The 30-second Shot Clock Experiment

As a project for Seth Davis and Sports Illustrated, I compared all men’s basketball exhibition games played by teams from the Atlantic 10 and ACC in 2013-14 (28 games) and 2014-15 (30 games).  The sample size is admittedly small.  Better data could have been gathered had more (or all) conferences […]

College Basketball Scoring Trends Reverse

Through the first three days of last season, scoring had risen 4.5 PPG and 6.6% from the previous year.  This year?  A different story. Scoring is down 5.5% and back closer to levels seen before the highly publicized rule changes in 2013-14.  Fewer fouls have been called, and fewer free […]

Week 12 KPI Prologue – “Strength of Schedule”

The hot topic this week?  Strength of schedule.  How is it computed?  How much is it factored by the selection committee? KPI math can solve this problem.  And it all goes back to the 2013-14 Wichita State men’s basketball team.  First though, let’s look at more traditional strength of schedule […]

Week 11 KPI Epilogue: “Clarity?”

The SEC West now holds the top four spots in the KPI rankings.  Here’s why: First off, the SEC West is not getting four teams in the playoff. The SEC West is dominating the rankings because they collective went 26-0 in the non-conference and 36-1 against non-SEC West teams. All […]

Week 11 KPI Prologue – “Revisionist History”

What if the BCS formula was used to decide the top four teams each of the last 16 years? The answers (and the trends) may prove to be surprising. The College Football Playoff Committee has shown through its first two sets of top 25 rankings that teams are loosely ordered […]