Rulebook Rewind: 1974
by Ken Pomeroy on Wednesday, February 7, 2007
The year was 1974. Teams were averaging an inefficient 75 points per game (six more than today) without a 3-point shot or shot clock. The next season would see the NCAA Tournament allow multiple teams from the same conference for the first time. It many ways it was different era for basketball, but in many ways it was no different from today.
The 1974 edition of the NCAA Official Basketball Rules begins with “Committee Action for 1973-74” which lays out rule changes for that season. The section begins, “The popularity and healthy condition of the game of basketball resulted in the the fewest significant changes for 1973-74 that the history of the game has seen.” And the changes that follow are mundane. Rules buffs may be interested to know that the correctable error rules in the book today were firmed up in this edition.
The most interesting things are in…
The Pac-Tenors Respond
by Ken Pomeroy on Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Ken,
I enjoyed reading your recent post comparing the Pac-10 and the ACC in terms of the number of wins again Top 30 opponents (as measured by your index). You found that the ACC and Pac-10 had 13 and 5 wins, respectively. While you mention the ACC had more opportunities for wins, you didn’t mention exactly how many more opportunities. So I did some calculations:
ACC: 12 teams with 22 total games against Top 30 teams (as of Feb. 1) with 13 wins (59% winning percentage)
Pac-10: 10 teams with 8 total games against Top 30 teams (as of Feb. 1) with 5 wins (62.5% winning percentage).Thus, while I think it is fair to point out that the Pac-10 has not played as many Top 30 teams (and perhaps subjecting the conference to a “soft non-conference schedule” criticism), I don’t think it is fair to use the…
Hurricane Dicta
by Ken Pomeroy on Friday, February 2, 2007
On this eve of Super Bowl Weekend involving Da Bears, it’s appropriate to acknowledge that we all have a little Dicta inside of ourselves. Big Ten Wonk reminded me of one my own dicta a while back, and I decided to create a complete list of the the others right here. If you’re ever wondering why things are so darn messed up around here, let this be your reference guide. These are my core hoops beliefs and philosophies.
Don’t confuse achievement with performance. If I somehow happened to become a coach, I would totally write this on the chalkboard after a close win over a lousy team. Future achievement can be better predicted by past performance than past achievement. How to measure performance is the tricky part, but I know it goes deeper than recording W’s and L’s, or even looking at who a team beat and lost to.…
Pac-10/ACC Challenge
by Ken Pomeroy on Thursday, February 1, 2007
I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail about my statements that the Pac-10 is overrated. I’d like to present some food for thought on the matter. Let’s look at the Pac-10’s wins over top 30 teams from outside the conference. I will selfishly use my ratings as the gospel here.
UCLA over Kentucky (N)
UCLA over Georgia Tech (N)
UCLA over Texas A&M (h)
Oregon over Georgetown (A)
Arizona over Memphis (H)Now the ACC…
UNC over Ohio State (H)
UNC over Kentucky (H)
UNC over Arizona (A)
BC over Michigan State (H)
Duke over Air Force (N)
Duke over Indiana (H)
Duke over Georgetown (H)
Virginia over Arizona (H)
Clemson over Georgia (H)
Florida State over Florida (H)
Maryland over Michigan State (N)
Georgia Tech over Memphis (N)
Georgia Tech over Georgia…