Comments on Cracked Sidewalks: How to Read Numbers Recaps - Team Stats

Thank you for the explaination and taking the time...

2008-03-06T12:58:00.000-06:00

Thank you for the explaination and taking the time to respond.

mueng93, Free Throw Rate is important because it g...

2008-03-06T10:24:00.000-06:00

mueng93, Free Throw Rate is important because it generally correlates to Defensive Efficiency.

You'll have to copy and paste the following link. However, if you do so and scroll down, you will notice that our Opponent's FTR negatively correlates to our defensive efficiency. In other words, if our opponent is shooting a lot of free throws, it has a negative effect on our ability to do well defensively.

http://kenpom.com/expsked.php?team=Marquette&y=2008

Intuitively, this makes sense. If your opponents are getting to the line a lot, then your team has players in foul trouble/etc.

For considering "made" free throws as opposed to FTA, this is what I was referring to with the different ways of calculating free throw rate. For consistency, I just use the format that Pomeroy uses (FTA / FGA). The impact of a team's FT% shows up in their defensive efficiency.

Bottom line - If our opponents get to the free throw line at a high rate, Marquette is usually in trouble.

I have read your stat reviews on this blog since y...

2008-03-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

I have read your stat reviews on this blog since you started writing them here and have always stuck to looking at the charts and seeing if we won in each column and that was it. Thank you for taking the time to explain the method and the thought process behind the stats you use so I can read them more intelligently. I have always enjoyed watching college basketball but never took the time to delve into all if the statistics involved and used in the different analyses and rankings.

I do have one question regarding the stats you use. What is the importance of the Free Throw Rate (FTR)? Why is knowing how many free throws attempted divided by the number of field goals attempted important? It seems to me that as long as your making your field goals, a lower FTR would be fine even if the other team is making a lot of free throws but missing their field goals. Also this does not seem to take into account if the team is making the free throws given. I would think the calculation given would tell how the refs are calling the game. Remember, I am a stat novice so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I was told there would be no math. :)

2008-03-05T17:18:00.000-06:00

I was told there would be no math. :)