We may have enough games, albeit against weak competition, to start looking at what the statistics are saying about individual players.
My preference is to use Reference Stats, which also provides a quick reference to other teams, national leaders, and past Iowa teams.
The section I usually look at most is the Advanced Stats section.
Looking at some of the main categories:
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) - an offensive rating, this is one of the key stats for individual players. Keegan leads the country at 52.0 (by a good margin). Kris is 2nd on the team at 42.9 and Joe T (!!) 3rd at 26.4.
Effective FG% (eFG%) - this adjusts the overall shooting % of a player to account for the fact that 3's are worth more, so is the best to compare across all players. Filip leads this at .792 followed by Kris at .712 and then Keegan at .650. Note that Rebraca has been very efficient, he just hasn't gotten many shots (12 shots in 4 games).
Total Rebound Percentage (TRB%) - this is an estimate of the % of rebounds the player got while on the floor based on shots taken during that period. Kris leads this with 23.2%, followed by Filip at 21.6% then Keegan at 21.0%. Quite a dropoff after that, although should be noted Connor is at 12.4%, easily the highest among the guards.
Assist % (AST%) - estimate of the % of teammate FG's the player assisted on while on the floor. Joe T leads this by a large margin at 42.1%, followed by a number of players between 22.1% (Ulis) and 16% (Keegan, Kris, Patrick, Payton, Connor).
Steal % (STL%) - estimate of the % of opponent possessions that end in a steal by the player while on the floor. No surprise here as Joe T (5.5%) and Perkins (4.7%) lead this category by a good margin followed by Ulis (3.2%)
Block % (BLK%) - estimate of the % of opponent 2 point FG attempts that were blocked by the player while on the floor. Keegan leads this at 11.5%, Kris at 6.6% and Filip at 2.5% (leaving Ogundele and Mulvey out).
Turnover % (TOV%) - estimate of turnovers by this player per 100 plays (which is separate from possessions but unclear). Connor surprisingly leads this at 25.3%, followed by Ulis at 17.6% and Joe T at 17.1%.
Win Shares (WS) - estimate of the number of wins contributed to a team due to a players offense and defense. This stat is biased to offense but is still a good overall number. Keegan leads the country at 1.2, followed by Joe T (0.7) and then Bohannon (0.6). This is a good number for Joe T because it is more of a total value added while on the floor statistic, so his defense helps him here.
Offensive Box Plus/Minus (OBPM) - an estimate of the number of offensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed ABOVE an average player. Keegan leads the country at 17.9, followed by Kris at 13.5 and then Joe T and Bohannon at 8.5 and 8.4 respectively. Ulis is the lowest in this measure (1.7) followed by Perkins (1.9).
Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) - an estimate of the number of defensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed ABOVE an average player. Keegan leads this at 1.7, followed by Joe T (1.4). We have more players in the negative here (ie: worse than the average college player) led by Payton at -6.9, then Patrick at -4.4 and then surprisingly Kris at -3.7 and Bohannon at -3.4.
Some possible takeaways:
I think Rebraca will be fine given more touches - just not a shot blocker. I would personally play Kris more and take 5mpg away from Ulis and Patrick to make it happen (although I like them both). We need the rebounding, defense and rim protection.
If Kris replaced Rebraca, as some have said, I'm not sure which of Keegan or Kris would guard the 5. Concern would be foul trouble for Keegan, which would be a huge issue with this years team given how critical he is for us on offense (ie: leading the country in OBPM, PER and Win Shares).
My preference is to use Reference Stats, which also provides a quick reference to other teams, national leaders, and past Iowa teams.
The section I usually look at most is the Advanced Stats section.
Looking at some of the main categories:
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) - an offensive rating, this is one of the key stats for individual players. Keegan leads the country at 52.0 (by a good margin). Kris is 2nd on the team at 42.9 and Joe T (!!) 3rd at 26.4.
Effective FG% (eFG%) - this adjusts the overall shooting % of a player to account for the fact that 3's are worth more, so is the best to compare across all players. Filip leads this at .792 followed by Kris at .712 and then Keegan at .650. Note that Rebraca has been very efficient, he just hasn't gotten many shots (12 shots in 4 games).
Total Rebound Percentage (TRB%) - this is an estimate of the % of rebounds the player got while on the floor based on shots taken during that period. Kris leads this with 23.2%, followed by Filip at 21.6% then Keegan at 21.0%. Quite a dropoff after that, although should be noted Connor is at 12.4%, easily the highest among the guards.
Assist % (AST%) - estimate of the % of teammate FG's the player assisted on while on the floor. Joe T leads this by a large margin at 42.1%, followed by a number of players between 22.1% (Ulis) and 16% (Keegan, Kris, Patrick, Payton, Connor).
Steal % (STL%) - estimate of the % of opponent possessions that end in a steal by the player while on the floor. No surprise here as Joe T (5.5%) and Perkins (4.7%) lead this category by a good margin followed by Ulis (3.2%)
Block % (BLK%) - estimate of the % of opponent 2 point FG attempts that were blocked by the player while on the floor. Keegan leads this at 11.5%, Kris at 6.6% and Filip at 2.5% (leaving Ogundele and Mulvey out).
Turnover % (TOV%) - estimate of turnovers by this player per 100 plays (which is separate from possessions but unclear). Connor surprisingly leads this at 25.3%, followed by Ulis at 17.6% and Joe T at 17.1%.
Win Shares (WS) - estimate of the number of wins contributed to a team due to a players offense and defense. This stat is biased to offense but is still a good overall number. Keegan leads the country at 1.2, followed by Joe T (0.7) and then Bohannon (0.6). This is a good number for Joe T because it is more of a total value added while on the floor statistic, so his defense helps him here.
Offensive Box Plus/Minus (OBPM) - an estimate of the number of offensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed ABOVE an average player. Keegan leads the country at 17.9, followed by Kris at 13.5 and then Joe T and Bohannon at 8.5 and 8.4 respectively. Ulis is the lowest in this measure (1.7) followed by Perkins (1.9).
Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) - an estimate of the number of defensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed ABOVE an average player. Keegan leads this at 1.7, followed by Joe T (1.4). We have more players in the negative here (ie: worse than the average college player) led by Payton at -6.9, then Patrick at -4.4 and then surprisingly Kris at -3.7 and Bohannon at -3.4.
Some possible takeaways:
- Keegan's legitimacy for NPOY is shown in those stats
- Rebraca needs more shots per game to see what he can really do
- Kris likely needs to play heavy minutes, doesn't matter how or where
- Joe T is playing fairly well overall - his advanced stats last year were not good. These are solid to good.
- Defensively Iowa still has too many "negative" players in DBPM. I think we are ranked 85th in AdjD on Kenpom, in a year where we thought we may be Top 35-50. Not sure we will reach that with our interior deficiencies, but we need to be Top 75 to have a chance at the NCAA's. Offensively I think we thought we would be Top 35-50 also, and we are currently 3rd. So this team is better offensively, and worse defensively, than we thought.
- We may need to be conscious of what combinations we put on the floor at the same time to minimize defensive issues. Payton, Bohannon and Patrick may need to be spread out from each other to some degree. Kris should be fine.
I think Rebraca will be fine given more touches - just not a shot blocker. I would personally play Kris more and take 5mpg away from Ulis and Patrick to make it happen (although I like them both). We need the rebounding, defense and rim protection.
If Kris replaced Rebraca, as some have said, I'm not sure which of Keegan or Kris would guard the 5. Concern would be foul trouble for Keegan, which would be a huge issue with this years team given how critical he is for us on offense (ie: leading the country in OBPM, PER and Win Shares).
