The most freshman reliant teams in the Big Ten

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cjbfbp

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We're not the most freshman reliant team in the Big Ten, but we're close. I did a query on minutes played per game by freshmen in conference games only (it's a small sample so far, but I figured teams needed the the pre-conference to solidify their rotational choices). To be included in the list, the freshman had to play at least two conference games (some teams have only played two conference games at the time of this post) and average at least 5 minutes per game. 39 conference freshmen meet that criteria.

The least freshman reliant team is Michigan. They have only one freshman in the sample and he's averaging only 5.5 minutes per game. Maryland only has one freshman in the sample as well (Diamond Stone) but he's averaging 25 minutes per game and he's a major impact player.

The most freshmen reliant team is Nebraska. They have four freshmen who collectively are averaging 73.4 minutes per game.

After that come three teams that are very close in minutes per game (with freshmen minutes per game in parenthesis): Minnesota (67.3), Ohio State (67), and Illinois (65.5).

The next group is also fairly clumped together: Rutgers (58), Wisconsin (55), Northwestern (53.4), and Michigan State (52.5).
 

cjbfbp said:
We're not the most freshman reliant team in the Big Ten, but we're close. I did a query on minutes played per game by freshmen in conference games only (it's a small sample so far, but I figured teams needed the the pre
Cool post, it'll be interesting to follow through the year. Baring injury or significant improvement I think Dorsey, McBreyer and Gilbert's minutes will stay about the same. Murphy's will probably yoyo depending on foul trouble. He's left a lot of minutes on the court at OSU and PSU
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cjbfbp said:
We're not the most freshman reliant team in the Big Ten, but we're close. I did a query on minutes played per game by freshmen in conference games only (it's a small sample so far, but I figured teams needed the the pre-conference to solidify their rotational choices). To be included in the list, the freshman had to play at least two conference games (some teams have only played two conference games at the time of this post) and average at least 5 minutes per game. 39 conference freshmen meet that criteria.

The least freshman reliant team is Michigan. They have only one freshman in the sample and he's averaging only 5.5 minutes per game. Maryland only has one freshman in the sample as well (Diamond Stone) but he's averaging 25 minutes per game and he's a major impact player.

The most freshmen reliant team is Nebraska. They have four freshmen who collectively are averaging 73.4 minutes per game.

After that come three teams that are very close in minutes per game (with freshmen minutes per game in parenthesis): Minnesota (67.3), Ohio State (67), and Illinois (65.5).

The next group is also fairly clumped together: Rutgers (58), Wisconsin (55), Northwestern (53.4), and Michigan State (52.5).
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Good post. Here is what makes our situation worse: Our older players are not stars and none of them are good defensively. When you look at Nebraska freshmen are getting 60% of the minutes but the juniors and seniors are getting almost 70% of the point production. So they have some older leadership. And they are still 0-3.

By comparison our frosh and sophs are pulling the same weight in terms of production as they are minutes. Not good for the present but VERY good for the future.
 

bemidjigopher said:
cjbfbp said:
We're not the most freshman reliant team in the Big Ten, but we're close. I did a query on minutes played per game by freshmen in conference games only (it's a small sample so far, but I figured teams needed the the pre
Cool post, it'll be interesting to follow through the year. Baring injury or significant improvement I think Dorsey, McBreyer and Gilbert's minutes will stay about the same. Murphy's will probably yoyo depending on foul trouble. He's left a lot of minutes on the court at OSU and PSU
Click to expand...

Thanks! After not playing at all in 5 non-conference games, Gilbert has played in all three conference games and has averaged about 9 minutes per game. I don't think his minutes per game will increase significantly but they might increase a bit. Yes, Murphy needs to try to do two things for the rest of the year: 1) stay on the floor and 2) become more reliable at the free throw line because he's going there at a higher rate than anyone else right now.
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bga1 said:
Good post. Here is what makes our situation worse: Our older players are not stars and none of them are good defensively. When you look at Nebraska freshmen are getting 60% of the minutes but the juniors and seniors are getting almost 70% of the point production. So they have some older leadership. And they are still 0-3.

By comparison our frosh and sophs are pulling the same weight in terms of production as they are minutes. Not good for the present but VERY good for the future.
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Yes, there are some games where a casual observer could not tell easily which Gopher players are freshmen and which are seniors. One slight correction: Nebraska's four freshman are accounting for about 37% of Nebraska's player minutes (73.4/200 minutes). Of course, if all classes were equally represented, each would account for about 50 minutes. Normally, you would expect the freshman class to account for less than that unless you have a program like Kentucky or Duke where many of their best players don't remain for a second year.
 


cjbfbp said:
Yes, there are some games where a casual observer could not tell easily which Gopher players are freshmen and which are seniors. One slight correction: Nebraska's four freshman are accounting for about 37% of Nebraska's player minutes (73.4/200 minutes). Of course, if all classes were equally represented, each would account for about 50 minutes. Normally, you would expect the freshman class to account for less than that unless you have a program like Kentucky or Duke where many of their best players don't remain for a second year.
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Good catch. Thanks for the info. My main point is this- more so than any other team the Gophers are getting their production from Freshmen and Sophs. Ohio State for example- has a great looking freshman class but they don't need them as badly and therefore the frosh are only pulling about 30% of the production load.
 

cjbfbp said:
We're not the most freshman reliant team in the Big Ten, but we're close. I did a query on minutes played per game by freshmen in conference games only (it's a small sample so far, but I figured teams needed the the pre-conference to solidify their rotational choices). To be included in the list, the freshman had to play at least two conference games (some teams have only played two conference games at the time of this post) and average at least 5 minutes per game. 39 conference freshmen meet that criteria.

The least freshman reliant team is Michigan. They have only one freshman in the sample and he's averaging only 5.5 minutes per game. Maryland only has one freshman in the sample as well (Diamond Stone) but he's averaging 25 minutes per game and he's a major impact player.

The most freshmen reliant team is Nebraska. They have four freshmen who collectively are averaging 73.4 minutes per game.

After that come three teams that are very close in minutes per game (with freshmen minutes per game in parenthesis): Minnesota (67.3), Ohio State (67), and Illinois (65.5).

The next group is also fairly clumped together: Rutgers (58), Wisconsin (55), Northwestern (53.4), and Michigan State (52.5).
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Where do you "query" from? Is it a subscription service? I always enjoy your posts that are data driven.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Where do you "query" from? Is it a subscription service? I always enjoy your posts that are data driven.
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No, the site is free.

GOOGLE: Sports Reference Minnesota Gopher Basketball

That will bring up a link to the Gopher Basketball historical index page where you can check stats for the teams throughout the years. The full range of stats and information don't go back very far, though. Older years are more limited. You can check out any college basketball team by just changing the name above.

ON THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE PAGE YOU WILL SEE A LINK CALLED "PLAY INDEX." CLICK THAT.

IF YOU CURSOR OVER PLAY INDEX, YOU'LL SEE A LIST OF CATEGORICAL TYPE SEARCHES. CLICK "PLAYER SEASON FINDER" AND THAT BRINGS UP A BASIC SEARCH PAGE WITH OPTIONS.

FOR THIS SEARCH, I DID THE FOLLOWING:

1) Set the "SEASONS" to just the current one; you can do that by just clicking the 2015-16 link below the seasons parameter boxes

2) For "CONFERENCES" I picked the Big Ten

3) For "CLASS" I checked only freshmen

4) For "GAMES TYPE" I checked "conference"

5) Under "ADDITIONAL CRITERIA" at the right side of the page, I selected the following:

a) GAMES >= 2
b) MINUTES PLAYED PER GAME >=5

Hit "GET RESULTS"

6) After getting the tabled results page, I sorted the results by school by clicking "SCHOOL" at the top of the table

7) I then clicked the "EXPORT" link above the table and the program gave me an Excel spreadsheet with those tabled results

8) I then deleted all of the columns in the spreadsheet that I didn't need (I only needed minutes per game). I then used the "=SUM(click start cell:click end cell)" command to add up the freshman minutes per game for each school except the schools with only one freshman in the table.
 

had RP not elected to add two transfers, we'd be even higher in freshman minutes, i suspect
Miles brought in 5 new players on scholarship for this year (and elected to go with only 12 players on scholarship). Miles also doesn't have to use his sophomores. NE may be ever so slightly better off than we are at this time. losing pitchford and petteway (and three more the year before) was tough for them
 



I think RP was counting on 11, The Jarvis Johnson situation was a tough blow for depth. It would've allowed for Mason to spend more time at the two.
 

I agree on Jarvis that it hurts. But the weakness on this team isn't pg, especially one that was a bad 3pt shooter. Can you imagine Jarvis, Dorsey, and McBrayer playing together, I would sure sag into the lane. McBrayer was a good h school 3 pt shooter, the other two were not. We are missing a physical 5 or even a bigger 4. Murphy is wonderful there but he is a tad short/undersized as a freshmen.

I wish EE had redshirted one year, can you imagine how his defense would have helped this team? I agree with those who feel taking two upside athletic yet unskilled posts has really hurt this year. Konate and an ok JC center. Or even a physical freshmen player with size, but maybe not a good athlete, you know the role players most 2nd tier big ten teams have?
 

Anyone know if Fitzgerald is still 6-7 209lbs? If he will be playing a lot of PF I hope he can get to 225lbs?

Dorsey and Mason in backcourt, the versatile Coffey on the wing, Murphy down low, and Lynch in the post sounds good. Bench of 1-2McBrayer, 5-Konate, 4-3Fitzgerald, 3-4Buggs, 4-3Curry, and 3-Hurt (cant see one of Curry/Hurt not redshirting barring an injury or transfer.

pro's: Size, Athletism, depth, experience, post defense, passing/driving of Coffey.

con's: losing the 3pt shooting of King and Morris.
Only known 3 pt shooters returning are Mason and Buggs! Might red shirt Curry as we might need Hurt's shooting!
 

EE did redshirt, as for next year, I think Fitz is a wing, hopefully he can lock down the starting spot.
PG Mason/Dorsey
SG Coffey/McBreyer
Wing Fitz/ Hurt/ Gilbert
PF Murphy/Curry/Buggs
C Lynch/Konate/Diediou
I don't think anyone will redshirt. the new guys should all get some minutes
 



I don't think we have the luxury or the necessity to red shirt anyone next year.
 

Good post as usual cjbfbp. I appreciate this type of info.

Go Gophers!!
 

march madness said:
I agree on Jarvis that it hurts. But the weakness on this team isn't pg, especially one that was a bad 3pt shooter. Can you imagine Jarvis, Dorsey, and McBrayer playing together, I would sure sag into the lane. McBrayer was a good h school 3 pt shooter, the other two were not. We are missing a physical 5 or even a bigger 4. Murphy is wonderful there but he is a tad short/undersized as a freshmen.

I wish EE had redshirted one year, can you imagine how his defense would have helped this team? I agree with those who feel taking two upside athletic yet unskilled posts has really hurt this year. Konate and an ok JC center. Or even a physical freshmen player with size, but maybe not a good athlete, you know the role players most 2nd tier big ten teams have?
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I thought he did redshirt his freshmen year(2010-2011)? If by EE you mean Elliott Eliason

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/lo...cle_ead092ca-eddb-11e4-a9e7-b392bce80097.html
 

Yes I was mistaken on EE. I am just saying someone who to Pitino was expendable last year, would be a difference maker this year. Kind of like Andre Ingram, if he would have had an extra year, a few years back.

All those who caught my EE mistake want to comment on any of the other 15 points in the post?
 

Next years lineup should be more physical, which should help on defense and the boards. We still have the 3pt shooting issue. Mason is shooting 31% this year, he could be better. Coffey isn't a 3pt shooter, Fitz is a maybe, Murphy is not, and Lynch is not. Do you think we will see some zone??



bemidjigopher said:
EE did redshirt, as for next year, I think Fitz is a wing, hopefully he can lock down the starting spot.
PG Mason/Dorsey
SG Coffey/McBreyer
Wing Fitz/ Hurt/ Gilbert
PF Murphy/Curry/Buggs
C Lynch/Konate/Diediou
I don't think anyone will redshirt. the new guys should all get some minutes
Click to expand...
 

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