Monday, May 20, 2019
Nothing for #mubb, but we do close out the Sports Movie Bracket
Breathe, there is absolutely nothing to talk about when it comes to #mubb, so we're going to take advantage of the opportunity to spend 90 minutes closing out the Sports Movie Bracket. We name a champion, but not without controversy and debate along the way. Let us know if you think we got it right or wrong (@joemccann3 @mooof23). Enjoy!
https://scrambledeggs.podbean.com/mf/play/mz344s/scrambledeggs_edit_051919.mp3
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Results of Marquette 2003 vs. Georgetown 2007 and Cincy 2002; Nova 2018 Dominates
The scoresheet below was supposed to be of the Georgetown 2007 vs. Marquette 2003 team which brought back so many memories of going to my first Marquette game in 20 years. However, let's just say I'd forgotten just how bad our Final Four team's defense was at keeping opponents away from the hoop and off the glass and Roy Hibbert took full advantage. However, MU did manage to survive the second game despite 24 points by Cincinnati's Steve Logan and Coach Huggins great defense, so here are the early standings of my replay and the full game scoresheet further down.
Of course, Cincy, Butler and MU were really not in the Big East yet and Louisville has since left, but I've shuffled to make six 7-team conferences.
(I am playing Syracuse 2003 and Pitt in the ACC, keeping all 6 conferences with 7 teams)
I never went to the Bradley Center until March 1, 2008, and decided if I was going to pay for a trip form Alabama I was buying seats three rows behind Tom Crean to see Georgetown - a year off a Final Four - come to town. It was my first time in the lower bowl of a college game, and I was stunned at how impossible the it seemed to even complete a pass against the speed and length you could only appreciate from this close to the action.
The heart break of fellow Alabama native Jonathan Wallace fouled by Dominic James on a 3-pointers in the final second to send the game into overtime where the Hoyas won was still exciting enough to start me on my 11 year streak of season tickets and making all March Madness games. I thought starting my Value Add Basketball game Big East play with the 2007 Georgetown team against the team that started making me watch Marquette on TV again - the 2003 Marquette seemed fitting.
Wallace even repeated being fouled on a three and hitting them all. Let's move on from that game and instead present the scoresheet from Marquette's second game.
Until late, it looked similar to the five games played between the two teams during Dwyane Wade's two years - during which the average score was Marquette 70, Cincinnati 67 as MU ended the Bearcats 20-game winning street as one of three wins.
Here is the scoresheet Cincinnati and the running score for the final 6:14 and 10 possessions of the first half, and then possessions 33 to 22 to start the second half. The numbers to the left show which possessions each player will play unless someone fouls out or a strategic change is made. The 5 "starters" are really "finishers," so Logan (who I ranked as the best player in 2002) can play "all" 44 possessions we play in the game, while McElroy can play possessions 39-1 (his card lets him play 39 possessions without being tired). You can see on the backups, Barker is down to play possessions "44-40." We start the game assuming all players have played about 11 of the first 22 possessions and the score is tied 22, so a player with a 39 really averaged 50 possessions that year, etc.
While we show total points for each player, we only record "contested" rebounds each player gets - since every other possession the rebound simply goes to the defense to keep the game moving - but the cards give all players the ranges to average the correct number of rebounds overall by giving offensive players twice as good a chance as they would really have of getting a rebound every other possession.
You may notice I choose to "start/finish" Steve Novak even though that just means he plays the final 14 possessions (14 to 1). This is not because I am judging him better than Townsend, which he was not yet as a freshman, but if MU is down late in the game I'd rather have him as the best 3-point shooter of all 42 great teams in the game, and if MU is holding a lead late, I'd rather have him as the best free throw shooter in the game. However, you will notice Townsend had 9 points, 2 steals and a blocked shot to help key the win.
Logan cut the lead to 66-62 on yet another poor defensive play by Marquette, but Cincinnati could get no closer as they missed five straight shots after grabbing 4 straight offensive rebounds as well as Wade stealing the ball twice on plays that would have otherwise been made 3-pointers (which we only know in the game because we roll all the dice at once).
Cincy then had to foul Diener who hit both, and Novak hit a three with 1:15 left and MU scored on its final possession to end on a 7-0 run.
In the other games:
I was curious if Louisville's insane defensive pressure or UConn's dominant big man play would win out, but in this game Louisville stole the ball on 7 of UConn's first 11 possessions I played and Dieng gave Louisville enough rebounding to prevent a comeback for the 74-61 win. Siva, Smith and Hancock all had 3 steals - more like 4 or 5 since we don't track the first third of the game through the 20-20 tie. Eight of 9 Cardinals had steals, and the only one who didn't was the games leading rebounder Dieng who won 6 contested rebounds to offset UConn's size inside. Behenan fouled out trying to guard Okafor and then Harrell game back in and came within one foul of fouling out as well, but Okafor hit his average 50% of free throws (1-10 on 20-sided die) with 7 of 14 from the line.
Villanova appears the most dominant team in the conference, but Butler hung around to stay within 58-48 with Bridges picking up his 4th foul. However, between then and the 6:05 mark Nova went on one of their crazy 17-4 runs with a 3-pointer by DiVincenzo, 3 by Spellman, Brunson dunk, Bridges rebound and score, Pascall 4-point play and another 3 by DiVincenzo. Bridges never fouled out and finished with 26 points with a game-high 6 contested rebounds (we don't include the half of the misses that just go to the defense or those in the first 22 possessions) and Brunson added 19. Hayward scored 15, Mack 17 and Howard 18 for Butler in the 89-60 blowout win.
Finally, Green was dominant for Georgetown, getting past Marquette's defense early and often for a game high 28 points and 4 blocked shots (really like 6 blocks over all 66 possessions). Roy Hibbert started hot by blocking Jackson's first three shots and grabbing a game-high 5 rebounds, however Jackson turned it on in the second half to finish with a game-high 22 points to help Marquette make the final reasonable at 74-62.
No surprisingly, Kentucky is 2-0 in my SEC conference, and I have not started the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC or Pac-12 seasons yet.
Of course, Cincy, Butler and MU were really not in the Big East yet and Louisville has since left, but I've shuffled to make six 7-team conferences.
| Big East | Won | Lost | Scored | Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Villanova 2018 | 1 | 0 | 89 | 60 |
| Louisville 2013 | 1 | 0 | 74 | 61 |
| Georgetown 2007 | 1 | 0 | 74 | 62 |
| Marquette 2003 | 1 | 1 | 135 | 136 |
| Cincinnati 2002 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 73 |
| UConn 2004 | 0 | 1 | 61 | 74 |
| Butler 2010 | 0 | 1 | 60 | 89 |
I never went to the Bradley Center until March 1, 2008, and decided if I was going to pay for a trip form Alabama I was buying seats three rows behind Tom Crean to see Georgetown - a year off a Final Four - come to town. It was my first time in the lower bowl of a college game, and I was stunned at how impossible the it seemed to even complete a pass against the speed and length you could only appreciate from this close to the action.
The heart break of fellow Alabama native Jonathan Wallace fouled by Dominic James on a 3-pointers in the final second to send the game into overtime where the Hoyas won was still exciting enough to start me on my 11 year streak of season tickets and making all March Madness games. I thought starting my Value Add Basketball game Big East play with the 2007 Georgetown team against the team that started making me watch Marquette on TV again - the 2003 Marquette seemed fitting.
Wallace even repeated being fouled on a three and hitting them all. Let's move on from that game and instead present the scoresheet from Marquette's second game.
Until late, it looked similar to the five games played between the two teams during Dwyane Wade's two years - during which the average score was Marquette 70, Cincinnati 67 as MU ended the Bearcats 20-game winning street as one of three wins.
Here is the scoresheet Cincinnati and the running score for the final 6:14 and 10 possessions of the first half, and then possessions 33 to 22 to start the second half. The numbers to the left show which possessions each player will play unless someone fouls out or a strategic change is made. The 5 "starters" are really "finishers," so Logan (who I ranked as the best player in 2002) can play "all" 44 possessions we play in the game, while McElroy can play possessions 39-1 (his card lets him play 39 possessions without being tired). You can see on the backups, Barker is down to play possessions "44-40." We start the game assuming all players have played about 11 of the first 22 possessions and the score is tied 22, so a player with a 39 really averaged 50 possessions that year, etc.
While we show total points for each player, we only record "contested" rebounds each player gets - since every other possession the rebound simply goes to the defense to keep the game moving - but the cards give all players the ranges to average the correct number of rebounds overall by giving offensive players twice as good a chance as they would really have of getting a rebound every other possession.
You may notice I choose to "start/finish" Steve Novak even though that just means he plays the final 14 possessions (14 to 1). This is not because I am judging him better than Townsend, which he was not yet as a freshman, but if MU is down late in the game I'd rather have him as the best 3-point shooter of all 42 great teams in the game, and if MU is holding a lead late, I'd rather have him as the best free throw shooter in the game. However, you will notice Townsend had 9 points, 2 steals and a blocked shot to help key the win.
Logan cut the lead to 66-62 on yet another poor defensive play by Marquette, but Cincinnati could get no closer as they missed five straight shots after grabbing 4 straight offensive rebounds as well as Wade stealing the ball twice on plays that would have otherwise been made 3-pointers (which we only know in the game because we roll all the dice at once).
Cincy then had to foul Diener who hit both, and Novak hit a three with 1:15 left and MU scored on its final possession to end on a 7-0 run.
In the other games:
I was curious if Louisville's insane defensive pressure or UConn's dominant big man play would win out, but in this game Louisville stole the ball on 7 of UConn's first 11 possessions I played and Dieng gave Louisville enough rebounding to prevent a comeback for the 74-61 win. Siva, Smith and Hancock all had 3 steals - more like 4 or 5 since we don't track the first third of the game through the 20-20 tie. Eight of 9 Cardinals had steals, and the only one who didn't was the games leading rebounder Dieng who won 6 contested rebounds to offset UConn's size inside. Behenan fouled out trying to guard Okafor and then Harrell game back in and came within one foul of fouling out as well, but Okafor hit his average 50% of free throws (1-10 on 20-sided die) with 7 of 14 from the line.
Villanova appears the most dominant team in the conference, but Butler hung around to stay within 58-48 with Bridges picking up his 4th foul. However, between then and the 6:05 mark Nova went on one of their crazy 17-4 runs with a 3-pointer by DiVincenzo, 3 by Spellman, Brunson dunk, Bridges rebound and score, Pascall 4-point play and another 3 by DiVincenzo. Bridges never fouled out and finished with 26 points with a game-high 6 contested rebounds (we don't include the half of the misses that just go to the defense or those in the first 22 possessions) and Brunson added 19. Hayward scored 15, Mack 17 and Howard 18 for Butler in the 89-60 blowout win.
Finally, Green was dominant for Georgetown, getting past Marquette's defense early and often for a game high 28 points and 4 blocked shots (really like 6 blocks over all 66 possessions). Roy Hibbert started hot by blocking Jackson's first three shots and grabbing a game-high 5 rebounds, however Jackson turned it on in the second half to finish with a game-high 22 points to help Marquette make the final reasonable at 74-62.
No surprisingly, Kentucky is 2-0 in my SEC conference, and I have not started the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC or Pac-12 seasons yet.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Would you rather have MU's defense - blind comparison
I've been surprised at the number of people who believe MU did not have a good defense in 2019, and turning it into one of the "unfair" attacks against Wojo. I lined up a comparison of Marquette's defense against a mystery team so you can do a blind test.
I know the table is not that easy to read, but the overall top number is Ken Pomeroy's master calculation - adjusting how many points are allowed per 100 trips adjusted for the opposing offenses.
Clearly from the outset MU was much better than the other team, and in fact the mystery team played in an era in which fewer points were scored, so MU was the 45th best defense in the land compared to a very mediocre 109th.
MU was elite on the most important stat, holding opponents to only 46 percent eFG% (effective Field Goal percentage, which gives teams and extra half "shot made" for 3-pointers) - so Wojo had excellent defense. MU was also a very good defensive rebounding team at 81st in the country while the mystery team was one of the worst. MU was the better shot blocking team.
The only place the mystery team was better was at steals due to one player being very good at steals, though other than that both teams had very few steals (often the trade off when you shut down opponents' shooting like MU did this year or Wisconsin does many years).
So anyone going into a game would much rather have Wojo's excellent defense than the very poor defense of Team A. And Team A is ... (go below chart)
... the awful defensive unit of the 2003 Final Four Marquette team.
I realized just how bad that defense was when playing the game I invented with 42 great teams, and realizing how bad MU's 2003 defense was compared to other great teams and then realizing they were just bad compared to most major conference teams.
Obviously having the No. 2 offense in the country and the most dominant player in the tournament in Dwyane Wade covered up a very poor defensive team, but to those who keep pretending Wojo did not put a very good defensive unit on the floor are simply deniers.
Those who say watching Ja Morant, the likely No. 2 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, destroy MU's defense proves the former National Defensive Player of the Year Wojo is not a good defensive coach should go back and look at Kansas running a first half track meet against MU in the Final 4. Did that one game prove that MU 2003 really wasn't a great team and that the wins over three of the top 6 teams in the country culminating with the win over No. 1 Kentucky did not really mean anything.
If you are willing to look at facts, Wojo put the most improved defensive unit in the country on the floor last year, and this is a sign of good things to come.
I know the table is not that easy to read, but the overall top number is Ken Pomeroy's master calculation - adjusting how many points are allowed per 100 trips adjusted for the opposing offenses.
Clearly from the outset MU was much better than the other team, and in fact the mystery team played in an era in which fewer points were scored, so MU was the 45th best defense in the land compared to a very mediocre 109th.
MU was elite on the most important stat, holding opponents to only 46 percent eFG% (effective Field Goal percentage, which gives teams and extra half "shot made" for 3-pointers) - so Wojo had excellent defense. MU was also a very good defensive rebounding team at 81st in the country while the mystery team was one of the worst. MU was the better shot blocking team.
The only place the mystery team was better was at steals due to one player being very good at steals, though other than that both teams had very few steals (often the trade off when you shut down opponents' shooting like MU did this year or Wisconsin does many years).
So anyone going into a game would much rather have Wojo's excellent defense than the very poor defense of Team A. And Team A is ... (go below chart)
| Category | Team A | MU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adj. Efficiency | 99.2 109 | 96.7 45 | Team a much worse than MU at overall defense, adjusted for opponents. |
| Four Factors | |||
| Effective FG%: | 47.3 75 | 46.3 18 | MU much better at denying opponents shots. |
| Turnover %: | 18.1 306 | 16.6 297 | Both teams terrible at forcing turnovers, MU a few spots better. |
| Off. Reb. %: | 34.3 251 | 26.1 81 | MU way above average on defensive glass, while Team A much worse than average when they played. |
| FTA/FGA: | 32.5 75 | 35.9 252 | Only thing Team A better at is not fouling, and slightly better at steals. |
| Misc | |||
| 3P%: | 33.2 85 | 32.4 65 | MU slightly better at denying 3-pointers. |
| 2P%: | 45.9 76 | 45.1 19 | MU much better (19th) at stopping 2 pointers, though Team A played when 2-pt % much lower. |
| FT%: | 69.2 146 | 67.9 38 | The one we joke about - FT defense - teams shot terrible free throw percentage against MU :-) |
| Block%: | 9.1 126 | 11.2 81 | MU much better at blocking shots. |
| Steal%: | 8.8 249 | 6.9 325 | Both terrible at steals, though Team A better due to one player who was great at steals. |
... the awful defensive unit of the 2003 Final Four Marquette team.
I realized just how bad that defense was when playing the game I invented with 42 great teams, and realizing how bad MU's 2003 defense was compared to other great teams and then realizing they were just bad compared to most major conference teams.
Obviously having the No. 2 offense in the country and the most dominant player in the tournament in Dwyane Wade covered up a very poor defensive team, but to those who keep pretending Wojo did not put a very good defensive unit on the floor are simply deniers.
Those who say watching Ja Morant, the likely No. 2 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, destroy MU's defense proves the former National Defensive Player of the Year Wojo is not a good defensive coach should go back and look at Kansas running a first half track meet against MU in the Final 4. Did that one game prove that MU 2003 really wasn't a great team and that the wins over three of the top 6 teams in the country culminating with the win over No. 1 Kentucky did not really mean anything.
If you are willing to look at facts, Wojo put the most improved defensive unit in the country on the floor last year, and this is a sign of good things to come.
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Value Add Basketball Game: Marquette 2003 vs. Auburn 2019
We calculated and compiled these 42 great teams from the 21st Century, and set up this scoresheet to play games between them. The only other item you need is four dice. In this case the yellow 8-sided die of 3 indicates the small forward gets the ball, the roll of 32 on the two 6-sided dice in the middle column number is used to see if the defender stops the player in the 11-36 range, or if the player with the ball turns it over or dunks in the 41-66 range. Finally if nothing happens on those dice, then the 20-sided (green) die determines if the player with the ball can score or draw a shooting foul using the right column.
We added this video of how to set up the game to make sure it all made sense.
The following is Dwyane Wade's 2003 card, the more of an explanation under each column. Below that we show the other cards for the Marquette 2003 and Auburn 2019 Final Four teams to give my friends from both places the chance to play - but you can find those teams and 40 others on the link above. They are divided into seven great teams from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC, but great teams from other conferences were placed in one of the other conferences to set up a season.
The following is the team card and one possible line-up for Marquette 2003 - which puts Steve Novak into the starting line-up as the best 3-pointer shooter and free throw shooter on any of the 42 great teams in the game.
We filled in a score sheet with the Auburn 2019 Final Four team as the visitor and the 2003 Marquette Final Four team as the home team. The blue ink indicates items we would have written into the score sheet to start the game, as well as notes on when players would enter the game to avoid anyone becoming tired. We have steadily simplified the game without losing any of the key components, and we are finding it takes us 25 minutes to play a game.
The following is a starting line-up for Auburn. You could certainly play starters against starters to try to game, but the reserves on both teams and all 40 other great teams are available on the link at the top of this post.
Feedback is always welcome at pudnerjohn@gmail.com. Yes a few rough edges still and will continue to cleanup the goofy decimals etc.
We added this video of how to set up the game to make sure it all made sense.
The following is Dwyane Wade's 2003 card, the more of an explanation under each column. Below that we show the other cards for the Marquette 2003 and Auburn 2019 Final Four teams to give my friends from both places the chance to play - but you can find those teams and 40 others on the link above. They are divided into seven great teams from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC, but great teams from other conferences were placed in one of the other conferences to set up a season.
The following is the team card and one possible line-up for Marquette 2003 - which puts Steve Novak into the starting line-up as the best 3-pointer shooter and free throw shooter on any of the 42 great teams in the game.
We filled in a score sheet with the Auburn 2019 Final Four team as the visitor and the 2003 Marquette Final Four team as the home team. The blue ink indicates items we would have written into the score sheet to start the game, as well as notes on when players would enter the game to avoid anyone becoming tired. We have steadily simplified the game without losing any of the key components, and we are finding it takes us 25 minutes to play a game.
The following is a starting line-up for Auburn. You could certainly play starters against starters to try to game, but the reserves on both teams and all 40 other great teams are available on the link at the top of this post.
Feedback is always welcome at pudnerjohn@gmail.com. Yes a few rough edges still and will continue to cleanup the goofy decimals etc.
Thursday, May 09, 2019
A little bit of #mubb talk and a lot bit of sports movie talk
Well it's finally here, the first pod of the sports movie bracket but first we have some shade to throw at the #mubb social media team. The first 27 minutes of the pod we talk: Hauser transfer revisit, Zapruder MU videos, Wojo extension, and Jayce Johnson commit. Once that #mubb business is out of the way, we move to the heart of the early off season, the 76 team Sports Movie Bracket. We establish the ground rules and then dive in picking winners and losers in the play-in and opening round games. We have a good time recording, we hope you enjoy listening to it!
https://scrambledeggs.podbean.com/mf/play/em4vkr/scrambledeggs_edit_050819.mp3
The movie bracket was generated via S-Curve which in turn was generated by 3 key metrics: IMDB ranking, Rotten Tomatoes Fan Ranking, and Domestic Box Office adjusted to 2019. The movies were then slotted into the 76 team bracket with movement so that sequels don't face each other until the 3rd round and with the last 24 movies in participating in a 12 game play-in bracket.
Below is the S-Curve:
And here is the bracket itself:
Below is the S-Curve:
And here is the bracket itself: