Some team level nerd stats and on/off insights. Top 200 competition, luck-adjusted with garbage time filtered out, starting on December 10th when Brazile went out. Ranks based on high major teams (1-159 rank).
A lot of this is covered already. Draw a lot of fouls on offense, commit a lot of fouls on D. One of the most iso and mid-range heavy and least 3-point reliant teams among high majors. The 3's they do take, they tend to miss. But they also prevent opponent 3s at one of the highest rates among high majors and force you into iso's. A weakness is allowing a lot of opponent attempts at the rim due to overplay (reminds me of the early UConn Hurley defenses). They themselves finish well at the rim, but they shoot about half what they shoot at midrange, and take almost as many shots from the mid as the rim. Opponent shooting %s are pretty medium throughout. They turn the ball over a lot, but concede a decent number of 2nd chances (tip to Top Dogs podcast, the SEC does have a lot of proficient offensive rebounding teams, which skews this a bit).
Because they are so iso-heavy, they don't get a lot of catch and shoot 3s and so most of their assists come from penetrating and lobs or dump-offs to bigs or cutters. Only 11% of their midrange shots are assisted... so many dribble pull-ups. But their defensive assist chart looks pretty much exactly the same. They allow the fewest catch and shoot 3s in the country. Hawkins had a few off the dribble 3s last game, and he may need to do some more next game, because they're going to make it tough for him to catch (good thing his trigger is so quick).
They're sloppy in transition but draw a lot of fouls there. We fan out and take a lot of 3s in transition (3rd most frequent), they attack the basket 80% of the time (least amount among high majors). They get killed in transition, mostly because they lose shooters in transition in favor of protecting the rim, which is how we have to really hurt them. They're bad at scoring off putbacks. Once again they very rarely kick out to shooters. On defense they stay home on rebounds but do hack the rebounder. Our bigs will have to make their free throws (looking at you Clingan).
It's going to be interesting because they want to run, but they don't want UConn to run. If they are sloppy at all on defense / especially transition UConn's shooters will feast. Vice-versa if UConn is sloppy in transition they will get a lot of And-1s.
I have noticed from watching their games that while they don't drive and kick that often, they do a good job of attracting attention with the dribble and getting open shots near the rim for, I won't say cutters because they don't really seem to cut that hard but, guys who have moved into open spots. They try to get you ball watching, but on defense they become ball watchers also.
Even if the SEC is good at Oboards, it doesn't negate the fact they give them up, just that they are used to doing so.
The three point line defense is interesting because:
For example: UConn: 36.2%/ .419 - ranked 60s for both 3PT% and 3PT rate.
SEC three point shooting percentages (ranked by) and rate:
Good:
Missouri - 36.0% / .432
Solid:
UK - 34.7% / .300
Bama - 34.1% / .475
Average:
Vandy - 33.9% / .422
Below median % (NCAA median, #181-182 are about 33.8%) - Full year
UT - 33% / .402
LSU - 32.7% / .389
AM - 32.6% / .345
SC - 32.3% / .409
Georgia - 31.8% / .382
Auburn - 31.5% / .352
UF - 31.4% / .368
Ole Miss - 30.3% / .347
Mississippi - 26.6% / .346
NCAA Opponents:
Kansas 34.7% / .338
Illinois 30.8% / .419
Arkansas 31.3% / .278
Missouri is the closest to rate and percentage that Arkansas has played in conference. They split the games. Missouri did not shoot well in either game from three. Both games saw a parade for both teams to the foul line and less than optimal shooting from there.
They also played Creighton OOC and lost but that was with Brazile and without Smith. Creighton was 35.8% /.419 on the year and went 7/14 from three. They didn't play another major conference team that is worth comparing in terms of 3PT% and rate.
Doesn't mean Arkansas doesn't defend the three point line well but it is a bit of a chicken/egg issue here. There are literally Tennessee/Auburn/Alabama in the top ten defending the three and Arkansas/Miss St/Vandy follow in the top fifty with UF/UK in the top 100. So the question becomes is the SEC good at defending the three point line, or just poor at shooting the ball? Both?
If you are curious, X/UConn/Marquette/Creighton/Depaul all in the top 100 teams for 3PT%,with PC trailing a bit in the top 150. UConn/Marquette/Creighton all got it up around the same high rate (see above for UConn's). X/Depaul/PC were all much more judicious with how often they shot.
One thing that does stand out though is even with those good 3PT shooting teams in conference UConn still stands in the top 20 for three point defense for the year. This indicates to me that UConn is legitimately good at defending the three.
