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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4371922, member: 12088"] [USER=1673]@diggerfoot[/USER], you’re absolutely right about one thing, beliefs do influence how we experience things, and this is true of me for sure. For example, I have a few friends who hate the Patriots, insist on calling them the Cheatriots. Naturally they’re Steelers fans. We can watch the same game and see very different things. This is one of the reasons I enjoy talking football with them. Data can correct for these variations, and used well can raise the level of a conversation. But it does not as often enhance the mutual enjoyment of those conversations, since their main virtue is not accuracy. This may mean the best use of data is as the starting point, not as the basis of a refutation, as you say. Like the one you started us with: why does Azzi have fewer assists, or a worse a/t ratio and yet seems so much more valuable a player to many of us? A similar question could be asked about Caroline. One thing we might ask is whether a single data point like a/t ratio captures the reality of the game flow. Were all the turnovers live ball turnovers? Every turnover costs us a possession, but they don’t all weigh the same in the result. Some directly cost a score, some lead directly to an opponent scoring, and so on. Other stats may capture this sort of difference better than a/t. Caroline made a bunch of turnovers in her first several games. But she was also frequently the team’s savior. Situationally, those turnovers were disappointing and I hope she’ll improve in this area, but I was happy to trade them for everything else she contributed. I don’t have a stat for how many possessions were wasted without a turnover, because we were forced into a bad shot by poor passing from the point or poor execution of a motion offense. But I know there were quite a few from experience. In the first DePaul game, the team was outhustled, and outplayed in the post by Morrow, and I’m sure Geno didn’t want it to come down to the a last second shot. But when it did, he wanted Caroline to take the last shot and she did it, thank goodness! In the rematch, we practically ran DePaul off the court even though Caroline didn’t play and Azzi shot poorly. It is not hard to see why [I]after the fac[/I]t in a few stats like points in the paint and points off turnovers. That’s what the change in “hustle” produced, I guess. But I still like our chances better with Azzi and Caroline on the floor the next time we play them. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach