This table shows the performance of NU players for the first half of the season and the 2nd half of the season.
First half of season consists of the first ten Big Ten games, plus the games against Pitt, Auburn and DePaul.
Second half of season is the last 10 Big Ten games, plus the two tournaments.
Roper only played 21 minutes in the 2nd half of the season, so I left him out. He played 174 minutes in the first half of the season.
Several things jump out...
1. The NU offense scored at a notably slower pace in the 2nd half of the season.
2. Defensively, the inexperienced guys (Nicholson, Barnhizer, Martinelli) improved dramatically during the season while Beran and Berry actually saw the opponents scoring pace increase slightly in the 2nd half of the season.
3. Almost everyone played more minutes in the 2nd half of the season (to replace Roper's minutes) but Beran saw his minutes cut by 27%.
4. The biggest dropoffs in team performance relative to the first half of the season were for Beran, Verhoeven and Audige. Audige went from +3.3 pace to -0.6 pace. Beran went from +4.2 pace to -2.2 pace. Verhoeven went from +1.1 to -4.9 pace.
5. The biggest team pace improvements were for Martinelli (-18.8 to +4.7) Nicholson( +1.6 to +5.1) and Barnhizer (+0.3 to +2.7). This suggests additional improvement next season.
Some additional facts that are not shown in this table... when Nicholson and Barnhizer were paired on the court in the 2nd half of the season, we outscored our opponents 275-231, which is a 68.2 - 57.3 pace. Probably the most surprising stat is that when Nicholson played and Audige was on the bench, NU outscored its opponents 53-29 in about 26.5 minutes. Because Buie and Audige played so many minutes it is difficult to assess them as individuals (separate from their teammates) but the best I can come up with is this... In the 2nd half of the season, when Buie was not playing, NU was outscored 75-74 in 51 minutes. When Audige was not playing, NU outscored its opponents 103-82 in 57 minutes. This is obviously not irrefutable ,but it suggests fairly strongly that Buie is difficult to replace, while Audige may not be. Of course, Audige may have simply been worn down from too many minutes in the first half of the season.
First half of season consists of the first ten Big Ten games, plus the games against Pitt, Auburn and DePaul.
Second half of season is the last 10 Big Ten games, plus the two tournaments.
Roper only played 21 minutes in the 2nd half of the season, so I left him out. He played 174 minutes in the first half of the season.
Player | NU pts (1) | Opp pts (1) | Mins | NU Pace | Opp Pace | NU pts (2) | Opp pts (2) | Mins | NU Pace | Opp Pace |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buie | 779 | 759 | 449 | 69.4 | 67.6 | 750 | 735 | 473 | 63.5 | 62.2 |
Audige | 772 | 736 | 438 | 70.5 | 67.2 | 721 | 728 | 467 | 61.8 | 62.4 |
Beran | 603 | 565 | 358 | 67.4 | 63.2 | 402 | 416 | 261 | 61.7 | 63.9 |
Berry | 566 | 532 | 339 | 66.7 | 62.7 | 615 | 606 | 385 | 63.9 | 63.0 |
Barnhizer | 490 | 488 | 271 | 72.3 | 72.0 | 621 | 595 | 385 | 64.5 | 61.8 |
Nicholson | 472 | 461 | 279 | 67.7 | 66.1 | 449 | 413 | 279 | 64.3 | 59.2 |
Verhoeven | 293 | 288 | 178 | 65.7 | 64.6 | 320 | 347 | 220 | 58.1 | 63.0 |
Martinelli | 97 | 123 | 55 | 70.3 | 89.1 | 215 | 199 | 137 | 63.0 | 58.3 |
Several things jump out...
1. The NU offense scored at a notably slower pace in the 2nd half of the season.
2. Defensively, the inexperienced guys (Nicholson, Barnhizer, Martinelli) improved dramatically during the season while Beran and Berry actually saw the opponents scoring pace increase slightly in the 2nd half of the season.
3. Almost everyone played more minutes in the 2nd half of the season (to replace Roper's minutes) but Beran saw his minutes cut by 27%.
4. The biggest dropoffs in team performance relative to the first half of the season were for Beran, Verhoeven and Audige. Audige went from +3.3 pace to -0.6 pace. Beran went from +4.2 pace to -2.2 pace. Verhoeven went from +1.1 to -4.9 pace.
5. The biggest team pace improvements were for Martinelli (-18.8 to +4.7) Nicholson( +1.6 to +5.1) and Barnhizer (+0.3 to +2.7). This suggests additional improvement next season.
Some additional facts that are not shown in this table... when Nicholson and Barnhizer were paired on the court in the 2nd half of the season, we outscored our opponents 275-231, which is a 68.2 - 57.3 pace. Probably the most surprising stat is that when Nicholson played and Audige was on the bench, NU outscored its opponents 53-29 in about 26.5 minutes. Because Buie and Audige played so many minutes it is difficult to assess them as individuals (separate from their teammates) but the best I can come up with is this... In the 2nd half of the season, when Buie was not playing, NU was outscored 75-74 in 51 minutes. When Audige was not playing, NU outscored its opponents 103-82 in 57 minutes. This is obviously not irrefutable ,but it suggests fairly strongly that Buie is difficult to replace, while Audige may not be. Of course, Audige may have simply been worn down from too many minutes in the first half of the season.