Like many, I feel like I was totally wrong about Ben Johnson. I'm so impressed with the way he has maximized the strengths and hidden the weaknesses of this team that is short on talent, size and depth, especially for the Big 10. To the extent that you can "see" coaching in stats, I wanted to look at some team stats for 20-21 vs 21-22.
I have both full year 20-21 and first 8 games of 20-21 as a comparison.
FG %: this year 44.8%. LY 39.2%, (LY through 8 games 42.6%)
3 PT FG%: this year 34.9%. LY 28.4%. (LY through 8 games 30.0%)
Total rebounds: this year 33.8. LY 36.8. (LY through 8 games 38.5)
Off rebounds: this year 5.8. LY 11.7. (LY through 8 games 11.1)
Fouls: this year 13.5. LY 18.6. (LY through 8 games 19.0)
Assists: this year 13.0. LY 13.8. (LY through 8 games 16.3)
Assists/FG ratio: this year 49.2%. LY 56.6%. (LY through 8 games 62.2%)
Turnovers: this year 8.9. LY 11.2. (LY through 8 games 11.9)
Our shooting has been significantly better, especially on the 3 point %, which I think has been obvious to any observer. I think we upgraded our shooters, but we also just move the ball better and take better shots in general.
The two I was really interested in were fouls and turnovers. With a very undersized lineup, we are fouling WAY less per game this year. Can you imagine how many guys we'd have foul out with Pitino coaching this lineup? That has clearly been a major emphasis for Ben and I'm shocked how well he's been able to keep these guys out of foul trouble. I hated those Wisconsin teams that just didn't foul, but man, it worked and is great coaching.
Turnovers also down, not as much as I expected, but averaging 9 this year is great. Last two games we had 7 turnovers TOTAL. 3 and 4. Last year the season low was 6.
Those stats really show team discipline, having a plan, and playing smart.
Stats where we are way worse than last year; rebounding obviously. Some of this is intentional, as many have pointed out, especially on the offensive end, since we aren't sending guys to crash the glass and instead focusing on getting back. The rest is just a lack of size. I will be interested to see if Ben changes philosophy once we get more size and depth next year.
Surprisingly, fewer assists than last year both absolute and relative to shots made.
Wish we could see fast break points given up as that is the trade-off between crashing the offensive boards.
What do you guys think?
I have both full year 20-21 and first 8 games of 20-21 as a comparison.
FG %: this year 44.8%. LY 39.2%, (LY through 8 games 42.6%)
3 PT FG%: this year 34.9%. LY 28.4%. (LY through 8 games 30.0%)
Total rebounds: this year 33.8. LY 36.8. (LY through 8 games 38.5)
Off rebounds: this year 5.8. LY 11.7. (LY through 8 games 11.1)
Fouls: this year 13.5. LY 18.6. (LY through 8 games 19.0)
Assists: this year 13.0. LY 13.8. (LY through 8 games 16.3)
Assists/FG ratio: this year 49.2%. LY 56.6%. (LY through 8 games 62.2%)
Turnovers: this year 8.9. LY 11.2. (LY through 8 games 11.9)
Our shooting has been significantly better, especially on the 3 point %, which I think has been obvious to any observer. I think we upgraded our shooters, but we also just move the ball better and take better shots in general.
The two I was really interested in were fouls and turnovers. With a very undersized lineup, we are fouling WAY less per game this year. Can you imagine how many guys we'd have foul out with Pitino coaching this lineup? That has clearly been a major emphasis for Ben and I'm shocked how well he's been able to keep these guys out of foul trouble. I hated those Wisconsin teams that just didn't foul, but man, it worked and is great coaching.
Turnovers also down, not as much as I expected, but averaging 9 this year is great. Last two games we had 7 turnovers TOTAL. 3 and 4. Last year the season low was 6.
Those stats really show team discipline, having a plan, and playing smart.
Stats where we are way worse than last year; rebounding obviously. Some of this is intentional, as many have pointed out, especially on the offensive end, since we aren't sending guys to crash the glass and instead focusing on getting back. The rest is just a lack of size. I will be interested to see if Ben changes philosophy once we get more size and depth next year.
Surprisingly, fewer assists than last year both absolute and relative to shots made.
Wish we could see fast break points given up as that is the trade-off between crashing the offensive boards.
What do you guys think?