Some ND numbers through 17 games
by FightingIrishRadio (2019-01-16 08:53:00)

While we await tonight's Mabrey vs Mabrey game, here are some offensive and defensive stats to chew on.

The Irish are currently third in the nation in scoring at 88.0 points per game behind Oregon and Mississippi State — both at 91.1 points per game. The Irish were up to 90 per game before scoring 82 and 78 the last two games. ND is second in field goal percentage at 51.8% — 0.4% behind Oregon, sixth in assists per game at 19.9 and ninth in assist to turnover ratio at 1.36. The Irish are fourth in free throw attempts and second in free throws made with 290 — just one behind Mississippi State. ND outscores opponents from the free throw line by an average of 8.1 made free throws per game — its highest advantage from the line over the last nine seasons.

Notre Dame is 5th in scoring margin at 25.2 points per game. Mississippi State leads scoring margin with a 35.2 point advantage per contest, followed by Oregon, Baylor and UConn. According to RealTime RPI, the Irish have played the nation’s toughest schedule. MSU’s is ranked 36th, Oregon’s 14th, Baylor’s 7th, and UConn’s 21st.

Seven of Notre Dame’s games to date have been played against teams that rank in the top 25 in scoring (over 78.7 points per game) including #4 Marquette and #7 DePaul. UConn, Oregon State, Louisville, Drake and Iowa are in the top 20 (better than 80 points per game). Only two teams over the remainder of the regular season schedule — Syracuse and Tennessee are in the top 25 scoring teams in the NCAA. The Orange are tied for 16th at 81.1 and the Vols are currently 24th in points per game at 79.3.

In spite of the challenging schedule, only two teams have scored above their season scoring average against the Irish — UConn scored just a bit under 5 points above their season average at the time the game was played (their scoring is down to 81.5 now) and Lehigh scored 1.7 points above their season average. Only one team, Lehigh, shot better against ND than their season average — and by just 0.1%.

Splitting the season roughly in two, ND’s first eight opponents averaged 39.4% from the field and 70 points per game with Oregon State having the best shooting night at 48.3% and UConn with the most points at 89.

The last nine opponents are averaging 33.3% from the field and 56.4 points per game. The highest shooting percentage was Lehigh at 40% and the most points were scored by Louisville and Lehigh with 68. Louisville was held to 15.9 points below their season average.

ND’s first eight opponents averaged 7.4 points below their season scoring average. The second nine have averaged 13.6 points below their average scores.

The first eight games were against a tougher overall schedule — teams currently ranked 2, 10, 13, 22 and 24. The second nine include the 4th and 14th ranked teams. The five ranked teams in the first half of the season were held on average to 4.4 points below their season scoring average (7.1 below without UConn) and 5.8% below their shooting percentage. The two ranked teams in the last nine games scored an average of 18.9 points below their season scoring average and 11.8% under their shooting percentage.

A note on UConn -- their offense (for them) is struggling a bit lately. They averaged 87.9 points per game over the first nine games of the season -- but they're only scoring 75.2 points per game over the last six. For the season, they're scoring 81.5 ppg compared to last seasons 89.4. They're shooting 49.3% from the field and 37.3% from three. The comparable numbers for last season were 53.3% and 40%. They're averaging 19 assists per game this season vs 22.8, their steals are down from 10.2 to 7 per game and they're currently forcing 14.9 turnovers vs 18.2 last season. I suspect their numbers will start to rise now that they're in conference play. The game at Louisville in a couple of weeks will be interesting.


Irish on top
by BB Junky  (2019-01-16 10:34:52)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

and its funny to me why I don't think this team has played close to it's potential. At times we look sloppy, unorganized and not very deep in some areas. Not sure why I feel this way because our performance against the toughest schedule in the country states otherwise.

Maybe the fact that we really don't have one true point guard...we have three good ones? This is a very unconventional team and every time I watch them play I see MM constantly trying to find the perfect style. Trying to mold 5 all-american type players into a "perfect mold" is very interesting to watch.

I'm not sure I have ever seen a teem that fits together like this one in women's college basketball. Usually it's one big and a great guard. We have 2 great big's, (maybe 3 soon) and 3 of the best wings in the country.

I have not been high on Jordan's play but maybe her struggles are because the rest of the team is not used to playing with a true point?

Interested to see what you folks think.


our stats are way understated vs most teams because
by DBCSMITH  (2019-01-16 13:12:07)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

we freely substitute in the 4th qtr and give up 6-10 pts vs the opposition which still has its starters in. If we kept our starters in our ppg would go up by at least 5 and pts allowed per game by at least 8 lower increasing our gap in these games by at least 13. Last year these starters were still playing late into the 4th qtr. If Muffet's goal was to maximize scoring and miinimize pts given up, she would be setting records this year. However it appears her goal is to get the younger players experience when she can, experiment with the rosters, maybe with a look to next year, and reward the walk-ons while winning comfortably. This allows her to look disgusted more often while the subs make turnovers and give up way too many easy baskets that would never be allowed by the starting 6


More kudos to Muffet
by txirish74  (2019-01-16 17:56:02)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

for taking the long term view. Sure, it's nice to beat a team by 50, but at the end of the day, does it do you an y good as opposed to beating by 25 and having your starters out for the 4th quarter? At a minimum, in decreases the chance for a starter to get injured. Strategically, getting minutes for the younger players not only develops depth but also helps build the team for next year. I hope we do this all year, get to the Tournament healthy and fresh, and kick the **** out of the field.


Seems now the most dangerous women's basketball teams have
by Domerduck  (2019-01-16 12:14:27)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

multiple ball handlers who can bring the ball up and execute fast breaks. Add to that bigs being able to provide long outlet passes and running down for fast breaks, breaks down lesser talented teams much more. ND has become very effective in all phases of the game.

Watching all of Notre Dame and Oregon games have shown they have lots in common in how they play. Both have gotten much better after their loss, especially in their D. Both are using their subs more effectively. They both have a few bigs who can spell their excellent starters and change the game a bit. They both have one true guard sub, but your ccmment on Nixon is astute as I think she seems to need the ball in her hand more than the other 3 ND starters which is why she is less effective. The Ducks freshman guard Chavez is playing more in the flow of the game and so there is less drop off on offense. infact she takes a lots of minutes from Boley, because she is better on D and is great with the flow of the game. It seems when Nixon comes in the game changes.

Still the defense is what controls the game and ND's keeps improving there. I think Muffet is starting to manage the players based on their defensive intensity. She also will pull a player if she make two many mistakes on the offense (TOs, bad shots, silly passes). Having the subs to do this and knowing her starters can still perform has really made a difference in how she manages the game.Still it does make the team less reliable which makes us think they don't always play to their potential. Last year we were just hoping those 6 players wouldn't break, especially when they were against tough teams.

It's a long season. Talented teams don't bring it all the time, but hopefully they are ready when the need to be. Did you see what #2 Golden State did to the top team in the West Denver last night. ND will be ready when they need to be.


This should be mailed to the 7 who didn't vote ND #1 *
by Jon  (2019-01-16 09:29:40)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Gold! Pure gold. *
by BabaGhanouj  (2019-01-16 09:00:51)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


This is awesome. Bringing number crunching to new levels *
by RISteve  (2019-01-16 10:04:07)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post