Defensive Efficiency....

[tomkar98]

This proves my concern with the computer models a little bit. It's obvious that you can move up or down game by game, so I again wonder how much movement could we expect from Baylor's end-game flurry? Or K-State's in Norman.....one of the more lopsided ten-point wins you'll ever see.

What encourages me is that we were able to get lots of stops last night when the offense was very stagnant. As a matter of fact, the drop in ball movement on offense concerns me much more than any slides by the defense.

My thoughts exactly. Our offense at times looked like the Thunder's stagnant offense of old (and it still shows its ugly head from time to time for them). The Sooners too often would "pass" around the perimeter for a few seconds then find the ball in Woodard (less often), Cousin's or Buddy's hands and they would just dribble out the remainder of the possession and find themselves in a less than desired situation.

Alas, I still have faith in this years team! Boomer! :OUbball-logo: :lon :buddy

 

[Zimwillett]

You cited previous national champs and where they ranked defensively when they won. But you didn't specify where they ranked in December or January or February. It's entirely possible -- I would say even likely -- any or all of them ranked lower at some point in their championship seasons.

Exactly. And the stat cited is almost certainly post tournament. You can't access the historical KenPom rankings without a subscription. So yeah, it's actually very little surprise that the national champion every year winds up finishing highly rated in defensive efficiency. We've seen how quickly one good defensive game can improve your ratings. String together 6, and you're almost certainly going to finish in the top 12.

I don't disagree with the premise that OU needs to improve defensively, but it's just not a fair to compare an OU team in February to the last however many national champs after they were done with the tournament and conclude that there's some sort of a problem.

 

[WTSooner]

This proves my concern with the computer models a little bit. It's obvious that you can move up or down game by game, so I again wonder how much movement could we expect from Baylor's end-game flurry? Or K-State's in Norman.....one of the more lopsided ten-point wins you'll ever see.

What encourages me is that we were able to get lots of stops last night when the offense was very stagnant. As a matter of fact, the drop in ball movement on offense concerns me much more than any slides by the defense.

Some of the thought process behind that is a) other teams are having "flurries" too, which are offsetting each other, and b) at the end of the season, those flurries are likely to be a pretty small piece of what is being evaluated. Heck, I'd argue that they are a very small piece of what is being evaluated at this point.

I get that no stat/rating is perfect, but to brush them all aside because of that seems silly. I bet our O and D efficiency rankings don't move by more than 5-10 places between now and the end of the season.

 

[stormspencer]

You cited previous national champs and where they ranked defensively when they won. But you didn't specify where they ranked in December or January or February. It's entirely possible -- I would say even likely -- any or all of them ranked lower at some point in their championship seasons.

I have a subscription and I will do some research to try and address your question...because it is a valid one. Right off the top of my head, I believe the Kentucky team who won the championship in '12 (Anthony Davis team) was a young team but got better and better throughout the season with their efficiencies.

However, I would say the general rule is that there isn't much swing (more than 30 spots) either way for 80% of the teams from the start of the season (late November) to the end of the season in the overall rating. For example, OU, NC, and Nova have all been in the top 8 overall ranking for the entire season this year. Another team like Iowa started in the 20ish range and is now #1. Of course with 340+ teams, there are going to be outliers.

It will take me some time, but I will work on this as time allows me this week.

 

[25mob]

They gotten to aggressive/steal happy. Sometimes it's better to just play good defense, and the let the other team miss the shot. You start going for steals, you get out of position, and then it becomes easier for the opposing team to get good looks.

My thoughts exactly. Just play good solid position defense and make them have to go around you and make a contested shot.

Another thing I noticed in just about every game is the off the ball defenders will leave their man to double or collapse on the dribble regardless of what position the on ball defender is in, score or time of the game.

Numerous times against Kansas where OU would hit a three and go up by 3 or more points with under four minutes and then just leave a 3 point shooter open. Who cares if you give up a 2 point shot after you just made a 3 point shot... you win that possession by one point. what you shouldn't do is allow a chance to tie the game up. to me this is where most of their issues are coming.

 

[stormspencer]

In a freefall down to #33 after the KU game (from 26). When the shots aren't going in, we have to find a way to be more consistent in getting stops.

 

[ocugolfsooner]

In a freefall down to #33 after the KU game (from 26). When the shots aren't going in, we have to find a way to be more consistent in getting stops.

Back up to #17 on the defensive efficiency. #12 on offense. I thought I'd noticed better defensive play going back to the Texas game. Even in the Tech game, it was not the D that was the main culprit. I think it's an encouraging sign for our March prospects that the D has returned. Now just need the shots to start falling again and we could be in for something special.

 

[stormspencer]

Back up to #17 on the defensive efficiency. #12 on offense. I thought I'd noticed better defensive play going back to the Texas game. Even in the Tech game, it was not the D that was the main culprit. I think it's an encouraging sign for our March prospects that the D has returned. Now just need the shots to start falling again and we could be in for something special.

Agree 100%. Our defense has been better, for the most part, since the Texas game....and I think the efficiency measures are showing that. If we continue to hold teams to the mid-60s or less (Texas, Tech, WV), then can win every game from here on out because of our advantage with our skill guys on offense. I now feel much better about the defense than I did two weeks ago.

 

[skyvue]

I agree, too. I was surprised at all the complaints about defense after the Tech game. I thought we played pretty good D in that game; the effort was certainly there.