Fun with numbers

by Jeff Nusser on Feb 23, 2009 5:28 PM PST

The top five offensive performances for WSU this year:

Date	Opponent (kenpom defensive rank)	Efficiency
11/21/08	Sacramento State (326)	133.7
2/21/09	UCLA (44)	127.1
12/13/08	Montana State (236)	120.9
2/12/09	Oregon (177)	120.9
1/22/09	UCLA (44)	119.8

Will somebody please explain to me how a team that is 102nd in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency has been able to put together two of its five best offensive performances against a team that is 44th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency?

Especially given our offensive performances against UCLA the last two-plus years (minus the insane end-of-game shooting performance at Pauley last year), this just defies all logic. If anyone has an explanation for our offensive success, I'm all ears.

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I'm chalking it up to grittyness

Also, hustle.

by Grady Clapp on Feb 23, 2009 5:55 PM PST reply actions

Seriously though

I think it’s a matchup issue. Since Kevin Love left they don’t really have anyone that can defend Baynes consistently. Collison and Holiday should be able to handle Klay and Taylor, but for whatever reason haven’t. I think part of it has to do with the fact that Klay has three inches on Holiday.

One X’s and O’s thing that struck me is that whenever a Cougar player would pop out on a screen (Taylor, Klay, Forrest in particular) UCLA wouldn’t close out quickly enough. That’s a huge defensive deficiency for a team that doesn’t usually have those kind of breakdowns.

by Grady Clapp on Feb 23, 2009 6:03 PM PST up reply actions

Grittyness? Hustle?

I always thought WFB was a Sun Devil.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Feb 23, 2009 7:51 PM PST up reply actions

What about toughness.

Also, immediately following the game the FSN analyst said it wasn’t Taylor’s big shots that were important, it was his leadership. Obviously we would have won that game if Taylor threw up a goose egg, because his leadership was so damn good on Saturday.

by Craig Powers on Feb 24, 2009 12:13 PM PST up reply actions

Was it Mentink? Or one of their other hacks?

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Feb 24, 2009 1:49 PM PST up reply actions

It was the new hack with the goatee

He’s the son of some legendary Cal coach I guess. He has a face for radio.

by Craig Powers on Feb 24, 2009 4:23 PM PST up reply actions

I can tell why..

Last time against UCLA, I was able to watch the 1st half with no issue and although we did all right we were down. I missed a good amount of the 2nd half as my wife was shopping and I had the responsibility of getting a 2 and 4 year old down to bed. However, I got available to watch the end of the game and saw us lose. This time I was sitting at Porland airport getting game updates from family and friends because the Portland airport does not have FSN, only ESPN and ESPN2!
I therefore determined that WSU is successful against UCLA because I was not watching them. I will agree not to watch them against UCLA, and sacrifice my viewing pleasure, as long as they continue to beat them.

by ptowncoug3012 on Feb 23, 2009 8:57 PM PST reply actions