Vanderbilt Pregame Stats - Unauthorized Edition

by David Hooper on Feb 25, 2008 7:09 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Basketball

(Disclaimer is copied directly from Joel's previous work.) Stats only describe "stuff that has already happened," they don't generally account for the strength of the opponents against which they have been accumulated (hello, MTSU! (yes, that joke's good twice)), and relying on them to predict future results is hazardous to the future of our nation.

(End Plagiarized Disclaimer)

With one challenge down, we now look forward to the "trap game". Personally, this is the game that worries me the most. It's a short road-to-road turnaround, we just had a hugely emotional win over a very tough opponent, and we head straight into another huge game against another very tough opponent. And on top of that, Vandy's home court is one of the oddest in the nation.

So with that, let's take a look at the stats and see what the season has shown us so far.

(Side note: This chart was created by massively plagiarizing Joel's previous charts. Without the benefit of Joel's tools, I had to make this the hard way - manual editing. Please fact-check this thing so I can get it right by gametime. Any editing will not be accompanied by slash-throughs so that the chart can stay pretty and readable.)

(Yeah, this pretty.)

Stats were tallied using StatSheet.com, with a huge nod to Joel for his previous work.


Rankings
Conf Standing	1		3
AP Rank	1		18
RPI	0.6890		0.6361
RPI Rank	1		10
SOS	0.6079		0.5544
SOS Rank	2		52
Wins & Losses
Overall	24-2	(92.6%)	23-4	(85.2%)
Home	14-0	(100.0%)	17-0	(100.0%)
Away	8-1	(88.9%)	4-4	(50.0%)
Neutral	3-1	(75.0%)	2-0	(100.0%)
Conference	10-1	(90.9%)	8-4	(66.7%)
Top 25	3-1	(75.0%)	0-2	(0.0%)
Blowout (> 19)	8-0	(100.0%)	4-2	(66.7%)
Close (< 6)	7-0	(100.0%)	4-0	(100.0%)
Overtime	0-0	(0.0%)	2-1	(66.7%)
NCAA Tourney	0-0	(0.0%)	0-0	(0.0%)

Doing alright so far.

	All Games		Conference Games
					Difference (adjusted for total games played)
Total Games	27	26	12	12	-1
Wins	23	24	8	11	1
Losses	4	2	4	1	2
Pct	0.852	0.926	0.667	0.917	0.07
Field Goals Made	748	794	310	346	73.7
Field Goals Attempted	1587	1738	696	766	209.8
Field Goal Percentage	0.47	0.46	0.45	0.45	-0.01
Free Throws Made	450	412	157	172	-21.3
Free Throws Attempted	616	639	183	220	45.8
Free Throw Percentage	0.73	0.64	0.71	0.64	-0.09
3pt Field Goals Made	241	248	101	108	15.9
3pt Field Goals Attempted	594	688	285	284	116
3pt Field Goal Percentage	0.41	0.36	0.35	0.38	-0.05
Points Per Game	81.0	83.3	73.2	81.0	2.3
Rebounds Per Game	39.4	41.0	37.1	43.4	1.6
Offensive Rebounds Per Game	10.8	15.1	10.2	15.9	4.3
Defensive Rebounds Per Game	25.1	23.6	23.4	24.4	-1.5
Assists Per Game	18.1	18.9	16.8	17.3	0.8
Steals Per Game	6.6	10.0	5.6	8.2	3.4
Turnovers Per Game	14.9	13.1	13.3	14.0	1.8
Blocks Per Game	3.6	3.4	3.6	3.8	-0.2
Fouls Per Game	17.7	20.1	16.9	20.9	2.4
Disqualifications	4	2	2	2	2

OK, there's the scoop. Thoughts/comments?

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Comments

Great work!

Great pseudo-work, Hooper! Plagarism is an awesome tool! (Not really, kids.)

Vandy...17-0 at home. 'Nuff said.

It'll be a much closer game than what happened last time in Knoxville, that's for certain. I haven't been paying much attention to Vandy hoops lately, but I do firmly stand by my immediate reaction from last month's meeting. Let's just hope VU hasn't figured anything new out.

I wouldn't be surprised to see us get behind early, perhaps even by double digits. We'll need another Pearlfect night to get out of Nashville with a "W".

by Aerobab on Feb 25, 2008 10:16 PM EST reply actions

Thanks

I'd agree. Pressure is good. Pace is good. Run 'em into their funky court ground. My observations coming shortly.

by David Hooper on Feb 25, 2008 11:02 PM EST up reply actions

Oddities

The thing that struck me about this stat sheet was how much of a difference conference v. noncon play made. Here are a few examples: + Vandy has a better overall 3-point percentage - 41% to 36%. Yet we have a better conference 3-point percentage - 38% to their 35%. + Points per game. Vandy is 81.0 overall, 73.2 conference. We're 83.3 overall, 81.0 conference. Makes a big difference in the comparison. + Defenseive Rebounds / game. Vandy is 25.1 overall to our 23.6. In conference, they're only 23.4 and we're 24.4. There are more quirks like that in there. Since the last half of the season is mostly conference play, does that perhaps indicate a regression on Vandy's part? Their strength of schedule is fairly average: was their first-half schedule much easier, leading to an inflated record relative to UT's? I don't know. I do know they're a good team either way. As badly as we wanted to beat a #1 last weekend, they'll want to beat a #1 Tuesday. It's also the very first game UT has that #1 bullseye on its back. Will the players be thinking about that, or do they truly not care? Lots to learn Tuesday about this team. We'll get a much better feel of the tourney run by this time tomorrow.

by David Hooper on Feb 25, 2008 11:09 PM EST reply actions

What up with that ?

hooper, nice work ! Why does Vandy have and extra what ten feet on both sides of the court. It looks like it would throw your depth perception off.

Phil,GO VOLS !!!

by bulldurham on Feb 26, 2008 9:25 AM EST reply actions

I haven't been there, but

my understanding is that the court is elevated from the first couple of rows or so of seats. Kinda like a sumo wrestling dohyo. (Thanks, Wikipedia, for making me look smart.) If so, they need the extra apron for safety reasons. Having a 6'-10", 250-pounder diving for a loose ball straight into some fans below court level is not a pleasant prospect.

At least, that's what I understand about the place.

by David Hooper on Feb 26, 2008 11:19 AM EST up reply actions