I’ve spent a good chunk of the last couple weeks putting together a player projection system, my primary goal at this point simply having one exist so that, in the future, it can be improved upon. It’s built on a bunch of regressions that take into account the player’s stats from last season, his basic […]

We are in unusual times. Twenty teams are changing conferences this season and another 23 moves are set for next season. There’s a lot going on and the world seems out of balance with Florida International in Conference USA, San Jose State in the Sun Belt, and the WAC on life support. A look back […]

If you ask yourself one day, “Who’s the best defensive rebounder in the country?”, what do you do? Well, you click over to the Kenpom defensive rebounding percentage leaderboards. The guy who’s first isn’t necessarily the answer, but even with some serious teammate and opponent troubles, it’s tough for that top guy to escape the […]

Alright it’s over. Congrats to Adam Scott. And congrats to the long putter. It saved his career. — Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) July 22, 2012 That piece of wisdom, offered after Adam Scott birdied the 14th hole yesterday and led Ernie Els by four shots, didn’t turn out so well. In truth, at this point my […]

[Drew is in the midst of a three-part series to critique his statistical projections of the ESPNU Top 100 incoming freshmen. Last Thursday, he handled prospects headed to the ACC or Big East. Monday, he tackled the Big Ten and Big 12. Today, he concludes with the Pac-12, SEC, and everybody else.] Pac-12 Arizona Kaleb […]

[Drew is in the midst of a three-part series to critique his statistical projections of the ESPNU Top 100 incoming freshmen. Last Thursday, he handled prospects headed to the ACC or Big East. Today, he tackles the Big Ten and Big 12. On Thursday, he’ll take care of the rest.] Big Ten Indiana Yogi Ferrell, […]

A couple weeks ago, I left you with some crude freshman projections for the ESPNU Top 100. Today, I’m here to fine-tune them some. Forty-eight of the hundred took part in the 2011 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, for which I’ve compiled advanced statistics. Worth knowing about those stats: The typical possession’s worth about 1.1 […]

[Note: Drew Cannon has been working on projecting freshman performance using a combination of stats and some subjective measures. You know Drew from his work at Basketball Prospectus and ESPN Insider. He’ll be posting occasionally throughout the summer, and maybe longer. Please note the bylines going forward. – Ken] I’ve gone and made advanced stats […]

Even if you have no interest in boxing (like me) you’ve heard about the bizarre decision by the judges of the Manny Pacquiao/Tim Bradley fight on Saturday night. Despite nearly everybody believing Pacquiao won the 12-round fight convincingly, two of the three judges gave the fight to Bradley prompting disbelief among observers. This caused me […]

[Written 12/8/12] I try to measure skills based on the opportunities for those skills to be observed. On the team level, this often means ratings the offense (and defense) on points scored (and allowed) per possession. That is the basis for the ratings system. If you’re looking for info on what the columns mean on […]