Awesome Analytics Article by Chris Harry

Lol..tell me why I literally drew a square on a piece of paper and went left around said square 3 times from the starting point to verify that 3 lefts indeed do make one right. Lol. Bravo.

 

For those who haven't watched, fast forward to 11:44...

 

That’s very analytical.

 

Nothing wrong with a little game theory to help a team establish better habits.

But in the end hoops comes down to making shots and getting stops. If analytics do those, I’m all in.

 

That is mostly what basketball analytics is about: getting the best mix of players on the court that will make the most points and get the most stops.

Of course talent plays a huge factor

 

My wife is Danish!

 

Popeye’s strength doesn’t impress the Danish, but he’s strong to the Finnish.

 

analytics last night:

UNC down 3 with 20+ seconds left on the clock, they opt to force some horrendous 3s vs driving to the basket for an easy 2 points to extend the game.
Kansas up 3, selected not to foul in that situation last night and I agreed with their decision - they opted to defend the 3 point line and they did successfully. Now, that turnover at the end was horrendous.

 

UNC shot selection has been bad the whole tournament, finally caught up,with them last night.

but I agree KU wasn’t going to foul with 20 seconds left, and when the last possession came with 4.3, you couldn’t risk fouling because whomever got the ball was going up right away, so you risked a four point play. And worst case it was OT with UNC’s best player injured, so really UNC’s only chance to win was a four point play at that point.
had UNC driven and gotten a layup early, It was still 1-1 the other way, so the expected points on that if they fouled a 75 percent FT shooter after a make was about 1.1 points, so odds were good a two ties on UNC’s next possession, and a three could have won it. And even if they had hit the three quickly, KUmhas the ball to win, with OT again being their worst option.
So yeah, KU played it right, UNC didn’t. And KU won.

 

Having a good handle on Bayesian statistics is great tool but it may not be practical on the fly or the heat of the moment without some serious, dedicated help that really understands what they are doing - and it goes way beyond plug and chug calculations. Of course, when fate take a turn and it back fires it's like telling someone that's struck by lightning it shouldn't have happen. Around here losing a game is like a lightening strike so we'll see how it's digested.