Category: Coaching Philosophy

Virginia Tech (11-seed) First-round matchup vs. Texas According to ShotQuality’s team rankings, Virginia Tech is the most under-seeded team in all of March Madness. The Hokies rank 15th in overall Adjusted Shot Quality and in the top 20 on both offense and defense. It’s not just the advanced metrics that love Virginia Tech, either; their… Continue reading Three Double-Digit Seed Upsets to Watch For

Everyone loves a good Cinderella in March — a plucky double-digit seed who, through some combination of spunk, hot shooting, and late-game heroics, captures the nation’s attention on an improbable run through the NCAA tournament. These teams are, by nature, unpredictable; after all, that’s the fun of it.  The tier above the Cinderellas and below… Continue reading Using ShotQuality to Identify Three March Madness Sleepers

Compared to the NBA’s 82-game slog and seven-game-series playoffs, the college basketball season is incredibly short. A few unlucky bounces can be the difference between a bubble team going dancing or going home; one cold shooting night in March can end a title contender’s season at the hands of a Cinderella mid-major. Even at the… Continue reading The college basketball season’s biggest surprises, according to ShotQuality data

The months-long Ben Simmons saga concluded today when Sixers general manager Daryl Morey dealt the disgruntled All-Star point guard for former MVP James Harden. As the trade deadline approached, reports revealed that both Simmons and Harden were searching for a change of scenery. The move reunites Sixers general manager Daryl Morey with his former star… Continue reading Sixers-Nets Trade Analysis

In one of the first major trades of this season’s deadlines moves, the Portland Trailblazers traded CJ McCollum, Larry Nance, and Tony Snell to the Pelicans for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, a 2022 protected 1st round pick, and two 2nd round picks. There is a variety of opinions of why each… Continue reading CJ McCollum Trade Analysis

Luck is one of the oddest phenomenons in sports. Everyone knows it affects the game, but there hasn’t been an accurate way of quantifying it. In theory, luck should always be equal for both teams. There is no superstitious or godly force impacting one team’s luck more than another, it just naturally fluctuates. When a… Continue reading Quantifying a Teams’ True Value with Record Luck

Coaching ability is judged and job retention is ultimately predicated on one stat: wins. But in order to get a truly accurate view of the success of the coach’s job, it goes far beyond just that. Every team has a different roster, some teams get 5-stars and some have to pick up players from their… Continue reading Coaches that Maximize Shot Selection

There are countless ways for a team to end the season with a winning record. You could take bad shots and grab every offensive rebound, (ahem) West Virginia and North Carolina. You could space the floor, take efficient shots and guard the paint well, like Baylor, Alabama, and Creighton. You could have a low turnover… Continue reading What Leads to Winning

NCAA Player’s are 149% more likely to take a buzzer beater (shot with less than 2.5 seconds), than a shot between 2.5 and 5 seconds. Why is that? It’s the same reason, as a kid, I’d spend hours at a hoop repeating the same sentence, “3, 2 ,1 buzzer beater for the win,” and then… Continue reading Why Buzzer Beaters are inefficient

Coaches impact the game in a multitude of unquantifiable ways. It could be with positive reinforcement to players. It could be with in-game adjustments. It could be with lineup decisions. There are millions of nuanced methods coaches impact the game with. But almost all of them go unnoticed to the athletic directors and fans. The… Continue reading Coaches Who Drew Up the Most Efficient Plays