Around the Nation

01/4/2010

On a day when most of America will be simultaneously nursing hangovers and watching bowl games, an intriguing inter-conference hoops matchup will tip off in Albuquerque on New Year's Day. Dayton will bring its 10-2 record into the Pit to tangle with a surprising New Mexico team that only has one loss on the season.

For Dayton, the timing couldn't be better, with Chris Johnson and Marcus Johnson returning after they both suffered injuries in a 71-58 win over Presbyterian back on December 19. With both players available on Tuesday night, the Flyers jumped all over BU early and cruised to a 74-60 victory.

A Dayton team at full strength will be a load for Steve Alford's bunch to handle, but the Lobos will counter with a Home crowd that'll be louder than it's ever been.

Renovations to sporting venues usually involve an increase in seats, but New Mexico spent $60 million on downsizing the Pit and sprucing it up. The reduction in capacity from 18,000 to 14,333 has actually made the traditionally raucous venue even louder.

The decibel level is also helped out by the fact that the Lobos are giving the faithful a lot to cheer about. Want efficiency? Look no further than New Mexico, with an assist to turnover ratio (1.66) that currently ranks second nationally.

This is the type of game that provides a much needed RPI boost for the combatants involved, think of it as a résumé highlight to be added before the final document is turned into the Tournament Selection Committee. Could a top five seed be in the offing for one of these teams? Hmmmmm...

Praise John Wall...but don't forget DeMarcus Cousins

A stat that's not readily available in the sports section but that I still love to keep track of is offensive rebounding percentage (ORP). Basically, the stat measures how effective a given team is at collecting every available rebound off its own basket.

Why the interest in this stat? Because ORP doesn't just reveal how many rebounds a team is pulling down, it gives an insight into how many of those rebounds are of the high value variety.

Don't get me wrong, a defensive rebound always has value; grabbing one means a team has regained possession of the basketball. But an offensive rebound can generate a put back or extend a possession and thus more directly lead to points. In my book, you can't get any more high value than that.

To this point in the season, Kentucky is leading the nation in ORP at just a hair over 45%. That's a big reason why John Calipari's team is sitting at 14-0.

But a closer examination of that ORP number provides a deeper insight into why the Wildcats are undefeated. As of this writing, point guard John Wall has been anointed as the nation's top true freshman and the biggest reason that this team has shot into the top five in the polls.

However, I'll argue that forward DeMarcus Cousins has been every bit as valuable a true freshman as Wall, and his contribution to the team's fat ORP is a big reason why.

Through 14 games, Cousins has played 18.7 minutes a contest. Compare that to 33.3 minutes a game for Wall and 30.9 for seasoned veteran Patrick Patterson.

While Patterson has pulled down a solid 52 offensive rebounds on the season, Cousins checks in with 56...in 12 minutes less court time a game than Patterson.

Cousins is also scoring at a 15.2 ppg clip, which means he's been good for roughly a point a minute. You will be hard pressed to find another player in the nation who's shown the same level of productivity as Cousins relative to actual time spent on the hardwood.


This and that

Keep an eye on Mississippi State coming down the stretch. The Bulldogs do two things very well that will benefit them greatly in SEC play: stopping folks from scoring (opponents are only shooting 36.2% against them) and getting more rebounds than the other guys (a healthy +9.1 rebound margin)....Speaking of teams that need to stop folks, how much better would a 5-3 Houston team be if they could do just that? They score a bunch (83.6 ppg, 13th in the country) and they don't turn it over (9.3 a game, tops nationally). But the Cougars rank 312th nationally in scoring defense, allowing the opposition to score 78.1 ppg...I'm a Kawhi Leonard fan, I celebrate the guy's entire catalog. The San Diego State freshman is averaging a double-double and always gives a maximum effort.

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