The Difference is Defense

[JRRRJ]

Examining the statistics in depth will take a good amount of research which I am happy to do when I have some time, perhaps in the next day or two. Trying to confirm the eye test is always worthwhile.

@BBallF, if you're going to do this, you may find the per-40 pivot workbooks useful. They will allow you to quickly select which games or combination of games will be used to make up the per-40 and per-game tables. There are shortcuts in the filter dropdowns to select home/away/neutral games, individual opponents, single or groups of dates. The detail data indicates which opponents were ranked at the time of play and their AP ranking at that time.

The pivot workbooks as described above began in the 2018-19 season. There are prior workbooks back to the 2013-14 season that contain individual game and season summary stats in separate tabs, and some earlier ones back to 2000-01 that only have the year-end summary stats.

They are all downloadable from here.

 

[visitingcock]

Defense looked good today. Paige’s blocks shocked me but shouldn’t have. Okay, I’ve seen her make beautiful, athletic blocks before - just not so many.

Physically, she looked fully recovered today. No hesitance!

 

[HopJim]

I think she is the missing third scorer to go along with Paige and Aaliyah. It is going to take time though. Next year she will return as a starter, be stronger, and be a bourgeoning star. She was very well taught the fundamentals of the game when she was younger.

I saw what I hope is a change in KK's offensive style. While very few opposing players can stop KK's drives to the basket, until the second half today, she typically bulls her way in and rarely pulls up for the midrange jumper (i.e. as Slade is expert at). If KK did this more often, she likely would be a 10+ ppg scorer and continue making more of the outstanding passes to her teammates under the basket for high % layups.

 

[HopJim]

Defense looked good today. Paige’s blocks shocked me but shouldn’t have. Okay, I’ve seen her make beautiful, athletic blocks before - just not so many.

Physically, she looked fully recovered today. No hesitance!

Have to agree Visiting Cock. Its almost like Paige's arms have gotten longer. If there was an award for best defense, Paige would be in the running.

 

[HuskyNan]

Have to agree Visiting Cock. It’s almost like Paige's arms have gotten longer. If there was an award for best defense, Paige would be in the running.

There is also a Big East Defensive POY which Nika won for the 2021-22 season

WBCA Defensive Player of the Year - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sun]

Have to agree Visiting Cock. Its almost like Paige's arms have gotten longer. If there was an award for best defense, Paige would be in the running.

There's the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Last year it was won by Alyah Boston.

Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Skeets]

Maybe I'm nit picking here but one of the areas UConn can improve is for the players off the ball to stop watching the ball to the extent that the person they are guarding gets open. You might not be able to see this on TV (of course TV is also watching the ball) it's more obvious if you are there at the game. Sometimes it's legitimate help defense, but too often (in my opinion) it's bad defense. If help defense is not needed, the off-ball defenders have to continue defending their man, not stand around and watch the play.

A number of Louisville's open baskets in the first half were the result of "distracted" (for the lack of a better word) defenders. Louisville tended to miss those shots in the second half...

Is this the biggest problem? No, but it's something that can be worked on.

 

[visitingcock]

There's the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Last year it was won by Alyah Boston.

Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That link says it was won by Cameron Brink. Doesn’t show Boston ever winning it. Hmmm. I thought I remembered Beal winning it last year.

Looking at the history, the award has been dominated by Bigs. Blocks. Defensive rebounds and maybe some overall notion of paint control. Maybe best big on a team with the lowest points allowed.

For a guard like Paige to win it, she would need a good but not necessarily the best number of blocks per game, a bunch of steals and UConn to have a very highly ranked defense.

She was great yesterday!

 

[oldude]

That link says it was won by Cameron Brink. Doesn’t show Boston ever winning it. Hmmm. I thought I remembered Beal winning it last year.

Looking at the history, the award has been dominated by Bigs. Blocks. Defensive rebounds and maybe some overall notion of paint control. Maybe best big on a team with the lowest points allowed.

For a guard like Paige to win it, she would need a good but not necessarily the best number of blocks per game, a bunch of steals and UConn to have a very highly ranked defense.

She was great yesterday!

The WBCA also awards a NDPOY. Over the years, the award has been given to a number of guards including: Lindsey Harding, Jennifer Risper, Monica Wright, Moriah Jefferson, Gabby Williams, Kia Nurse, Didi Richards & Veronica Burton

 

[HuskyNan]

That link says it was won by Cameron Brink. Doesn’t show Boston ever winning it. Hmmm. I thought I remembered Beal winning it last year.

Looking at the history, the award has been dominated by Bigs. Blocks. Defensive rebounds and maybe some overall notion of paint control. Maybe best big on a team with the lowest points allowed.

For a guard like Paige to win it, she would need a good but not necessarily the best number of blocks per game, a bunch of steals and UConn to have a very highly ranked defense.

She was great yesterday!

It looks like Boston won the Naismith award, Brink the WBCA award