Hoops Nerd

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Creighton (+12.7) lost at Xavier (+17.5), 79-66. On the court, Xavier point guard Drew Lavender controlled the game, with 10 assists and an 84.6 effective field goal percentage, taking 13 shots in 25 minutes. Off the court, it was a sad and tragic day in Omaha, Nebraska (home to Creighton).

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): Iowa, an 11.5 point underdog, beat Northern Iowa, 62-55 in Cedar Falls. That the Hawkeyes best win of the season occurred on the same date as Tony Freeman's return from injury is no coincidence; with Adam Haluska's graduation and Tyler Smith's transfer, Freeman was to be Iowa's most prolific returnee this season. To wit: Freeman was 3 for 3 from three point range, with 5 for 7 overall shooting (good for 15 points) in only 24 minutes last night.

Superman Wears Dominique Jones Pajamas (the night's top performer): South Florida's freshman guard put up some gaudy superficial numbers against Richmond, which is rare because a Spiders game usually includes too few possessions for that sort of thing. Last night, however, the game was played at a 67.8 possession pace, which was obviously the Bulls dictation. In any event, here are some of Jones' tempo-free numbers:

Dominique Jones 12/5 vs. Richmond
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 87.5
Points per Weighted Shot: 1.83
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 31.6
Free Throw Rate: 75.0

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Oklahoma (+12.3) (clearly no Mercer) lost by eleven to Southern California (+9.9) in Los Angeles. The second most famous Trojan freshman, Davon Jefferson, outplayed his celebrity cohort, contributing an effective field goal percentage of 58.3 (and a Free Throw Rate of 75) to Mayo's 44.7.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): Jeff Bzdelik's return to Clune Arena at the Air Force Academy was successful as his new team (Colorado) upset his old team (Air Force) by virtue of a ten point win as a seven point underdog. Buffs star Richard Roby - who claims to have used the anti-Bzdelik atmosphere as a motivational tool - nearly hit the elusive >1 Effective Field Goal Percentage threshold, coming in at 94.4 for the game (7 of 9 including 3 of 5 from deep).

Superman Wears Tony Lee Pajamas (the night's top performer): Robert Morris' senior guard made impressions in multiple columns on the Hoops Nerd's Excel workbook last night, accumulating significant amounts of points, steals, assists and rebounds. Adjusted for tempo, it looks like this:

Tony Lee 11/29 vs. Florida International
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 83.3
Offensive Rebounding Percentage: 24.8
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 38.7
Assists per 100 Individual Possessions: 13.0
Steals per 100 Individual Possessions: 8.7

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Experience reigned as Florida St. (+14.6) topped Florida (+18.9), 65 - 51. The average class for Florida St. in last night's game, weighted by minutes played, was 3.3, or Junior.3, if that makes sense; for Florida, it was 1.5, or Freshman.5.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): see above. The Seminoles were 9.5 point underdogs in Gainesville. Jason Rich led the way for Florida St. with 11 rebounds and a 61.5 effective field goal percentage.

Superman Wears D.J. Augustin Pajamas (the night's top performer): the sophomore guard played 38 wonderful minutes in last night's Legends Classic in Newark, N.J. The context-adjusted numbers:

D.J. Augustin 11/23 vs. New Mexico St.
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 80.0
Assists per 100 Individual Possessions: 14.7
Steals per 100 Individual Possessions: 5.9

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Duke (+21.2) notched a four-point win over Marquette (+16.0), 77 - 73 in Maui. The AP would have called this an upset (number 13 beating number 11), but the Hoops Nerd Ratings knew better (number 5 beating number 19). The Blue Devils are playing much faster than last season, at an adjusted tempo of 73.8 relative to last season's 65.9, per the numbers at kenpom.com.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): it seems odd to even type this, but the Manhattan Jaspers were the devourer of last night's poison cupcake, squandering a ten point halftime lead to lose by four to Eastern Michigan. The Eagles were an eight point underdog.

Superman Wears Malcolm Thomas Pajamas (the night's top performer): yes, it was a fast-paced game that went into overtime (thus inflating the raw numbers) but it was still a very good context-adjusted game for the Pepperdine freshman:

Malcolm Thomas 11/21 vs. Long Beach St.
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 63.6
Free Throw Rate: 54.55
Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 43.7
Blocks per 100 Individual Possessions: 4.0

On Hoops Nerd Christmas (also known as The Release Date)...

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): there are no shortage of places to read up on UCLA's (+19.2) comeback victory over Michigan St. (+22.2) - mostly with glowing reviews of Kevin Love's performance - but it's important to note that he did commit five turnovers and had an effective field goal percentage of 40%. Possessions are the currency in basketball, and while we are quick to laud a players for converting them into points (hitting shots) or retaining them (offensive rebounding), sometimes we overlook a player's careless inefficiency in squandering (missing shots) or relinquishing (turning the ball over) possessions. That is: it was a great game by Love (particularly in drawing fouls), but there is still work to do on the efficiency front.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): in a night of relatively few upsets, the most prolific was Towson's win - as a four point underdog - over Samford. There have been multiple significant upsets virtually every night up until last. If there are fewer upsets as the season progresses, does that simply mean that odds-makers are getting better at identifying which teams ought to be favored? Or does being favored affect the outcome itself? Only at Hoops Nerd do we talk about this kind of stuff... I mean, when was the last time Andy Katz or Dick Vitale* invoked Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle?
*"It's existential BABY!!!"

Superman Wears Eric Gordon Pajamas (the night's top performer): Indiana's freshman Guard makes the first of what could be many appearances in this space. The context-adjusted stats:

Eric Gordon 11/20 vs. UNC Wilmington
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 75.0
Free Throw Rate: 100.0
Assists per 100 Possessions: 9.1
Turnovers per 100 Possessions: 3.0

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Virginia (+13.9) defeated Arizona (+10.3). The Cats are still bothered by having lost to the Cavs by three points last season... and it happened again.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): Cleveland St. upset Florida St. in the Glenn Wilkes Classic tournament in Daytona Beach, FL. The Vikings built an 18 - 4 lead but needed overtime for the win. Cleveland St. was a 12.5 point underdog.

Superman Wears Kyle Landry Pajamas (the night's top performer): the Northern Arizona senior went 8 of 10 from the field with 14 rebounds and 10 trips to the free throw line. The context-adjusted stats were just as impressive:

Kyle Landry 11/17 vs. UMKC
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 80.0
Free Throw Rate: 70.0
Offensive Rebound Percentage: 36.3
Defensive Rebound Percentage: 28.9

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): things worked essentially as planned for Memphis (+19.7) in an 81 - 70 win over Connecticut (+13.4) in the final of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, as Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts did the scoring while Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier did the rebounding.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): Providence - without its top three point shooter from last season, Sharaud Curry - beat Arkansas by 16 points in Puerto Rico. An atrocious 42.6 turnover percentage (32 turnovers on 75 possessions) sealed Arkansas' fate.

Superman Wears Donte Greene Pajamas (the night's top performer): the Syracuse freshman forward helped the Orange beat up on Fordham 80 - 63. The numbers you need to know:

Donte Greene 11/16 vs. Fordham
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 82.1
Offensive Rebound Percentage: 27.1

Clash of the Titans (the matchup between two teams with the highest combined Hoops Nerd Rating): Clemson (+18.1) defeated Mississippi St. (+14.9) in Starkville. The Tigers were able to win - despite shooting only 34.3% (40.0% effective field goal percentage) - on the strength of 38 trips to the free throw line and 19 Mississippi St. turnovers.

The Poison Cupcake (the night's biggest upset): the San Jose State Spartans went to Middle Tennessee State's First Shot tournament in Murfreesboro and beat the hosts by a single point on a bucket by DeShawn Wright with five seconds remaining. San Jose State was an 11 point underdog.

Superman Wears J.J. Hickson Pajamas (the night's top performer): the freshman Forward/Center for the North Carolina St. Wolfpack dropped 31 points on William & Mary last night with 12 of 12 shooting and seven rebounds. Below please find the real stats; If these stats are new and confusing to you, please check out any of the glossaries/primers on tempo-free and context-corrected basketball stats floating around the internets - there is a good one at the Phog Blog, for instance.

J.J. Hickson 11/15 vs. William & Mary
Effective Field Goal Percentage: 100.0
Offensive Rebound Percentage: 20.8
Defensive Rebound Percentage: 6.2
Free Throw Rate: 50.0