Pac-12 opening day

[Plebe]

Pretty good article from the Arizona paper about the Pac-12 WBB landscape:

Pac-12 women strong again, but can a team break through to win 1st NCAA title since 1992?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Thanks Plebe, nice article.

 

[jonson]

Arizona really exposed ASU's lack of offensive creators in their lineup. And, on the occasion that ASU's offense created an open look, ASU shooters couldn't convert. I contrast that to Stanford, OSU, and even UO who have a plethora of sharp shooters in their lineups. ASU will recover, and still put the hurt on a lot of PAC-12 teams.

"even UO?" You mean the team that currently ranks first in field goal percentage, first in effective field goal percentage, first in free throw percentage, and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage?

 

[UConnCat]

But we should also notice that Massey ranks Arizona's defense #19 in the country, a ranking that takes into account the strength of opposition.

Massey's offensive and defensive ratings do not rank a particular team's defensive (or offensive) strength relative to other teams. Do you really think Drexel with a SOS ranked 209 is the 9th best defense in the country? According to Massey, "[t]he Off/Def breakdown is simply an estimate of how much of a team's strength can be attributed to good offensive and defensive play respectively." Obviously, both Arizona and Arizona State rely a lot more on their defense than their offense. But the Massey defensive ratings don't tell us how effective Arizona's defense will be against the much better competition it will face in the PAC 12. What it does tell us is that its overall performance in those games will be the result of its defense more than its offense.

 

[Pinhead]

Utah's senior Huff is the centerpiece, while freshmen bigs Torres and Edwards looked very solid against the Buffs. Their work's cut out for them but I'm looking forward to what transpires against the Pac 12 heavies. Go Utes!