Based on some of the discussion in recent days about whether the conference needs to change its style of play to be successful, here's a brief analysis taken from a guide to the tourney that I've used in recent years, with data coming from Synergy Sports.
First, some definitions for the different categories you'll see below (from here):
Cut - These include times a player, without a screen, cuts out or toward the ball to receive it (like for a V cut).
Hand Off - Handoffs are the dribble handoffs or flip/pitch plays. They may come from the passer being stationary or the passer dribbling at the receiver and then handing the ball off.
Iso - Self-explanatory, but also includes times when another action is run and then disrupted, before the ball handler attacks
Off Screen - These possessions are generated by a player running off of a screen, whether it be a pin-down, flare screen, elevator screens, or any other of the plethora of screen variations before they receive the ball. That player catches the ball coming off of a screen and either shoots immediately, dribbles into a pull up, dribbles into a floater, or dribbles and takes a shot at the rim. Occasions where a player curls off of a screen toward the basket are also counted.
Pick and Roll Ball Handler - These are possessions finished by the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll. This includes pull-ups, floaters, and shots at the rim by that player. It also includes possessions where the ball-handler shoots before even dribbling off of the screen, as well as when he denies the ball screen and dribbles away from the pick.
Pick and Roll Roll Man - These are the slips, rolls, and pops from screeners in the pick-and-roll.
Post-Up - These are all of the traditional post-ups we’re accustomed to. This category counts back-to-the-basket and face-up post possessions.
Spot-Up - Similar to off-screen possessions, but there’s no screen being used before the player catches the ball. Players spotting up don’t need to be stationary, but they can’t be running off of screens before catching the ball. Players just standing in the corner before catching-and-shooting, or guys relocating to the 3-point line or fading to the corner and getting the ball on a kick out are all spotting up. These possessions aren’t just catching and shoot. They can be catching-and-shooting, but attacking a close-out by dribbling into a pull-up, dribbling into a floater, or driving to the rim are also included.
Transition - Transition possessions are about the defense not being set, and don’t have anything to do with the time left on the shot clock. That means there’s no time cutoff that makes a possession a halfcourt possession rather than a transition possession.
Put-back/Misc - Putbacks are the tip ins and quick shots after offensive rebounds. Very rarely this will also includes long rebounds that result in a quick shot. Misc. includes: Possessions where the ball goes off a leg or is deflected and is picked up by another player and shot; Players being fouled in the backcourt; Illegal screen offensive fouls; Errant passes out of bounds or that are intercepted from players not currently in one of the other actions; Possessions where the player dribbles into a pull up 3-point shot in the halfcourt; Inbounds passes that go directly out of bounds.
Second, here is a table looking at teams in the tourney from different lenses:
So, what can we learn from this?
First, I think it's clear that at least amongst the tourney teams this year, the Big 10 is definitely playing a different style in many aspects. Within the conference, teams do fewer cutting, more dribble hand-offs, more off-screen plays with worse results, fewer P&R roll man, significantly more post-ups (yes, Edey skews this a bit but we offset it), and fewer transition possessions with worse shooting results.
Second, as a team, NU used cuts even less, dribble hand-offs even more, more ISO with worse results, more off-screen with worse results, way more P&R ball handler with terrible results, significantly less post-ups, and a very low transition frequency with horrific results. I don't think any of this is a surprise to our fans.
I could potentially look at this for other seasons too, but that will take a while as it's entirely manual for me to copy the data over. Hope you find it interesting.
First, some definitions for the different categories you'll see below (from here):
Cut - These include times a player, without a screen, cuts out or toward the ball to receive it (like for a V cut).
Hand Off - Handoffs are the dribble handoffs or flip/pitch plays. They may come from the passer being stationary or the passer dribbling at the receiver and then handing the ball off.
Iso - Self-explanatory, but also includes times when another action is run and then disrupted, before the ball handler attacks
Off Screen - These possessions are generated by a player running off of a screen, whether it be a pin-down, flare screen, elevator screens, or any other of the plethora of screen variations before they receive the ball. That player catches the ball coming off of a screen and either shoots immediately, dribbles into a pull up, dribbles into a floater, or dribbles and takes a shot at the rim. Occasions where a player curls off of a screen toward the basket are also counted.
Pick and Roll Ball Handler - These are possessions finished by the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll. This includes pull-ups, floaters, and shots at the rim by that player. It also includes possessions where the ball-handler shoots before even dribbling off of the screen, as well as when he denies the ball screen and dribbles away from the pick.
Pick and Roll Roll Man - These are the slips, rolls, and pops from screeners in the pick-and-roll.
Post-Up - These are all of the traditional post-ups we’re accustomed to. This category counts back-to-the-basket and face-up post possessions.
Spot-Up - Similar to off-screen possessions, but there’s no screen being used before the player catches the ball. Players spotting up don’t need to be stationary, but they can’t be running off of screens before catching the ball. Players just standing in the corner before catching-and-shooting, or guys relocating to the 3-point line or fading to the corner and getting the ball on a kick out are all spotting up. These possessions aren’t just catching and shoot. They can be catching-and-shooting, but attacking a close-out by dribbling into a pull-up, dribbling into a floater, or driving to the rim are also included.
Transition - Transition possessions are about the defense not being set, and don’t have anything to do with the time left on the shot clock. That means there’s no time cutoff that makes a possession a halfcourt possession rather than a transition possession.
Put-back/Misc - Putbacks are the tip ins and quick shots after offensive rebounds. Very rarely this will also includes long rebounds that result in a quick shot. Misc. includes: Possessions where the ball goes off a leg or is deflected and is picked up by another player and shot; Players being fouled in the backcourt; Illegal screen offensive fouls; Errant passes out of bounds or that are intercepted from players not currently in one of the other actions; Possessions where the player dribbles into a pull up 3-point shot in the halfcourt; Inbounds passes that go directly out of bounds.
Second, here is a table looking at teams in the tourney from different lenses:
| Type | Cut Freq | Cut PPP | Hand Off Freq | Hand Off PPP | ISO Freq | ISO PPP | Off Screen Freq | Off Screen PPP | PR Ball Handler Freq | PR Ball Handler PPP | PR Roll Man Freq | PR Roll Man PPP | Post-Up Freq | Post-Up PPP | Spot-Up Freq | Spot-Up PPP | Transition Freq | Transition FG% Percentile | Put-Back/Misc Freq |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All teams | 8.2% | 1.17 | 3.8% | 0.84 | 4.8% | 0.80 | 4.2% | 0.91 | 13.6% | 0.78 | 4.2% | 1.01 | 8.0% | 0.84 | 25.2% | 0.93 | 22.3% | 50th | 5.7% |
| Northwestern | 6.6% | 1.20 | 6.8% | 0.87 | 6.2% | 0.78 | 7.1% | 0.81 | 16.5% | 0.69 | 4.5% | 1.14 | 3.0% | 0.78 | 24.4% | 0.95 | 14.5% | 13th | 10.4% |
| Big 10 Tourney teams | 7.3% | 1.27 | 4.4% | 0.87 | 4.6% | 0.88 | 5.4% | 0.82 | 13.5% | 0.82 | 3.9% | 1.17 | 10.3% | 0.90 | 24.8% | 0.96 | 21.6% | 55th | 5.2% |
| Other P6+MWC+AAC Tourney teams | 9.1% | 1.21 | 3.2% | 0.85 | 4.8% | 0.80 | 4.7% | 0.91 | 13.6% | 0.78 | 4.4% | 1.04 | 7.4% | 0.88 | 23.8% | 0.94 | 22.9% | 61st | 6.6% |
| Low/Mid-Major Tourney teams | 8.5% | 1.19 | 3.6% | 0.89 | 4.5% | 0.87 | 3.8% | 0.95 | 13.4% | 0.83 | 4.5% | 1.02 | 7.6% | 0.85 | 24.9% | 0.97 | 23.9% | 64th | 5.3% |
| Teams that made Round of 32 | 8.6% | 1.23 | 3.8% | 0.85 | 4.6% | 0.81 | 4.3% | 0.92 | 14.0% | 0.80 | 4.6% | 1.08 | 7.3% | 0.86 | 24.6% | 0.96 | 22.9% | 64th | 6.1% |
| Teams that made Sweet 16 | 8.6% | 1.23 | 3.4% | 0.84 | 4.6% | 0.81 | 4.6% | 0.98 | 13.9% | 0.80 | 4.4% | 1.10 | 7.8% | 0.88 | 23.7% | 0.95 | 23.7% | 62nd | 6.2% |
So, what can we learn from this?
First, I think it's clear that at least amongst the tourney teams this year, the Big 10 is definitely playing a different style in many aspects. Within the conference, teams do fewer cutting, more dribble hand-offs, more off-screen plays with worse results, fewer P&R roll man, significantly more post-ups (yes, Edey skews this a bit but we offset it), and fewer transition possessions with worse shooting results.
Second, as a team, NU used cuts even less, dribble hand-offs even more, more ISO with worse results, more off-screen with worse results, way more P&R ball handler with terrible results, significantly less post-ups, and a very low transition frequency with horrific results. I don't think any of this is a surprise to our fans.
I could potentially look at this for other seasons too, but that will take a while as it's entirely manual for me to copy the data over. Hope you find it interesting.
