Your argument that stats have no place in the game of basketball is pretty old. I'm not saying it's predictive. I think we can agree that there are no good predictive stats in basketball.
But there are interesting stats worth discussing...and I think that's why I get so frustrated when you jump in to dismiss/condescend to these things. My goal isn't to predict who is better or who will win...but to have a discussion about information pertaining to basketball.
What else are we supposed to talk about on this forum?
The teams left in the NCAA tournament have had surprisingly few offensive possessions this year. That's all that I am saying. Observing an interesting trend using a certain data point. You can put any number of data points beside this to give you more information. For instance, offensive efficiency. Just having fewer possessions is worth nothing if you're not using them efficiently.
If you don't like what I've posted, you can add information rather than just dismissing me. What you would consider when deciding if a team is good or not?
Think of tempo as more of a tie breaker between two teams of similar skill or ability. Both good and bad teams play up or down tempo. Your post indicated that you thought there was something news worthy about a down tempo team that was good.
Playing an up tempo style has a cumulative effect on the opponents. It isn't a sledge hammer. This years OU team playing an opponent that was similar in skills and ability might only expect their playing style to produce an extra basket or two over the course of the game. But, those could be the baskets that was the difference between winning or losing.
If a stat as no predictive value, then it has no value. It isn't telling you anything. You can trot out all the meaningless stats you want to if that is what entertains you. It is when you try to assign meaning to meaningless stats is when you will hear from me.
It is like when you reported that Ken Pom rated OU 190th in defensive efficiency. That is fine with me. Ken Pom is probably a smart guy and works hard to put his numbers together and he is free to rate teams any way he wants to. What you can't do, without some blow back, is leap to " therefore" there are 189 teams that play better defense than OU. There is no therefore to these kind of stats. They are just stand alone numbers that aren't really relative to much of anything.
I'm a numbers guy and a stats guy and a don't be fooled by randomness guy. Some numbers you can use. Some numbers you can't. Some numbers you might could use a little, but, they aren't worth the time it takes to get them.
You posed a question and I answered for you. You not liking the answer isn't enough of a reason for me to pay any attention to your lecture about what I should or shouldn't post or when or how.
