Fouls Drawn In Big East Play - I crunched the numbers

[McLovin]

Figured I share this with everyone here.

I wanted to take a look at how UConn is at drawing fouls on drives compared to the rest of the Big East.

There are 58 players who have attempted at least 3 shots per game in the paint + at the rim and here is where UConn players rank (data is from in-conference games only):

What's even more mind bending are the fouls (not called) on Sanogo. Across the Big East with other high usage centers, they draw fouls on nearly 17% of their shots, compared to Sanogo who only draws fouls on 5.6%

Make of this what you wish. I know officiating has been discussed in like 100 different threads, but I figured I'd put some data together to see if it backs up the whistles we see / don't see.

Anyone who wants to double check my work or play around with the numbers can use this Google Sheet here:

 

[McLovin]

Sorry, use THIS LINK to make a copy of the sheet. The link above is view only.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Not surprised.

 

[gsmooth]

Sorry, use THIS LINK to make a copy of the sheet. The link above is view only.

nice job crunching the numbers. What website(s) did you use as your source?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Figured I share this with everyone here.

I wanted to take a look at how UConn is at drawing fouls on drives compared to the rest of the Big East.

There are 58 players who have attempted at least 3 shots per game in the paint + at the rim and here is where UConn players rank (data is from in-conference games only):
View attachment 82718
What's even more mind bending are the fouls (not called) on Sanogo. Across the Big East with other high usage centers, they draw fouls on nearly 17% of their shots, compared to Sanogo who only draws fouls on 5.6%

Make of this what you wish. I know officiating has been discussed in like 100 different threads, but I figured I'd put some data together to see if it backs up the whistles we see / don't see.

Anyone who wants to double check my work or play around with the numbers can use this Google Sheet here:

thoughtful, factual, impressive. thanks.
doesn't belong in this joint tho, cuz we're told it's all
le conspire grande! pardon my french.

 

[McLovin]

Data is from CBB Analytics - College Basketball Analytics, Stats & Metrics, & Research

 

[my2cents]

Hopkins last night initiated all the contact by jumping into his defender, he was called once for it. When the bigs go at it they can bump each other 2/3 times, why they call some and others not ,is the mystery.

 

[BGesus4]

Idk if there is a reffing bias beyond college refs just tend to be atrocious.

I still don’t understand how Croswell getting low and driving his legs as hard as he can to try to run over Sanogo while Sanogo holds his ground is a defensive foul.

 

[Hoophound]

This is clear to see watching the games. I sort of expected the truth to be somewhere in between when I clicked on your post since perception is often skewed by bias. The refs, in fact, hate us. The league should tell the refs to stop trying to kill the golden goose and call it fairly. The Big East needs us to be strong this season.

This also shows more evidence that Newton needs to be a bit more me first and just attack the damn basket.

 

[KingAG]

Idk how any one can watch these games and look at these numbers and say the games are being called fairly. They aren’t.

 

[OkaForPrez]

One possible explanation on Adama is that he’s very patient and methodical on the low block and he plays below the rim. His strength is in his footwork and touch, not his size or explosiveness. What Providence did yesterday and what many teams do is try to crowd him and take away his ability to pivot. It allows for the defense to close out in control and stay straight up making him uncomfortable vs. having to say meet a player at the rim who is attacking as soon as they get a touch.

 

[TysonsChewtoy]

this is what ive been saying on twitter and i just get called a "crybaby" UConn fan. Its so lopsided its not funny. The Big East officials want us out of the top 25. Games not close to being called down the middle. You would think the conference would want to pump up their powerhouse but they just hate our guts, Hurleys guts...etc

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I feel as though Adama could either be called for a travel or have a foul called on whoever is guarding him every time he makes a move in the post.

And here is a cute puppy…

 

[UCFan1513]

Before we jump on the refs, I would say that the common thread is that a lot of our players are particularly averse to contact on the offensive end.

Most of Sanogo's shots are taken while falling away from the basket or using the rim for protection. Hawkins has gotten fouled on his 3-ball, but we all know that driving is not a huge part of his game. It has been discussed ad-nauseum here how Jackson seems to find creative ways to avoid contact at the rim, or defaults too much to the three.

Maybe the whistle has been a little bit biased - I have no way to say - but there is more than meets the eye with stats alone. Really good analysis regardless

 

[Dibbie]

One, I do think refs are sticking it to Dan Hurley a bit. Probably started with the GT game where he kept calling the ref a “fu… Clown”. They’re human, I’d probably do the same. Hopefully just a 2 game thing to prove a point

Two, as some have said, our guys a very soft at the rim and avoid contact. AJ is most confusing as he’s aggressive and plays with an edge, except when driving to the hoop. Newton is such a good foul shooter, wish he was also more comfortable going up and drawing contact.

 

[superjohn]

One possible explanation on Adama is that he’s very patient and methodical on the low block and he plays below the rim. His strength is in his footwork and touch, not his size or explosiveness. What Providence did yesterday and what many teams do is try to crowd him and take away his ability to pivot. It allows for the defense to close out in control and stay straight up making him uncomfortable vs. having to say meet a player at the rim who is attacking as soon as they get a touch.

That's what I see with him as well. He might get bumped sometimes with no call but it's mostly just guys crowding him and Adama trying to pirouette and do all sorts of crazy footwork to score. He's a really difficult player to ref, he's huge but he's a finesse player once he has the ball and they're probably looking at his feet half the time. He's also often times falling away. On his missed bunnies in the second half he seemed to try and sneak the layups in quickly and shortarmed them.

I thought the refs were terrible last night, I saw our guards getting bumped a lot with no fouls while it was constantly being called the other way but Providence was the more aggressive team on offense and the more aggressive team pretty much always wins the fouls battle. We have not been playing an aggressive driving brand of basketball. I do believe Goodman that the refs hurt Hurley though and that needs to be fixed.

Clingan seems to be the only guy playing super aggressive out there around the hoop on both ends and he racks up fouls on people.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Idk if there is a reffing bias beyond college refs just tend to be atrocious.

I still don’t understand how Croswell getting low and driving his legs as hard as he can to try to run over Sanogo while Sanogo holds his ground is a defensive foul.

On at least one of those drives Sanogo was lunging over in to Croswell and reaching out with both his arms. You are going to get called for that everytime. Keep your upper body straight and don't reach with you arms.

 

[TysonsChewtoy]

100% its retaliation for him mouthing "you're a clown" its been egregious and completely lopsided in both games since he did that. The kids are paying for it, instead of fining him as a conference and moving on. Last night i saw the players frustration bubble over more than once at the officiating.

 

[gtcam]

PC has 4 in the top 30, UConn has 1. Xavier has 4, UConn has 1
This is not based solely on just the UConn/PC game and the UConn/Xavier game
I am not saying that the NBE officiating is even at a fair level but this list is very telling - some players know how to draw fouls while some don't. It can be taught.

 

[Valleyfan]

I think these are the two reason why Adama does not get more fouls called on his opponent:

Hopkins last night initiated all the contact by jumping into his defender, he was called once for it.

Most of Sanogo's shots are taken while falling away from the basket or using the rim for protection

 

[OkaForPrez]

That's what I see with him as well. He might get bumped sometimes with no call but it's mostly just guys crowding him and Adama trying to pirouette and do all sorts of crazy footwork to score. He's a really difficult player to ref, he's huge but he's a finesse player once he has the ball and they're probably looking at his feet half the time. He's also often times falling away. On his missed bunnies in the second half he seemed to try and sneak the layups in quickly and shortarmed them.

I thought the refs were terrible last night, I saw our guards getting bumped a lot with no fouls while it was constantly being called the other way but Providence was the more aggressive team on offense and the more aggressive team pretty much always wins the fouls battle. We have not been playing an aggressive driving brand of basketball. I do believe Goodman that the refs hurt Hurley though and that needs to be fixed.

Clingan seems to be the only guy playing super aggressive out there around the hoop on both ends and he racks up fouls on people.

Spot on. I’d like to make one thing clear as well, I thought yesterday was complete BS. X was what it was because we took 37 threes. Yesterday we played in the paint and it was not called like for like at all.

But here’s the silver lining: It’s hard for anyone to win on the road in CBB. We have now lost two games on the road to arguably two of the top 4 teams in conference. These are not fall back from the pack losses. Creighton at home is a must win. Put it in pocket and go after a qualtiy road win at Marquette. Win both and we’re still very much on schedule for meeting our goal in the 2nd season.

 

[Griffman]

I feel as though Adama could either be called for a travel or have a foul called on whoever is guarding him every time he makes a move in the post.

And here is a cute puppy…

Adama rarely travels because he has such great footwork and use of his pivot foot. He is all about finesse than going up strong and drawing the foul. He would rather attempt to make a 2 point bucket than draw a foul. He certainly isn't going catch the ball in the block and immediately pass it out.

 

[uconngb]

This is clear to see watching the games. I sort of expected the truth to be somewhere in between when I clicked on your post since perception is often skewed by bias. The refs, in fact, hate us. The league should tell the refs to stop trying to kill the golden goose and call it fairly. The Big East needs us to be strong this season.

This also shows more evidence that Newton needs to be a bit more me first and just attack the damn basket.

LOL

 

[ZenConn]

Going strong to the hoop and initiating contact will draw fouls. Trying to avoid them will not.

It's the Big East. The players should expect a rock fight every game

Thanks @tcf15 for this legendary tweet.

 

[Billy Jack]

This is clear to see watching the games. I sort of expected the truth to be somewhere in between when I clicked on your post since perception is often skewed by bias. The refs, in fact, hate us. The league should tell the refs to stop trying to kill the golden goose and call it fairly. The Big East needs us to be strong this season.

This also shows more evidence that Newton needs to be a bit more me first and just attack the damn basket.

You can’t be serious. I’ll take this is an attempt rapt comedy.

 

[Billy Jack]

this is what ive been saying on twitter and i just get called a "crybaby" UConn fan. Its so lopsided its not funny. The Big East officials want us out of the top 25. Games not close to being called down the middle. You would think the conference would want to pump up their powerhouse but they just hate our guts, Hurleys guts...etc

Stop. You’re embarrassing yourself.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

Refs just seem to get hyped by the home crowd. Both last 2 games were loud, remember Xavier fans were booing loudly every foul call against them. Extremely poor one-sided officiated games, big east should be ashamed of their refs.

I don’t say this much but we lost the last 2 games cause of the refs. Or at the very least, we weren’t given a fighting chance. Hard to win games when everyone’s in foul trouble and the team is in the double bonus 10 minutes into each half, while the other team has 1-2 team fouls.

 

[XLCenterFan]

What about when Clingan got shoved in the back going for that loose rebound, and of course no call. You know the type of play…when one guy puts an arm/forearm in another guys back and the receiving end loses balances and puts their arms in the air like they just got pushed. It’s obvious the refs hate Dan Hurley. They have for years, and possibly for some good reasons. But to take it out on the players, in what seems to be an obvious fashion, is unreal. Last night I actually wanted him to get T’d up. I was saying if I was him, there’s no way I would not have been T’d up. How bad does does it have to get til AD Dave makes a statement?

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

100%. Absolutely. Well, maybe 80%. Naw. 27%. Oh, crap, maybe this is just BS.

Regardless, maybe the solution is that Dan Hurley just shut up and remove the 4 letter words from his vocabulary, he’s making himself a punch line - and looking like an immature jerk while doing it.

Where’s the mute button?

 

[SCNCHuskie]

this is what ive been saying on twitter and i just get called a "crybaby" UConn fan. Its so lopsided its not funny. The Big East officials want us out of the top 25. Games not close to being called down the middle. You would think the conference would want to pump up their powerhouse but they just hate our guts, Hurleys guts...etc

Why would a big east official not want UConn to be successful? That makes no sense. When any one team is successful in a league, it benefits the entire league.

I do not complain about refereeing, so I probably do not notice, however, I cannot imagine referees intentionally favoring one team over another. What does make a difference is the style of play. Teams that attack the hoop traditionally get more calls, while teams that take more jump shots get less.

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