Buy it!
| July 2009 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
My espn.com archives
Most recent entries
Defensive Fingerprint
Introducing FanMatch
Changes
Help with team page
Patience
Monthly Archives
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2007
September 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
Complete Archives
Category Archives
Blogging Superheroes
The Mid-Majority
yoco:: College Basketball
big ten wonk
Other College Hoops Blogs
The Courtmaster
ACC Basketblog
K-State Stats
Yet Another Basketball Blog
UNC Basketball Update
Section Six
Hoops Nerd
Villanova by the Numbers
Hoya Prospectus
MGoBlog
Blue Devil Hoops
Big Ten Chronicle
Hoop Time
Phog Blog
The CAA: Life as a Mid-Major
Syndicate
Hits on this page: 2949060
Page rendered in 0.1987 seconds
Monday, August 01, 2005
Four Factors
The offensive and defensive summary pages are based on Dean Oliver’s four factors concept. You can read Dean’s more detailed explanation of the four factors here. Essentially, the four factors are the building blocks to the efficiency formula.
Efficiency data gives you an idea of the quality of a team’s offense or defense, but the four factors tell you why a team is good or bad when they have or don’t have the ball. Here’s a breakdown of how each statistic on this page is calculated…
Effective field goal percentage is like regular field goal percentage except that it gives 50% more credit for made three-pointers.
eFG% = (.5*3FGM + FGM) / FGA
Turnover percentage is a pace-independent measure of ball security.
TO% = TO / Possessions
Offensive rebounding percentage is a measure of the possible rebounds that are gathered by the offense.
OR% = OR / (OR + DRopp)
Keep in mind that rebounding percentage is computed from box score data which does not contain team rebounds. Therefore, the figures shown here may differ slightly from calculations made on the rebounding totals provided by a school.
Finally, free throw rate captures a team’s ability to score from the line.
FTRateoff = FTM / FGA FTRatedef = FTA / FGA
Defensive FTRate uses FTA in the numerator since the defense has little control on the percentage of free throw attempts made by the opposition.
In Dean’s piece, he mentions the relative importance of each factor. In the NBA, eFG% is easily the most important factor, followed by TO%, OR%, and FTRate. A “RoboScout”-type analysis of games from the 2005 season shows that the importance of each factor is similar in college, with free throw rate being slightly more important in the college game, but still taking a back seat to offensive rebounding. Each team is different though. For instance, Gonzaga’s free throw rate was the second most important contributor to their offensive success. For Michigan State, offensive rebounding ranked second.