There hasn’t been much talk about the player of the race yet. I know it’s the first week of December, so it’s highly premature to discuss such matters, but that’s never stopped anybody before. Last year at this time many people had already narrowed the race to Buddy Hield and Denzel Valentine. The problem this season […]

College hoops teams have produced enough data so far this season to evaluate statistical trends across the basketball universe. And yet again, it’s clear that shooting has never been better. After an awesome weekend from the free-throw line, the national average for free throw percentage rose to 69.78% in games involving two D-I teams. The season-long record was […]

For the first 11 years of his coaching career, Horace Broadnax ran a tight ship. Savannah State was a reliably slower-than-average team that deployed all of its resources on the defensive end. They were basically the San Diego State of the MEAC. So when they played really good teams early in the season, the results […]

Hey, sports fans, it’s time for the most cherished tradition on ye olde blog. That would be revealing the pair of teams that has gone the most consecutive days without losing on the same day. Useless trivia? Yes, but moderately fun nonetheless. There are stories behind all of these streaks, but the stories aren’t as […]

Normally, when one team blocks a lot of shots and its opponent doesn’t block any, it leads to a large victory. The blocks themselves may only be a small contribution to the final margin. But the block dominance suggests that one team has a significant advantage in size and athleticism, and that advantage normally manifests itself in a […]

In anticipation of opening day, many people have offered up lists of the best players in college hoops. These are the lists I have found as of press time: CBSSports.com NBCSports.com SBNation The Big Lead (top 50) Well, I am offering my own list, but it is just a top five: the top five players that […]

There will be a lot of fun games before conference play begins. You know the ones: top ten teams playing top ten teams on national television. The best amateur players in the world testing themselves against each other thanks to a pile of TV cash. This piece is not about those games. It is about […]

Preseason ratings are up and the method to produce these is largely the same as used in previous seasons. However, this season I have added transfers and injured players with prior D-I experience to the mix. The construction here is surely more clumsy than Dan Hanner’s lineup-based approach, but at least it will better handle the […]

(For some words on the previous iteration of the ratings and what the columns on the ratings page mean, go here.) You may have noticed that the ratings pages look a little bit different than they used to. The Pyth column has been changed to AdjEM (adjusted efficiency margin) and likewise, strength of schedule and conference […]