Opponents' scoring average (called "Scoring Defense") and opponents' field goal percentage (called "Field Goal Percentage Defense") are typically used by many (including writers and commentators) to assess whether a particular's team defense is "good" or "bad". But they are both simplistic and imperfect, to say the least. (btw, by these two criteria, SC ranks #10 and #1, and UConn #81 and #40) The problem is that they don't take into account at all the offensive capabilities of the actual opponents faced by each team.
There are other ranking systems that both (1) take into account the offensive and defensive strengths of the actual opponents (similar to ELO ratings in chess) and (2) create a weighted score of more than these two stats. The best publicly available system is Massey's ratings (Massey Ratings - College Basketball Women's : NCAA D1 Ratings), updated daily. There are other even more refined systems (but proprietary).
According to Massey's today (taking into account all games until yesterday):
We have become really, really good
There are other ranking systems that both (1) take into account the offensive and defensive strengths of the actual opponents (similar to ELO ratings in chess) and (2) create a weighted score of more than these two stats. The best publicly available system is Massey's ratings (Massey Ratings - College Basketball Women's : NCAA D1 Ratings), updated daily. There are other even more refined systems (but proprietary).
According to Massey's today (taking into account all games until yesterday):
- SC is #1 defense, #2 offense, #1 power, overall #1
- UConn is #6 defense, #3 Offense, #2 power, overall #5
We have become really, really good