This is basically the definition of confirmation bias.

Searls' PER is lower than Wiz's, his win shares/40 minutes are lower than Wiz's, he somehow fouls more than Wiz, has a worse rebound rate, blocks way fewer shots, and turns the ball over more -- which is a lot, because Wiz turned the ball over on 16% of his possessions.

Searls has been worse than Wiz by basically every statistical measure, a player you literally cannot stop posting about because he was so bad.

He had a good half. No need to use that to make an underhanded dig at a guy no longer with the program. Turn the page, man.

I, too, enjoy a good self-parody.

In his first 8 games as a Bobcat, Wiz had 14 turnovers, Searls also has 14.

Wiz had 23 rebounds. Searls has 31.

Wiz had 1 block, Searls has 2.

Wiz had 2 steals, Searls has 4.

Wiz averaged 5.6ppg (keep in mind 3 of those games were against UC Clermont, Alabama A&M, and EIU)

Searls is averaging 6.8 ppg.

It’s fair to be exhausted by the Wiz hate, but Searls (who isn’t without his flaws, the turnovers are bad) hasn’t been worse statistically to date when you break down the same number of games.

It's intelligent posts like this one from FJC31, why FJC31 was named Special Consultant to the GM on my staff a few weeks back.

http://bobcatattack.com/messageboard/topic.asp?FromPage=2...

Appreciate the insight here FJC31. Especially, pointing out the competition difference also from Searls and The Whiz in their first 8 games as a Bobcat. This will be fun to revisit in March.

No. No, it will not.

I mentioned to more than a couple of BAers in the Convo today how nice it would be to have Vic at Ohio for more than 1 year. He is clearly an upgrade from last year and I wouldn't be too surprised to see him in the starting lineup at one point this season. Finally, without doing too much research (none, actually), I doubt Wiz ever had team highs in points and rebounds at the halftime break like Vic did today.

*sobs*

So, I pulled the 8 game stats of Wiz’s first season from two years ago.

I think that’s the fairest way to compare he and Searls for the time being, since the latter has only played such a small sample size as a Bobcat.

If you’re combining both of Wiz’s seasons to Searls first handful of games, that’s obviously going to paint a different picture.

Vic is a really solid finisher as we saw yesterday. I haven't seen anything else in his game that makes me ooh and ahh. He struggles to get rid of the ball and I worry MAC teams will watch film and decide to double him when he gets the ball. His rebounding and defense seem fine, as was Wiz.

Do illegal screens count as turnovers?

Instead of Searls vs Wiz, how about Searls vs a big who can help win a MAC title.

AND...get us into the big dance.

If Searls can do that, then I will call him "The Upgrade" (tm) too.


** The Upgrade (tm) is a registered trademark of FearLeon Inc.

Preciate you.

Wiz is gone and I had doing this all again, but cmon.

Searls has looked better, not just statistically (again, we know turnovers are an issue and not just for him), but floor presence as well. Wiz was 7ft and played like 6'1". Searls is going after rebounds. He's making the most of his time on the floor. He's only played 8 D1 games. He's getting better. That's all any of us asked of Wiz. His per 40 mins splits are very solid. 15/9. Turnovers I expected, the jump from Ashland to OU wasn't going to be immediate.

His last 4 games he's average 9 points and 4 rebounds in 18 mins.

If we posed those stats in the beginning of the season I think EVERYONE would sign up for that 100 times out of 100.

I'm not anti-Searls. I think Searls is a solid offensive big. He finishes pretty well around the basket, and has solid shooting touch. I like some of the things he brings to the team, for sure.

But it's stupid and not at all useful to measure Searls through the lens of how people here perceived Wiz. And it's even less useful when that is based entirely on observation, and numbers aren't accounted for.

Wiz rebounded at a higher rate than Searls does currently. He blocked shots at a higher rate. He scored less, and they both foul people and turn the ball over at a crazy rate. Those aren't my impressions or observations. They're data. Maybe as Searls adapts to D1 basketball, some of those rates will change. But generally a sample of 100+ minutes is pretty predictive for rebound-rate and block rate stats.

To me, based on 8 games, it looks like Searls is a below average rebounder for his position, and doesn't protect the rim. Basically, I think he perpetuates our strengths as a team, and perpetuates our weaknesses as a team. Everybody will insist those numbers will improve, and I hope they do. But rate stats around rebounding and blocks are generally pretty predictive across a sample size like this. Particularly when a guy is playing against both first and second units.

Searls is a solid pick up and a nice "budget" find in the portal. But his weaknesses are also a part of the reason we get destroyed on the boards by basically everybody, and teams shoot crazy well against us. We're currently 303rd in the country in opponent defensive rebound rate, and pacing well-behind where we were last year. We're 269th in defensive efficiency, and well behind where we were last year, too.

Hard to say if that's scheme (it seems our system's similar, but maybe others are seeing something else), personnel, strength of schedule, or what. It's probably a combination of the three.

But feels more than a little bit dumb to post about how massively we've upgraded the 5 when we're a team that's biggest weakness, by far, is lack of rebounding and rim protection, and through 8 games we're in worse shape than last year in both of those categories.