The most telling stat in all of sports is the +/- statistic. For those of you not in the know, this all-encompassing statistic lets you know of the team's success while an individual player was in the game. In other words, if Mo'Kieff Dogg Morris starts the game, and KU gets out to a 15-8 lead before he's subbed out for ChenoWithey's sleepwalking corpse, then he stands at +7 so far. 'Kieff-Dish-Trey then reenters the game later with KU up in the game 20-12, but picks up a first half second foul, and leaves the game a few minutes later with KU's lead down to 20-16. Kieff-Mo logged a -4 for that chunk of time, but still stands at +3 for the game.
Still with me? And while as unlikely as it is that a KU lead would grow with Witheystein on the floor, I believe this is as telling a stat as there is in all of sports. After all, what else measures a player's pure impact on what matters most in a game, the score? This stat should be the most recognized of all, more so than scoring, rebounding, assists, turnovers, cheap thug-overtoned elbows, blown Withey-oops, out of control Ty-Tay drives, T-Robb the Hobb-scotch travels, two-handed WNBA Morningshots, or Jacob Pull-outs.
So you would expect one of the Morrisi to lead the team in this statistic right? Or maybe Thryrell Reed? Or (if you're a believer) Selby Delby Do(n't)? Or if you're KU Gametox assistant producer/key grip Brock ShamBrock you'd think it's Ol' Withey Swatz. Well, you'd all be wrong.
I was thrilled to find these stats at a badass little site at www.statsheet.com. Yep, that IS badass!
Here's a list of the +/- stats for every member of the Kansas Jayhawks team (again the +/- is a direct reflection of how the team does with each player on the floor - shown as per game):
1. Tyshawn Taylor: +14.3
2. Tyrel Reed: +14.0
3. Marcus Morris: +13.0
4. Markieff Morris: +12.1
5. Josh Selby: +9.9
6. Brady Morningstar: +9.5
7. Thomas Robinson: +5.6
8. Travis Releford: +5.1
9. Elijah Johnson: +4.3
10. Mario Little: +2.8
11. Jeff ChenoWithey: +2.5
12. Royce Wooldridge: +0.5
13. Jordan Juenemann: +0.1
14. Niko Roberts: 0.0
Follow up thoughts:
- Have we all underestimated the impact that Ratatat Ty Tay has on this team? I was pleasantly surprised to see him atop this list, and have noted his improvement since conference play started (most noticeably by cutting back on his shots taken). Stick to distributing and being a one man fast break. Ty Tay is tied for first in the conference (w/Tristan Thompson of Texas) and tied for 12th in the nation. Here's a look at the top +/- players in the country:
1. Kyle Singler, Duke: +19.1
2. Nolan Smith, Duke: +18.7
3-5. Diebler, Sullinger, Lighty, Ohio St: +18.2-17.2
6. Bill Clark, Duquesne (??): +16.4
7. Jajuan Johnson/E'Twaun Moore, Purdue: +14.7
9. The Jimmer, BYU: +14.6
- I'm startled by how low The Mid Ranger Banger, Mario Little is on the list (although his conference numbers improve drastically). As disappointing as he's been this season, I wouldn't have guessed he'd be below The Book of Elijah Johnson. I continue my stance that Lil' Big Man will play a huge role in the NCAA Tournament.
- My reason for chasing these stats was to bag on Josh Selby with hopes that his +/- was inferior to players such as Morningstar, Releford, and maybe even Little. No such luck. However, I will note that during conference, his numbers are well below Morningstar's. Here's a look at that list:
KU +/- stats in conference games ONLY:
1. Markieff Morris: +8.8
2. Tyshawn Taylor: +8.6
3. Brady Morningstar: +8.5
4. Tyrel Reed: +8.4
5. Marcus Morris: +7.5
6. Josh Selby: +4.8
7. Mario Little: +2.6
8. Thomas Robinson: +1.9
- Interesting to note that Kieff Dogg moved to the top of the list, while Morriz cuz 'Cus dropped to 5th on the team. M-Star and The newly-unveiled Long Ranger Slanger, Mario Little, saw the biggest rises on the team since conference play has begun.
I'll be keeping these stats in mind during our live game chat during tomorrow's game against Iowa St. Be sure to check it out and let any and all of your ridiculousness be heard by the rest of the world. I give you a Dirkness guarantee that it'll enhance your gameday experience. Saturday, 3 PM, Iowa St at Kansas.
His Dirkness
2 comments:
I love this article. I wish I had found this stat on my own. I definitely agree that this is by far the most important statistic. The only thing that is still going against this stat is that whoever plays the longest is going to get the best score on a team like KU because we usually win with a fairly good margin. That's at least part of the reason we saw that with the Duke players too.
I also loved that Ty-Tay was first. He obviously screws up a lot still, but I've been saying all year that him doing well is more important than anyone else on the team to KU winning. Brady has only been up during conference play because he's been hot from the 3. He'll slow back down. I just wish he hadn't lost a step on defense over the past few years. He's not nearly as good as he was.
I think the coolest part of this stat is that it really shows how good Self has things figured out no matter what the fans think. Everyone wonders why he doesn't play Little and Releford more, but the fact that they probably don't play good defense is shown by this stat.
Awesome article, awesome stat, awesome comment by Dragon Ball Zeetz. This is exactly the type of stat that you can look at to help analyze what you need to get better at as a team. I use our stat sheets all the time to get the true analyze of what each one of our guys needs to work on. Good, good, good.
Dr. Zaveous
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