At 38% we are the 28th best shooting team behind the arc in the NCAA. I hardly think in the big scheme of things this team would be classified as "jacking 3's" without some degree of confidence. If we are "jacking 3's" what are other teams below us doing.....? And that is 28th with KK not having a great year and Dartis getting smothered most games. OTOH we could slam it inside and penetrate more to draw fouls ....where we are the 228th best team from the line.

Taking three point shots is not bad, you just can't fall in love with the three point shot. I believe that our strength next year will come from going inside more. I believe that by going inside more, we will get better looks from the three point line.

This is like asking Frank Solich to go no-huddle and spread the field with six WRs. It ain't happening.

SaulBall is all about throwing up 3ptrs. That will not change. We'll never be a pound-it-in-to-Carter offense. Won't happen.

Carter will get his looks, but you can expect Ohio to put up 25ish 3ptrs a game next year and every year going forward. That won't change under Saul.

Logic and math both say 3 > 2

We will win the MAC if:

1) We get decent PG play from one or both freshmen and

2) Avoid a big injury

I think the conference should be pretty open this coming year. I agree with what I saw on another thread that the MAC regular season winner may have 6-7 losses. I don't think Kirk/Butler have to be Jaaron Simmons for us to win, but we need them to run the show with more positive play than negative play. Even Jaaron had bouts with turnovers last year, sometimes a lot of them. As for injuries, if something bad happens (Campbell-esque) to a key player, I don't know that we will be able to recover from it this year. Last year Jaaron saved us, really, after Tony got hurt. If Carter or Dartis go down this year, I'm not sure we'd have enough firepower to get through it.

How many MAC teams have wing players with the talent and experience we have in Gavin Block, Jordan Dartis and Mike Laster?

ZERO.

Jordan Dartis gave us nearly 35 minutes a game last year as a true sophomore. Gavin Block gave us 28 minutes a game as a true sophomore. Mike Laster averaged 15 minutes over the course of the season, but that masks how much he contributed down our stretch run. The last 10 games he averaged 22 minutes a game for Ohio. His court-time increased more than anyone outside Jason Carter due to the Campbell injury.

Speaking of Jason Carter... How many MAC programs have a better big-man returning than Jason Carter?
EMU has a good big guy returning. Beyond that? A couple teams have solid bigs but ultimately Jason Carter is a starter for every single team in this conference next season.

...

FWIW, the last two times we started a freshman point guard we made the NCAA tournament.

I can't imagine a scenario short of both being injured where this does not happen.

The Optimist living up to his name, although I might give the experience edge to Ohio.

I don't know what math you are doing. The NCAA average for 3 point percentage is 39% and Block shot 34.6% and 42% overall and averaged 6 points less than the average starting wing. Block has the ability to shoot 50%, he needs to be coached up and not lied too. These moral victories have to stop. His percentage is below average, he needs to acknowledge that and improve it.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3...

Thanks LongDriver ...


allen attacking things is simply showing his ignorance of advanced analytics and not acknowledging that there are folks out there that understand the game and give a more complete picture.... I suppose he could call Ken Pomeroy and tell him he is adding to morals and being a medi by giving us better understanding of the game and the numbers

Gavin is 50.3 eFG and 53.8 TS% Jordy is 47th in the country at 63% TS%

At the risk of Ken Pomeroy getting an email telling him how stupid/moral/medi he is I will share the info..... to give some understanding to the numbers some are using...they are all relative just as the ESPN numbers are to other players in the country. KenPom's make more sense to me and after this many years for some reason I trust their accuracy a bit more. That's just me I guess.


Effective field goal percentage (eFG%): Same as regular field goal percentage, except that made three-pointers are appropriately given 50% more credit.

True shooting percentage (TS%): (New) This is Gasaway’s old PPWS divided by 2. It’s like eFG%, but throws in trips to the line and converts it to a shooting percentage that approximates what 2-point percentage a player would need to have to score the points he produces on all of his shooting attempts.



IN that scenario

I have my own reasons for watching those numbers....and while some may assert that they are purely personal I see them more as a measure of personnel usage. How is a kid being used and what kind of tempo is the offense generating?


TS

Note: Minimum 60% minutes played to qualify.
Rank Player Team Ht Wt Yr TS%
1 Tommy Freeman Ohio 6-5 190 Jr 70.5
2 Kellan Carter Nicholls St. 6-0 180 Jr 69.4
3 Dallas Lauderdale Ohio St. 6-8 255 Jr 69.0
4 Blake Hoffarber Minnesota 6-4 200 Jr 68.6
5 Jared Stohl Portland 6-1 165 Jr 67.4
6 Angelo Caloiaro San Francisco 6-7 225 So 67.1
7 Demond Watt Texas A&M Corpus Chris 6-7 205 Jr 66.9
8 Jeremy Evans Western Kentucky 6-9 196 Sr 66.8
9 Mickey McConnell Saint Mary's 6-0 175 Jr 66.1
10 Chase Hallam Denver 6-5 210 Fr 65.4

e FG

1 Dallas Lauderdale Ohio St. 6-8 255 Jr 77.3
2 Kellan Carter Nicholls St. 6-0 180 Jr 71.2
3 Tommy Freeman Ohio 6-5 190 Jr 67.6
4 Blake Hoffarber Minnesota 6-4 200 Jr 67.3
5 Julius Thomas Portland St. 6-5 225 Sr 67.1
6 Eric Boateng Arizona St. 6-10 245 Sr 66.5
7 Demond Watt Texas A&M Corpus Chris 6-7 205 Jr 65.8
8 Jeremy Evans Western Kentucky 6-9 196 Sr 65.6
9 Angelo Caloiaro San Francisco 6-7 225 So 65.6
10 Jared Stohl Portland 6-1 165 Jr 65.5

As I look at those numbers, because I watched the kids on those list up close, catching games and evaluating I have a better feel today for who is doing what and how to evaluate use and offensive scheme and system. Lauderdale was used different in much the same offense than Hofaber and Tommy, while Stohl and Boateng were more scorers than system guys. Analysis gives better insight but what I learned was revealing. Jordan at 47 was a tribute considering how much attention he was given this year and how much less the ball moved than his frosh year when he was 11th as a frosh...

Gavin Block had a 50.3 eFG% last year. This is a fact which uses the other facts you just provided. Advanced metrics are your friend, they often tell a much more complete story (and sometimes even support your assumptions).

To your point that Block could stand to improve his shooting numbers, which I agree with, only two regulars had a worse eFG%, Culver (48.5) & Simmons (48.0). As OUVan points out Block has value outside these numbers too. He creates extra possessions by taking charges, makes the proper pass, and knows how to throw a post entry pass. These aren't "moral victories", it's simply pointing out positives from a player's game. Block has things to work on that I'm sure the coaches reviewed with him at the end of the year. He will likely take another step forward with strength & quickness and we both hope to see an improvement in those shooting #'s.

Here's a link to the team's stats with some of the advanced metrics. The pre & post Campbell injury can also be observed by looking at the conference only stats.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/ohio/2017.html