland (77.6)
3. Clemson (73.4)
4. Georgia Tech (73.3)
5. Duke (73.3)
6. Wake Forest (71.6)
7. Virginia (71.6)
8. Virginia Tech (70.5)
9. Miami (70.0)
10. Florida State (69.0)
11. NC State (66.1)
Pac-10 (average: 71.2)
1. Washington (75.4)
2. Arizona (73.3)
3. USC (72.9)
4. Stanford (72.1)
5. UCLA (71.9)
6. Oregon State (71.8)
7. Arizona State (71.5)
8. Cal (70.7)
9. Oregon (68.8)
10. Washington State (63.1)
C-USA (average: 68.4)
1. Charlotte (72.0)
2. Tulane (71.7)
3. Cincinnati (71.4)
4. Louisville (71.4)
5. UAB (71.3)
6. E. Carolina (70.0)
7. TCU (69.6)
8. Memphis (68.8)
9. South Florida (67.8)
10. Southern Miss. (66.6)
11. Houston (65.9)
12. DePaul (64.9)
13. Marquette (63.7)
14. St. Louis (62.2)
Big 12 (average: 67.1)
1. Texas Tech (69.7)
2. Colorado (69.3)
3. Nebraska (69.3)
4. Iowa State (68.5)
5. Texas (67.1)
6. Oklahoma State (67.0)
7. Kansas (66.8)
8. Kansas State (66.2)
9. Oklahoma (65.9)
10. Missouri (65.5)
11. Baylor (65.0)
12. Texas A&M (64.6)
Big East (average: 66.7)
1. Connecticut (71.9)
2. Villanova (69.6)
3. Providence (69.4)
4. Syracuse (68.5)
5. St. John's (67.1)
6. Seton Hall (66.4)
7. West Virginia (66.3)
8. Boston College (65.2)
9. Pitt (65.1)
10. Notre Dame (65.1)
11. Rutgers (64.7)
12. Georgetown (61.6)
SEC (average: 66.5)
1. Miss. State (69.9)
2. Auburn (68.3)
3. Kentucky (67.8)
4. Georgia (67.1)
5. LSU (66.5)
6. Arkansas (66.0)
7. Mississippi (65.9)
8. Florida (65.6)
9. South Carolina (65.5)
10. Vanderbilt (65.4)
11. Tennessee (65.3)
12. Alabama (64.1)
Big Ten (average: 63.8)
1. Minnesota (67.7)
2. Iowa (66.9)
3. Michigan State (64.7)
4. Penn State (64.7)
5. Ohio State (64.6)
6. Illinois (63.7)
7. Purdue (63.1)
8. Wisconsin (63.0)
9. Michigan (62.2)
10. Northwestern (61.4)
11. Indiana (60.0)
Wonk herewith posts these numbers without further comment. Another pioneering bit of work in the field of cognitive dispersion? Unconscionable sloth and indolence? You make the call!
Nah, I'll return to these when I get the old girl up and running again in November. Until then.... ¶ 6:10 AM
