I used to post info from StatGeek.com but that website is now a goner. They were the only site that I am aware of that tracked player plus/minus.

However, basketball reference has a formula called BPM that calculates the points per 100 possessions a player contributes above a league average player. It is similar to WAR (wins above replacement) in baseball meant to boil the all around game into 1 number. It has an offensive component and defensive component. Here is how the Bobcats shake out:

Vander Plas +4.0 (O +1.8, D +2.2)
D Taylor +3.1 (O -2.5, D +5.6)
J Carter +2.4 (O +1.9, D +0.5)
G Block +1.2 (O +0.4, D +0.8)
J Gollon +0.4 (O +0.9, D -0.5)
J Preston -1.3 (O -2.0, D +0.7)
Cowart Jr -2.0 (O -3.9, D +1.9)
T Kirk -5.1 (O -6.8, D +1.6)

Every stat is flawed but I think these numbers pass the eye test for me, especially when you consider Preston & Cowart had a hard time getting it going offensively early in the season. As President of the JC fan club, I feel like I should admit his touch around the rim has not been as good as it was when he finished out his freshman year as he has faced more double teams and it stands to reason that despite being our best, he isn't at the top of this list.

And Kirk's overall offensive contributions have been critically poor at the position he has been played. As in...can single handily turn a decent team into a poor team type of poor. Hopefully his skills are put to better use going forward and we see things improve.

The other advanced stat they have is wins shares per 40 minutes, meant to boil down to how much a player contributed to a win. The average win per team per game being .5...an 5 players on the court...so the average/solid player would be around .1. 5 players on the court close to .2 would theoretically make for a fairly unbeatable team from a statistical standpoint. Here is how the Bobcats shake out with that stat:

J Carter - .173
Vander Plas - .143
J Gollon - .140
D Taylor - .129
G Block - .104
J Preston - .086
A Cowart - .037
T Kirk - .017

Again, these numbers pass the eye test for me and illustrates how the bigs have been a strength while the guards have been a weakness.

If you are right and there’s a new coach, finding a center next year will be the least of our worries. We will be finding a new team.

My guess: we'd probably go with two 4s (BVP and JC) and hopefully pick up a JUCO big.

There are a lot of factors that go into next year depending on what happens when the season is over. It could be a whole new crop of players, or very little differences. Big question marks.

It shows exactly what we've thought for awhile: none of our guards have been getting it done as compared to the opponents guards. I say that with the caveat that TK has had a few games where he really has, as has Cowart, and most recently Preston has. I think Gollon would have been a huge factor for the team had he remained healthy to the end of the year. And that doesn't even account for the lack of Dartis. At the end of the day, all of them have been asked to do more than they were probably initially recruited for, and to do things outside of their strengths. For example, Cowart is probably best suited to play 25 mins a game guarding the best couple players the opponent has. TK is probably best suited to be a 6th, 7th man off the bench to provide instant energy. Instead, they're both being relied on to do more, and they're falling short sometimes.

In terms of the guard position alone, this team is drastically different with a full, healthy season of Gollon and Dartis together. Drastically. It's where they are now though, and I hope we continue to see gains from Preston and Murrell as we go forward.

Given that I assume Saul & staff won't be here, I'm gonna say that I think it's highly likely that TK won't be either. At that point, I run through my head on who else I think stays/goes. I think we'll see at best 5-6 of the remaining players stay. All of them will be presented with other options, that's for sure.

Wouldn't you think that guys who have already redshirted a year (Dartis, Carter, BVP for example) might be more inclined to stay and not sit out a second year? Of course, that's assuming it's D1-D1 transfer.

Totally agree. I think this becomes more probable with each passing day and each Preston assist.

I would think that makes sense for Carter and BVP, yes. Dartis is different though if he graduates this spring, right?

Gollon will probably just hang 'em up and enroll in a medical school next fall.

Seriously, more of this. More of all of this.

Because you got me interested in looking, I had a few minutes to go to Basketball reference (www.sports-reference.com/cbb for those that haven't been - great site!).


I took a look at the best recent years we've been referring to a lot around here.

In the 15 games he played in 2016-17, Tony had a .224 win share, that year Carter was a .183, Dartis a .163, Simmons a .114, Kaminski a .128. The year before when he was MAC POY, Tony was .218.

In 2012, DJ and Walt were both .174, and then Nick .156 as the highest rated players.

2013: DJ was .179, Reggie .200, Walt .140, and Jon Smith .203
2010: DJ .164, Basset .156, Freeman .145, Washington .152
2005: Leon .195, Sonny .159, Green .143, Fears .064 (hmmmm)

So would we say Tony has been our MVP from the last 15 years?

Before taking my current position as President of the Jason Carter fan club, I was founder & President of the Tony Campbell fan club. Those stats are pretty incredible and only makes me further believe in their accuracy. He was awesome and I feel so deprived to not get a full senior season from him.

Where is he playing now? Hopefully somewhere.