Gator Country

MichaelJoeWilliamson · 01-30-2013, 02:42 PM

BASKETBALL: Gators have held every opponent below its season scoring average
by Jason Lieser

The next team to hit its season scoring average against Florida will be the first.

Florida (16-2, 6-0 in the SEC) has held every opponent below what it averages, including forcing Georgia into its two worst games of the year. Teams are averaging 17.1 points per game less against Florida than they do against the rest of their schedule. Even the two teams that beat the Gators did not reach what they otherwise average.

Thirteen of those teams have posted one of their three lowest totals of the season against UF, which is third in the country in scoring defense at 51.2 points allowed per game.

Here is a look at how all 17 of the Gators’ opponents have done against UF compared to their other games:

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gator...oring-average/

ArtVandelay · 01-30-2013, 03:01 PM

Pretty impressive!!!

I'd like to see the charts of the other teams in the top 10 in scoring defense. I bet it looks similar.

It is important to point out that the Gators don't play a slow tempo game. Our D is just that good. Unlike Wisconsin who likes a low scoring game.

GatorRade · 01-30-2013, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtVandelay

Pretty impressive!!!

I'd like to see the charts of the other teams in the top 10 in scoring defense. I bet it looks similar.

It is important to point out that the Gators don't play a slow tempo game. Our D is just that good. Unlike Wisconsin who likes a low scoring game.

Actually, the Gators are pretty dang slow. According to KenPom, the Gators' tempo ranks 293rd in the nation (faster than Wisconsin and Pitt, but slower than the rest of the top 25). Of course, KenPom's numbers also tell us that the Gators allow the fewest points per possession in the nation, so their D is excellent as well. It's a veritable double whammy to Gator opponents' points per game.

xenythx · 01-30-2013, 03:49 PM

Is there a differentiation between offensive tempo and overall game tempo as a result of defense? Meaning our overall tempo might be slow because we're denying our opponents from getting a good look and forcing them to use up a lot of shot clock on every possession, but we're not holding the ball on offense like a team like Wisconsin.

ArtVandelay · 01-30-2013, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenythx

Is there a differentiation between offensive tempo and overall game tempo as a result of defense? Meaning our overall tempo might be slow because we're denying our opponents from getting a good look and forcing them to use up a lot of shot clock on every possession, but we're not holding the ball on offense like a team like Wisconsin.

exactly...numbers don't always tell the whole truth...

GatorLurker · 01-30-2013, 04:42 PM

The Gators are taking good shots as our offensive efficiency shows (points per offensive possession). If a really good shot is available early we take it, but we are willing to work well into the shot clock to get a good shot.

We don't freeze the ball and we don't just "run stuff" on O to get the other team tired that much, even though I think we do that a little bit.

**regurgigator** · 01-30-2013, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenythx

Is there a differentiation between offensive tempo and overall game tempo as a result of defense? Meaning our overall tempo might be slow because we're denying our opponents from getting a good look and forcing them to use up a lot of shot clock on every possession, but we're not holding the ball on offense like a team like Wisconsin.

Yep.

Plus, we have a lot of possessions where we have multiple passes and resets. The ball generally keeps moving, but there aren't a lot of quick shots - which is a good thing. I don't think our opponents get the feeling that they're in a slow-down game even if a shot is not going up early in the shot clock all the time.

But back to your point, it would be interesting to see if our opponents are taking longer in their offensive possessions compared to their average offensive possession time in other games.

GatorRade · 01-30-2013, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenythx

Is there a differentiation between offensive tempo and overall game tempo as a result of defense? Meaning our overall tempo might be slow because we're denying our opponents from getting a good look and forcing them to use up a lot of shot clock on every possession, but we're not holding the ball on offense like a team like Wisconsin.

Good question. I don't think that Pomeroy recognizes a defensive component to tempo, but I do believe that it is theoretically possible that we could see this effect. To investigate it, we would have to have the time before first shot during each possession of every opponent in our games and compare these values to their average time before shooting per possession. I don't know of anywhere where you could find these numbers, however.

GatorRade · 01-30-2013, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtVandelay

exactly...numbers don't always tell the whole truth...

Sure they don't, but neither do our eyes, so we are sort of left to conjecture here. I don't think it is a bad thing if we are slow however. I agree with Lurker and Regurg that our offense is good because we wait for good shots. It's not what we are known for this year, but I think this is a case where our defense is simply caught people's eyes, so this seems to conceal how excellent our offense is.

**jeffphillips21** · 01-30-2013, 04:59 PM

I don't think ANY team we've played so far would say we're a down-tempo team. Their tongues dragging mid-way through the first half tell the real story.

GatorLurker · 01-30-2013, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorRade

I don't think that Pomeroy recognizes a defensive component to tempo, but I do believe that it is theoretically possible that we could see this effect. To investigate it, we would have to have the time before first shot during each possession of every opponent in our games and compare these values to their average time before shooting per possession. I don't know of anywhere where you could find these numbers, however.

And that is why it isn't in kenpom at only $19.95 per year. (A GREAT deal, BTW.) It would cost LOTS more for a team of people charting every game and uploading that kind of stats in almost real time for all Div 1 games.

Doing things by total number of possessions is pretty good, though. It will be rare to find teams that grind it out on D and then chuck up early shots on O or the other way around.

GatorRade · 01-30-2013, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffphillips21

I don't think ANY team we've played so far would say we're a down-tempo team. Their tongues dragging mid-way through the first half tell the real story.

Don't confuse energy and aggression with tempo. The fact is that all but four of our opponents (Alabama St, Missouri, Wisconsin, and UCF) saw a lower than their team average number of possessions when they played Florida.

GatorRade · 01-30-2013, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorLurker

And that is why it isn't in kenpom at only $19.95 per year. (A GREAT deal, BTW.) It would cost LOTS more for a team of people charting every game and uploading that kind of stats in almost real time for all Div 1 games.

I'm a fan of his website as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorLurker

Doing things by total number of possessions is pretty good, though. It will be rare to find teams that grind it out on D and then chuck up early shots on O or the other way around.

I actually don't have a good gut feeling for how common this type of offense/defense dissimilarity might be.

But for those that believe that our tempo is not slow, it might be worth noting that Florida's average number of possessions per game is 63, and the average of the other top 25 teams is in the 66 range, so it's not like we are losing 15 or 10 possessions per game.

themistocles · 01-30-2013, 05:34 PM

What is perhaps most interesting about the Gator defense is that the most versatile lock down defender, Prather, has only played in about half of the games so far.

I thought that the Gator's worst games were against K-State, UCF and Air Force, with Yale not far behind.

InstiGATOR1 · 01-30-2013, 06:16 PM

UVa is listed as second in points allowed right now. They are a slow tempo team that appears to me to have played a slower tempo schedule than UF.

Not surprisingly UVa is 8th in defensive efficiency. This shows a bit why the efficiency or tempo adjusted numbers are better than the raw averages.