Does anyone know if Advanced Analytics are used in college basketball? Many NBA teams us it almost exclusively in drafting, game planning, and player evaluation. More specifically do the Aggies use it? I am certain that if they did Shaw would never ever ever shoot a shot outside of 15 feet. It is time to modernize our program.

Go Aggies!!!

You want more ways to see how bad we are?

Typed with my butt.

If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

YoungBloodAggie wrote:If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

Why? Lots of assists, not bad turnovers, good shooter, defendable ft%


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5 of 30 from your starting shooting guard over a 3 game stretch enough said. But hey one of those shots was when the game was closeso scream and yell and beat your chest

letsbehonest wrote:5 of 30 from your starting shooting guard over a 3 game stretch enough said. But hey one of those shots was when the game was close so scream and yell and beat your chest

Obviously it was a rough patch for his shooting % over those past 3 games but how much of that is due to him having to do too much on this team? He is one of the only facilitators we have, he had 11 assists over those same 3 games - more than both starting PG's put together. That is sad. He should be worrying about coming off good screens (which we can't set) and hitting shots, that is his game. Instead he is being asked to do so much more than that due to deficiencies at other spots.

letsbehonest wrote:5 of 30 from your starting shooting guard over a 3 game stretch enough said. But hey one of those shots was when the game was closeso scream and yell and beat your chest

What? Why would you pick a three game stretch to judge a player'a four year career? A three game stretch where the whole team is playing bad. Despite that stretch, he's 45% on the year. I just don't even really know how to handle this post. Just about the strangest cherry picked stat I've seen.

He's going to be top 15 in points scored in school history. Top 10 in assists. Top 5 in three point percentage. HES AMONG THE FIVE BEST SHOOTERS IN SCHOOL HISTORY. But a three game stretch and what? What?



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Aglicious wrote:

letsbehonest wrote:5 of 30 from your starting shooting guard over a 3 game stretch enough said. But hey one of those shots was when the game was close so scream and yell and beat your chest

Obviously it was a rough patch for his shooting % over those past 3 games but how much of that is due to him having to do too much on this team? He is one of the only facilitators we have, he had 11 assists over those same 3 games - more than both starting PG's put together. That is sad. He should be worrying about coming off good screens (which we can't set) and hitting shots, that is his game. Instead he is being asked to do so much more than that due to deficiencies at other spots.

Hear hear


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You're right it is dumb to kill a player over a bad performance now and again

I'm convinced the people that think Medlin is somehow detrimental to the team, have never played basketball (organized at least, maybe not at all) in their lives.

Medlin is a very good player. My only complaint on Preston is the tendency to be too passive sometimes which also is reflected in not getting the on court leadership We need from him consistently. Overall, he is a very smart and efficient player

MetsJetsAggies wrote:I'm convinced the people that think Medlin is somehow detrimental to the team, have never played basketball (organized at least, maybe not at all) in their lives.

Good for you.

QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

Why? Lots of assists, not bad turnovers, good shooter, defendable ft%

Streaky shooter, no defense, and the majority of his assists come from the system he plays in. You would make a great GM for the Detroit Pistons or Sacramento Kings, though.

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

Why? Lots of assists, not bad turnovers, good shooter, defendable ft%

Streaky shooter, no defense, and the majority of his assists come from the system he plays in. You would make a great GM for the Detroit Pistons or Sacramento Kings, though.

Fifth best in school history is streaky?


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QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

Why? Lots of assists, not bad turnovers, good shooter, defendable ft%

Streaky shooter, no defense, and the majority of his assists come from the system he plays in. You would make a great GM for the Detroit Pistons or Sacramento Kings, though.

Fifth best in school history is streaky?


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High usage rates during down years in the program aren't exactly indicative of an all-time great. I think you are missing the whole point of analytics, which gets beyond base stats and really examines a player's impact upon a game.

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

QuackAttackAggie wrote:

YoungBloodAggie wrote:If we were using analytics, Medlin would be counseled out immediately.

Why? Lots of assists, not bad turnovers, good shooter, defendable ft%

Streaky shooter, no defense, and the majority of his assists come from the system he plays in. You would make a great GM for the Detroit Pistons or Sacramento Kings, though.

Fifth best in school history is streaky?


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High usage rates during down years in the program aren't exactly indicative of an all-time great. I think you are missing the whole point of analytics, which gets beyond base stats and really examines a player's impact upon a game.

High usage? It's a percentage. It's not like it's a total from a lot of shots. As for his assists being from the system, he has almost double the assists per game as our starting PG but fewer turnovers.


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Preston is our best playmaker on offense and it really isn't close.

aggieguy13 wrote:Preston is our best playmaker on offense and it really isn't close.

I agree. Butterfield is a good shooter but nobody on our team has the combination of shooting, passing, and ball handling that Preston does. Players do one of those better than him, and his jump passes are frustrating, but overall he's our best offensive playmaker.


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Preston has his positives and negatives like every player. I think he is a streaky shooter. He is shooting 40% from 3 in conf. play which is good. below his career avg but still good. However when you look closer he has 3 games where he was a combined 0-13 from 3. Then another 3 in which he was 3 of 14, 2 more games a combined 5 of 15. So in those 8 games he was 8 of 42 for 19%. The other 8 games he was 26 of 41 for 63%.

It would be neat if just once a thread didn't get hijacked!! If you want to bash on a player start your own thread!! It was a serious question about Analytics. If we use them who is responsible? If we don't we should start. They started in baseball with the Athletics I think (Money Ball). The NBA is really big into it. Not sure about college bball.

I've enjoyed the player ratings that utaggies has been putting up from time, like this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31556

These types of things fascinate me. I'm not surprised that Kyle Davis is (on average) our highest rated player (according to that method). Sites like StatSheet can provide some level of analytics (efficiency ratings, etc), though not at the level that is used by professionals in the NBA or MLB. Still fun to look at though.

Seems to me the thread content is relevant. I mean, people are speculating on what the Advanced Analytics might show and are discussing statistics that we DO have.

Did you just want a yes or no answer and nothing else in the thread?

In an effort to ease your frustration, let me toss this out. Here's an article on Advanced Analytics http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketba ... -overlords

It also mentions that Buzz Williams of Marquette is very much a proponent of Advanced Analytics. But I think the number of coaches collecting and using such stats in the NCAA is pretty small.

The A's didn't start Athletics in sports by any stretch of the imagination. Bill James himself has said basketball analytics are far ahead of baseball analytics. Whether or not the Aggies actually use analytics, Stew likes the same sort of possessions that analytics-minded teams favor--high percentage 2pt looks and 3pt shots. Defensively, however, Stew's no-gambling philosophy does not align terribly well with what most statistically savvy basketball people prefer.

I can't imagine that someone who has essentially devoted his life to basketball isn't at least aware of advanced analytics, but whether or not he uses them is uncertain. Maybe Stew should reach out to Ken Pomeroy--I believe he lives in Utah and has been to several USU games.

Re: Medlin, he is actually the exact sort of player analytics like on offense with a very high eFG% at 54.5. Also, anyone saying he's "streaky" obviously does not follow analytics very closely since the idea of "streakiness" is considered a myth and is seen as random variation.

His streakiness may have more to do with his opponent than some psychological phenomenon.

NVAggie wrote:His streakiness may have more to do with his opponent than some psychological phenomenon.

I'm convinced that it would be possible to claim that every player on our team is "streaky" by grouping their worst performances into a group and comparing it to their best performances.

Nobody can play with the exact same efficiency at all times. There is always variation.

treesap32 wrote:

NVAggie wrote:His streakiness may have more to do with his opponent than some psychological phenomenon.

I'm convinced that it would be possible to claim that every player on our team is "streaky" by grouping their worst performances into a group and comparing it to their best performances.

Nobody can play with the exact same efficiency at all times. There is always variation.

exactly. looking at jaycee's stats, there are 4 games in his senior year where he went 5 of 26 from 3 is he a streaky shooter too!? he went 11/32 from the field in our 3 biggest games.

when you are picking the 3 worst games, itll look ... bad. when you pick the 3 best games, it'll look ... good. that's the whole point of averages over a season, not a small sample like a single game.

I gave a 16 game breakdown and split it 8 best and 8 worst. Not 1 game or even 3 games.

Treesap is right looking at every player through conf games if you take their best games vs their worst games split in half it shows that everyone of them is "streaky.

KD 7 best he shot 64% 7 worst 34% (he missed 2 games)
Shaw 33% or 35% (i took out his worst game in because he has played an uneven amount of games.) Best 53% or 58% ( I had taken out his best game to get the 53% )
Butterfield 8 worst he shot 32% 8 best he shot 56%
Roland 8 worst 14% 8 best 56
Preston 8 worst 28% 8 best 58%

brian5562 wrote:I gave a 16 game breakdown and split it 8 best and 8 worst. Not 1 game or even 3 games.

I'm much more familiar with baseball analytics than basketball, but my educated guess is that 16 games isn't even close to statistical relevancy. Part of the reason that analytics haven't taken off as much in college sports as they have in pro sports is the difficulty in finding a relevant sample size.

If you want to criticize Preston Medlin's offensive game, well, you're just wrong. But, if you HAVE to do that for some reason, advanced analytics are the wrong tree to bark up.

I wasn't trying to do anything but show that Preston is streaky. I don't know anything about advanced analytics. I think Sap was closer to being right in that most of the players on this team have ups and downs.There is a big gap in Preston's shooting percentage from 3 in his best 8 games and his 8 worst shooting games. Does that mean anything? Hell if I know.

MarioWest wrote:

brian5562 wrote:I gave a 16 game breakdown and split it 8 best and 8 worst. Not 1 game or even 3 games.

I'm much more familiar with baseball analytics than basketball, but my educated guess is that 16 games isn't even close to statistical relevancy. Part of the reason that analytics haven't taken off as much in college sports as they have in pro sports is the difficulty in finding a relevant sample size.

If you want to criticize Preston Medlin's offensive game, well, you're just wrong. But, if you HAVE to do that for some reason, advanced analytics are the wrong tree to bark up.

This would be my guess too but I'll admit I haven't looked into it or tried anything. Nonetheless, my gut tells me that with a small number of games during each season to draw on, and only 4 years to play, by the time you collect enough data to establish a credible p-value or do any meaningful data regressions your subject would be a senior and it would no longer matter.

brian5562 wrote:I wasn't trying to do anything but show that Preston is streaky. I don't know anything about advanced analytics. I think Sap was closer to being right in that most of the players on this team have ups and downs.There is a big gap in Preston's shooting percentage from 3 in his best 8 games and his 8 worst shooting games. Does that mean anything? Hell if I know.

Well, like I said before, analytics would argue that there is no such thing as "streaky" or "hot" and what you are seeing is just random variation.

More recent studies have shown that players can actually get hot (this idea was previously disregarded by most statisticians), but that the tendency of players who see themselves as hot to take lower percentage shots negates any "hotness."

So according to analytics there is no such thing as a streak? I can see where a random variation would consist of a single game or a even half a game but 3 straight games of poor shooting by a player be it Preston or anybody to me is more than a random variation.

brian5562 wrote:So according to analytics there is no such thing as a streak? I can see where a random variation would consist of a single game or a even half a game but 3 straight games of poor shooting by a player be it Preston or anybody to me is more than a random variation.

This article is about the NBA, not college ball, but Zach Lowe can explain this much better than I can.

Thanks