Game 23: Memphis 2/15 7:00 ESPN+

[coach]

Here's my stat of the day: NCAA Team 3pt percentage... UC ranks 276th out of 350 teams. As much as this team relies on 3pt shots.... well...

Yep, similar to last year with an even weaker front line offensively.

[longtimefan]

For the record I’d love to keep playing Memphis OOC after we move to the Big XII, always a great game and great atmosphere.

[Lobot]

For the record I’d love to keep playing Memphis OOC after we move to the Big XII, always a great game and great atmosphere.

I'm trying to remember if we did that when we jumped to the BE and I don't think we did.

[Rufus]

Gentlemen of the forum, Lobot, excuse my ignorance of these statistics in this era of measuring players performances in sports but what does the +/- indicate or measure in them players performance?

[BorisTheCat]

Basically it means what did the score do when you were on the floor. So.. if you look at last night, i think JD was +9 meaning that while he was on the floor, UC was 9 pts to the good.
It's way of seeing whether a particular players time on the floor was a net negative/positive when it comes to the score.

[BorisTheCat]

Also gives you a little idea about whether a players ability to score makes up for the inability to defend....

[Rufus]

Thanks Boris. I mentioned this last night and I'd like to start by first saying that I wish no one to enter the portal but if it happens I would like to state specifically that out of all the big men we have on the roster, I think Viktor L. has the most potential. He had the size, can move well, seems to have a good grasp of ball handling, and has a fairly good shot, he just needs some mentoring on how to play the post position, and how to defend without fouling. After all he is just a sophomore isn't he? I dont think Hensley is a wash as some have said also. He had some skill but is just a sophomore also. I think we need someone to work with those two especially who know how to play a teach the 4 end 5 positions. We desperately need some muscle under the rim.

[zykarious]

I've followed this site for a long time (thanks Lobot and others for the great recruiting info), first post. Figured I'd chime in with a bit more on +/-. As other have said it's essentially a way of looking at the players impact on the floor and specifically should pick up guys who don't put up a ton of stats, but do other small things. Or conversely a guy who puts up a bunch of offense, but is bad on the defensive end.

Like all stats, it has it's problems. One reason people don't like it is luck/variance. A guy can contribute nothing to a play, but if his teammate knocks down a three he is +3. It can also be messed up by offense/defense substitutions. If a guy gets subbed in for defense and out for offense, his plus minus will look worse than vice/versa. Late game fouling/FT's can also effect it. It is also of course a reflection of minutes played, a more accurate number might be +/- per minute - though fewer minutes also creates more variance - and if we used that number Hensley and Lakhin would both have been worse than Ody/DDJ last night.

Essentially it's a stat that is generally considered not very accurate for any single game, but over the course of the season should reflect guys who contribute more/less to the team. evanmiya.com has season +/- numbers for guys and more advanced statistics that along the lines of =/- but also account for quality of players on the floor and offensive/defensive possessions among other things if you are interested in a deep analysis.

In answer to Lobot's question, Ody per evanmiya is one of the (or the) worst defensive players on the team . I believe his poor +/- reflects that he is a really bad defender, especially against pick-and-rolls. DDJ is actually rated as our worst offensive player, which may surprise many. I believe that reflects his poor shot selection and lack of passing. If he has a good night and is knocking down shots, he can be a big positive. But if the high degree of difficulty shots aren't falling, he tends to take them anyway, stalls out ball movement and he has more bad nights than good.

[Geaux Juan]

I'm trying to remember if we did that when we jumped to the BE and I don't think we did.

If memory serves me correctly, there was some kind of agreement reached when UC went into the BE whereas UC had to play Memphis for several years after leaving C-USA. I know it happened, I'm just fuzzy on the details. And it was unfortunate for UC as Memphis smoked them (minimum loss was 10 points) for those seasons.