PPS Preview for #BeatDetroit

Looking ahead to Thursday we would be hard pressed to find two teams who's style of play was less alike.  Valpo can play the half court game, work the ball inside, draw fouls, hit the perimeter jumper when its there.  Detroit on the other hand is a fast paced, get the ball and run team.  They like to run and gun and play the high scoring game.  Let's first take a look at each teams' PPS along with their opponents:

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	3625	0.82	0.33	0.49
Opponents	Valpo	3625	0.70	0.35	0.35
		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Detroit	DET	3400	0.91	0.35	0.56
Opponents	DET	3400	0.82	0.35	0.47

Valpo has a very low team PPS while Detroit is sporting a good mid major level team score.  Valpo's biggest detractor is obviously their very high turnover number.  Valpo has turned it over 281 times (with only 231 assits) while Detroit has only given it up 196 times (against 249 assists).  But, where Valpo trails Detroit in team PPS they have a sizable lead when it comes to limiting their opponents.  Valpo has allowed opponents to shoot less then 40% from the field, they out rebound the competition, and are very good at drawing fouls.  Detroit has allowed teams to shoot it at a 46% clip (including nearly 40% from 3pt range...Ryan, Lavontae, Ben, and Will are licking their chops) and they get outrebounded.

I don't have the energy to write up a couple game plans tonight to #BeatDetroit, we'll save that for tomorrow, but what I did have energy for was figuring out their key players (guys who average over 10 minutes per game) PPS.  I had the energy because there was only 6 of them (Valpo has 9, this will come into play in tomorrow's game plan).

Detroit	DET	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ray McCallum	DET	597	1.19	0.37	0.82
Jason Calliste	DET	567	0.88	0.36	0.52
Nick Minnerath	DET	447	1.00	0.39	0.61
Doug Anderson	DET	445	0.96	0.37	0.59
Juwan Howard	DET	483	0.76	0.28	0.48
Evan Bruinsma	DET	338	0.75	0.29	0.46
PJ Boutte	DET	183	0.64	0.39	0.25

 
 These guys are all pretty solid.  They don't give up the ball much and they wreak havoc on the other teams guards forcing a multitude of turnovers.  The one guy who does give it up from time to time is Calliste and the one guy who doesn't make free throws is Anderson.  I'll go more into these details in tomorrow's post.  The numbers up top don't lie.  I don't see a blow out in either team's favor regardless of which team is able to dictate the tempo.

Don't forget to predict the final score and Ryan Broekhoff's combined first half points + rebounds in the comments section of the previous two posts.  Also follow @sectionee.  Lots of free haircuts from Cuts and Shaves being thrown out during this game Thursday! #BeatDetroit

Valpo vs. Loyola and CSU

If you'd like an updated look at how the entire roster is performing based on our PPS formula head here, http://cbbpps.wordpress.com/valpo-pps-12-13/

Heading back to work after a long break isn’t easy for anyone, especially for middle school math teachers and mid major college basketball players. After a long layoff Valpo came out and was out played and out coached from opening tip to the ending buzzer in their horizon League opener at home against Loyola. It was hard to watch and even harder to motivate myself to calculate the PPS scores. Here they are with a brief breakdown to follow:

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Loyola	LOY	200	0.81	0.29	0.52
Valparaiso	Valpo	200	0.69	0.34	0.35

Valpo’s – score really wasn’t that bad.  However, they didn’t take advantage of their possessions and Loyola did not make many mistakes when it was their turn with the ball.  Luckily it was a short one day off and Valpo got back to their winning ways with a blowout of Horizon League foe Cleveland State.  Valpo was able to turn the tables from their previous game.

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
CSU	CSU	200	0.64	0.37	0.27
Valparaiso	Valpo	200	0.90	0.38	0.52

As you can see Valpo’s – score was actually worse this game when compared to the debacle that was the Loyola game.  The Crusaders had more turnovers and more missed free throws vs. CSU.  Unlike the Loyola game Valpo was able to force the Vikings into a lower + score by out rebounding them by 16, forcing them to shoot only 30%, and allowing only 6 assists.  Meanwhile, the Crusaders put up a nice + score due again to their rebounding numbers.

Valpo will now head on a 3 game road trip squaring off against surprising UIC, a down Milwaukee team, and arch rival Detroit.

Valpo Host Loyola & a contest

The end of the non conference portion of the schedule has come and gone with Valpo's victory at Murray State.  To start the
importantconference portion of the schedule Valpo will play host to Loyola.  The Ramblers have really played well early on and pose a real threat.  Valpo isn't the only team in this game coming off a big win, Loyola knocked off DePaul in their last game.  Here is a look at the PPS for what is sure to be a hotly contested conference opener at the ARC.

		Minutes	+	-	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	2625	0.82	0.34	0.48
Opponents	Valpo	2625	0.70	0.36	0.34
Loyola	LOY	2400	0.77	0.31	0.46
Opponents	LOY	2400	0.70	0.34	0.36

Valpo has the slightly higher team PPS and have surrender a slightly lower PPS to their opponents when compared to Loyola.  Both teams have been turnover plagued and both teams have decent depth on their bench.  I will give the edge to Valpo, their higher PPS plus their star power plus the home court advantage will carry Valpo to the win. I think this game will be closely contested until about the last 10 minutes of the second half.  Thats when Valpo will have Averkamp and Crisman in foul trouble and Rowdy and Company will finish the Ramblers off.  I'll say final score: Valpo 73 Loyola 66.

Contest time! Predict the final score by posting it our comments section along with an email so I can contact you if you win. Winner will be mailed a Bryce Drew rookie card.

Valpo knocks off Murray State

Valpo went on the road and finally won a game against a supposedly better opponent.  This was Murray’s first lost at home to a non conference team since the dinosaurs were roaming the Kentucky hills.  Here’s a look at each teams main players and their overall score as a unit.

Player	School	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Ryan Broekhoff	Valpo	35	1.03	0.31	0.72
Lavontae Dority	Valpo	28	0.61	0.57	0.04
Kevin Van Wijk	Valpo	22	1.09	0.55	0.54
Bobby Capobianco	Valpo	18	1.00	0.22	0.78
Ben Boggs	Valpo	23	0.61	0.22	0.39
Matt Kenney	Valpo	22	0.64	0.18	0.46
Erik Buggs	Valpo	22	0.59	0.41	0.18
Jordan Coleman	Valpo	16	1.38	0.56	0.82
Will Bogan	Valpo	14	0.21	0.14	0.07
Team	Valpo	200	0.83	0.36	0.47

Valpo dominated on the boards.  Jordan Coleman had a nice score, but his score is a bit inflated due to his lower (16) minutes.  Kevin had a nice + score, but his inability to stay out of foul trouble really hurt him. Lavonte Dority’s – score is so high because he missed 10 fg attempts.  As a team Valpo scored a bit under what they had averaged to this point, mainly due to their 10 assists vs. 17 turnovers and 66.7% ft%.

Murray State	School	Minutes	+	-	PPS
Isaiah Canaan	MSU	39	1.21	0.49	0.72
Ed Daniel	MSU	24	1.25	0.38	0.87
Stacy Wilson	MSU	31	0.55	0.39	0.16
Dexter Fields	MSU	34	0.62	0.12	0.50
Brandon Garret	MSU	22	0.36	0.36	0.00
Jeffrey Moss	MSU	21	0.29	0.24	0.05
Team	MSU	200	0.71	0.34	0.37

Valpo’s defense really came to play today.  They did a nice job contesting nearly every shot Canaan and company threw up there. They also managed to limit Daniel’s minutes (I called for that here, http://sectionee.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-beat-murray-state.html) and really made him a non-factor on the defensive end. Valpo’s depth proved to be the difference and I suspect that opposing Horizon League teams will face a similar fate when they face off against the league’s top team.

Improving

Our numbers, just like our play, have slowly been improving throughout the season.

http://cbbpps.wordpress.com/valpo-pps-12-13/

Erik put up one of his highest PPS ever last game when he played closer to 20 minutes instead of being on the court closer to 30 minutes. Dority's numbers have gone down every game so far.  Hopefully he gets comfortable and finds his stroke.  KVW and Rowdy are playing at a higher level then last year.  I like what I'm seeing, and I'm happy to see the numbers slowly creeping higher as we get closer to conference play.

11 Game Wrap Up

With the first 1/3 or so of the season behind us I thought now would be a good time to break down some statistics.  The team's 7-4 record is not bad, but many fans (and probably players and coaches) were expecting a little more.  The Crusaders should be favored in 2 or their final 3 non conference games before beginning conference play on January 3rd leading to at least a 9-5 record heading into that first conference game against Loyola. 

On to the numbers.  The Crusaders' play has not been anywhere near what we were hoping for.  Only Kenney (30 assist/27 turnovers) and Buggs (46 assist/32 turnovers) have more assists then turnovers.  In fact, the assist/turnover ratio of .76 is the biggest factor in the team not having more success.  The high rate of turnovers as well as the high amount of fouls the team is committing is what is keeping the team's PPS lower then it should be.

Player	School	PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Lavontae Dority	Valpo	1.2222	0.5000	0.7222
Ryan Broekhoff	Valpo	1.1633	0.2865	0.8768
Kevin Van Wijk	Valpo	1.2451	0.4047	0.8405
Bobby Capobianco	Valpo	0.9664	0.4706	0.4958
Ben Boggs	Valpo	0.5598	0.2819	0.2780
Jordan Coleman	Valpo	0.6991	0.2963	0.4028
Matt Kenney	Valpo	0.6598	0.3527	0.3071
Erik Buggs	Valpo	0.5710	0.3218	0.2492
Will Bogan	Valpo	0.3420	0.2305	0.1115
Alex Rossi	Valpo	0.7097	0.2581	0.4516
Vashil Fernandez	Valpo	0.4159	0.2832	0.1327

Dority, Capobianco, and KVW's PPS-D (this is the bad stuff they do on the court) are all way to high for guys expected to play big roles.  If they can cut down on fouling (KVW/Capo) and turnovers (all) those PPS-D will drop and the team will see more success.  I think with Dority's addition we will see Kenney's turnovers drop, Bogan's shooting % rise, and the overall efficiency and success of the team improve.  These last three games need to be used to get a normal rotation set, and to get Dority and everyone else comfortable with their roles.

PPS Preview: Oakland

Our PPS hit it right on the head with the Valpo/Missouri State game.  Scores held true and Valpo held on for a nice road win.  Lets take a look at PPS for tomorrow nights game at Oakland.

		PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	0.7654	0.3195	0.4459
Opponents	Valpo	0.6874	0.3541	0.3333

		PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Oakland	OAK	0.8207	0.3620	0.4588
Opponents	OAK	0.8899	0.3481	0.5417

These teams have played the exact same amount of minutes to date.  Looking at the PPS for tomorrow's game, I'd again give the edge to Valpo even though this is a road game.  The home court advantage should be minimal as the student body is gone for Christmas break.  Valpo and Oakland are averaging nearly the same PPS, however Oakland's opponents are scoring at a much higher rate then Valpo's.  Oakland has been out rebounded and out shot (% wise) by their opponents on the year.  Valpo has done a great job winning the rebounding battle night in and night out.  I'll say Valpo controls the rebounding and uses their size to win this game by 5-8 points.

Valpo is finally playing at full strength with the addition of Lavontae Dority (LVD).  LVD went off in his first game as a Crusader, leading the team in scoring and PPS Saturday night against Missouri State.  Here are the PPS for the team through the first 10 games of the season. Remember a .7 and above is an all conference player and a .85 and up is an NBA level talent.

Player	School	PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Lavontae Dority	Valpo	1.6250	0.4583	1.1667
Ryan Broekhoff	Valpo	1.1956	0.2902	0.9054
Kevin Van Wijk	Valpo	1.2735	0.4017	0.8718
Bobby Capobianco	Valpo	0.9583	0.5104	0.4479
Matt Kenney	Valpo	0.6864	0.3591	0.3273
Ben Boggs	Valpo	0.5401	0.2954	0.2447
Jordan Coleman	Valpo	0.6750	0.2800	0.3950
Erik Buggs	Valpo	0.5704	0.3230	0.2474
Will Bogan	Valpo	0.3487	0.2337	0.1149
Alex Rossi	Valpo	0.7097	0.2581	0.4516
Vashil Fernandez	Valpo	0.4298	0.2895	0.1404

PPS Preview of Missouri State

Here is a look at the PPS for Missouri State and what they have allowed to their opponents this season.

		PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Missouri State	MSU	0.7036	0.3764	0.3271
Opponents	MSU	0.7748	0.3348	0.4400

They have really struggled at rebounding, keeping teams off the free throw line, and defending the paint.  Valpo really thrives at rebounding and KVW and Broekhoff are pretty good about drawing fouls and getting to the line.  Next we'll look at Valpo's PPS and what they have allowed so far this season to their opponents.

		PPS-O	PPS-D	PPS
Valparaiso	Valpo	0.7633	0.3145	0.4488
Opponents	Valpo	0.6970	0.3523	0.3447

I thought it was pretty neat how close the teams' scores are in relation to what they have given up this season.  Neither of the scores are where a league contender should be scoring at, some of that has to do with poor play while another part might be due to the teams they have faced so far.  To get an idea of what the Big Ten teams are scoring out at right now click here.  Valpo only scores higher then Nebraska (who we lost to earlier in the fall) and Penn State.

I'm interested to see how the addition of Lavontae Dority helps move the other players to their normal position will affect the team and individual PPS.

PPS - 1st 8 Games

Lets see if I remember how to do this.  PPS is a statistical breakdown of how effective a player is while on the court. We look only at the numbers in categories that appear in a box score: points, rebounds, assists, fts, fgs, steals, turnovers, blocked shots, missed fts, missed fgs, fouls, and minutes played.
Here are the scores of last years 1st Team All Horizon League players:


Ryan Broekhoff, G/F, Valpo Jr (HL Player of the Year) - 0.8118
Kevin Van Wijk, F, Valpo Jr - 0.8108
Kendrick Perry, G, Youngstown State So - 0.70154
Ray McCallum, G, Detroit So - 0.65822
Alec Brown, C, Green Bay So - 0.74627

Here is where our guys sit after the first 8 games:

Broekhoff 0.8857
KVW 0.9839
Kenney 0.3809
Boggs 0.2959
Coleman 0.4216
Buggs 0.3127
Capo 0.5272
Bogan 0.1194
Rossi 0.4516
Fernandez 0.2038

Game Wrap Up: Any more doubters out there?

If there were any doubters heading into the game Saturday night (I'm looking at you Vegas odds makers) the Crusaders certainly had to have changed their minds.  Butler started out to an 7-2 lead, the teams would tie the score at 8-8 but that would be the last time Butler was close.  Valpo would ride the amazing play of Ryan Broekhoff and some timely shooting by Erik Buggs (not a typo) and Jay Harris.  The ARC was on fire last night with crowd pushing the facility to it's limits.

After Butler got out to that early lead, Brent made the suggestion that our super subs would get things turned around for us.  Boy was he right.  That first substitution of Richie Edwards (apparently my wife's favorite player), Matt Kenney and Jay Harris turned the tide in the Crusader's favor.  The story of this night however was Ryan Broekhoff.  He filled up the box score with 19 points (6-9 fg, 5-6 ft, 2-3 3pt) and 16 rebounds.  At one point in the game Brent and I made a bet on whether he would have more points or rebounds...I lost and bought the drinks and appetizers at Wings Etc. after the game.  Ryan's hustle, energy, and always being in the right place at the right time (coincidence, I think not) are huge for the Crusaders as he is always creating extra scoring chances for the team.  If there was anybody in the league not thinking he should be the POY they are certainly on board now.

Coach Stevens had to be frustrated last night.  No defensive strategy seemed to work and his offense was not converting against Valpo's suddnely stingy defense.  Butler went with the Hack - a - Buggs strategy with about 7 minutes left in the game when it was obvious they weren't going to be able to chip away at the lead playing defense. 

Player of the Game: Ryan Broekhoff - 19 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and several amazing hustle plays (like when he saved a lose ball after a missed Buggs free throw and banged it off a Butler player creating another possession which would end in a Jay Harris 3pter).
1.303 PPS

POTG Runner Up: Erik Buggs - this was a tough call between Buggs and KVW.  I'm going with Erik because I thought those two 3 pointers he hit were so important.  While his free throw shooting left something to be desired when Butler went to the hack a buggs with 7 minutes left in the game, he managed to keep his cool and stay in the game.  He also played excellent defense (as did the whole team) on Ronald Nored holding him to only 4 points.

Up Next: The Crusaders will try to wrap up the conference tournament Tuesday night at home against Detroit at 8pm.  

Predicting the HL tournament: PPS

I ran my PPS for each Horizon League team.  I will show you the results then try to predict the first two rounds of the tournament using the PPS.  Since, the semis require several teams to play on back to back nights I don't think I can put as much weight on PPS as a predictor.  Originally I wanted to just look at the stats from conference play, but that proved to be more work than I was interested in doing at this time.  So the following numbers are based on each team's entire season. I will list the team (where they finished in the league) and then their PPS.

1) Detroit (3)         0.527
2) Valpo (1)           0.500
3) YSU (6)              0.462
4) CSU  (2)             0.457
5) Green Bay (7)   0.449
6) Milwaukee (4)   0.428
7) Butler  (5)         0.416
8) UIC  (9)              0.378
9) Loyola (10)        0.369
10) WSU  (8)          0.342

Ok, lets give this a try. 
Round 1
Detroit vs. Loyola        Detroit wins by 16
YSU vs. Green Bay       YSU wins by 2
Milwaukee vs. UIC       Milwaukee wins by 5
Butler vs. WSU             Butler wins by 7

Round 2
Detroit vs. YSU            Detroit wins by 6
Butler vs. Milwaukee  Milwaukee wins by 1

So, I predict that the semis will feature Cleveland State vs. Detroit and Valpo vs. Milwaukee.  Like I said above, I don't think PPS can be used much since Detroit and Milwaukee will have had to play in back to back nights.  I like Valpo and Cleveland State to hold serve and face off in a heavyweight title match at the ARC on March 6th.  Let the madness begin!

Game Preview: Loyola

Tuesday is another "biggest game of the year" game against Loyola.  Last year, in similar circumstances, Loyola came into the ARC and wiped the floor with the Crusaders in a 20 point drubbing.  Will things be different this time around?

Loyola has been the league bottom dweller all year, winning only one game against UIC.  The Ramblers have struggled this year, but do have a couple of bright spots on their roster.  Walt Gibler has had an outstanding year, but will probably not play due to a shoulder injury.  Ben Averkamp has also been playing well all year averaging 14.5ppg. Local product Joe Crisman averages nearly 9 a game, and Jordan Hicks (who led the scoring attack against Valpo last time) is scoring 8 a game.  As a team the Ramblers only average 55.6 ppg.  They played at Butler last Tuesday and kept the game close before falling by 6. 

The big question for Valpo is the health of KVW's knee.  He stayed home from the bracket buster trip to get some extra treatment and I think he his ready to go all out.  With or without a 100% healthy KVW there is no reason/excuse for Valpo to lose this game.  The Crusadesr have too many weapons offensively to be held down by an undermanned Loyola team.  Lets get to the predictions.

Looking at team wide PPS:
Valpo: 0.501115
Loyola: 0.360398

Using the PPS Valpo is clearly the more productive team.  Valpo should win this game by at least 14 points.  I'll go a little over that with my official prediction and say Valpo wins the game and the Horizon League regular season title, 66-50.

Game Wrap Up: One more to go

With the win over UIC Tuesday night, the Crusaders have earned themselves at least the 2 seed and one of the coveted double byes for the Horizon League tournament.  It was a tale of two halves, as Valpo struggled to find any kind of rythm in the first and couldn't miss in the second.  Richie Edwards and Matt Kenney both had real nice games leading the scoring effort coming off the bench while KVW posted an 11 point effort in his first game back from injury.  My two favorite plays both occurred near the end of the game.  1 - when we called timeout and everyone in the gym knew Valpo going with the HR ball to Kenney and he finished it off with a layup, and 2 - when Matt stuffed the UIC players three pointer right into the floor.

Here are the PPS numbers from the game.  I ran the guys that played major minutes for Valpo plus the team score and ran only the team score for UIC.

UIC: 0.43

Valpo: 0.57
Broekhoff: 0.54839
KVW:  0.27273
Buggs: 0.14286
Bogan: 0.41379
Edwards: 1.38889
Boggs: 0.2381
Harris: 0.3913
Kenney: 1.25

Player of the Game: Richie Edwards - 19 points in 18 minutes.  This guy's improvement is the reason this team is contending like they are.

POTG Honorable Mention: Matt Kenney - 14 points, nearly perfect shooting night, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

Up Next: Valpo will travel across the country to compete in the Bracket Buster against Loyola Marymount.  We will a special guest blogger who will be at the game making a post that I'm really looking forward too.

A PPS Preview: YSU vs. Valpo

I don't have the time today to look at each team's roster, so instead lets just take a quick look at the season PPS for the teams as a whole along with a couple key statistical categories.

Valparaiso: .512344        Youngstown State: .458556

So, like the preview of CSU, Valpo again holds a small advantage in productivity.  Looking at some stats, Valpo players have played quite a few more minutes, turned the ball over a whole lot more, and have made a lot more FG and FT.  The biggest factor for YSU's low score is their shooting percentage.  They have missed 776 FG attempts, compared to 689 for Valpo.  The Penguins also don't shoot a lot of free throws.

Going just by the PPS I'd say Valpo should win the game by 6 or 7.  However, with the unknown status of KVW and Ben Boggs things could be much different.  With the way Richie Edwards and Ryan Broekhoff  have been playing I'll go ahead and stick with the 6 or 7 point advantage.

Prediction: 73-67 Valpo wins and takes advantage of an earlier Butler victory over Cleveland State to stake themselves to essentially a two game lead over CSU.

Valpo vs. Cleveland State PPS results

Below are the PPS results from Thursday's game against CSU.  I only took the guys who played major minutes so you will not see KVW nor Brown from CSU.  The scores are pretty low which is indicative of a defensive struggle.  Both teams as a whole scored out as a unit below their season averages as well.  I'll get a PPS preview for tomorrow's game up later this afternoon.

Crusaders: 0.43
Broekhoff: 1.1212
Edwards: 0.8214
Buggs: 0.5333
Boggs: 0.2
Kenney: 0.1481
Harris: 0.0385
Bogan: 0.0345

Vikings: 0.245
Montgomery: 0.4211
Kamczyc: 0.3947
Grady: 0.3571
Mason: 0.3333
Harmon: 0.1
Pogue: 0.0625
Lee: -0.1667

Halfway Home HL Stat Leaders

Well we have arrived at the midpoint of the conference season.  Some teams are thrilled with the results of the first nine games (Milwaukee, Valpo, Cleveland State, Youngstown State) while others might be filling a bit of disappointment (Detroit).  At the same time, we are getting a good idea of who the top players are.  Some of these names were expected (McCallum, Broekhoff, Brown) and some are surprising (Van Wijk, Kamczyc, Gibler).  The league has had so many close games so far and I suspect we will see even more great finishes the rest of the way.

The following shos the top 5 guys statistically in each category for league play only.  I'm not tracking everybody, just the guys who have been key contributors in all games.  I've done my best to look at every box score and have manually punched in all the numbers (so there may be a mistake or two) for the nearly 40 guys I'm tracking.

PPS - production per minute of playing time
1) Van Wijk   Valpo   0.94366
2) Broekhoff Valpo   0.83849
3) Holman     Det      0.83333
4) McCallum Det      0.72078
5) Brown       GB       0.71672

Minutes                       Points                             Rebounds
1) Allen/YSU/327              1) Van Wijk/Valpo/153          1) Broekhoff/Valpo/78
2) McCallum/Det/308       2) McCallum/Det/143           2) Brown/GB/73

3) Williams/MWK/307       3) Ward/YSU/132                  3) Eargle/YSU/70
4) Talton/UIC/304             4) Broekhoff/Valpo/131       4) Woods/But/55
5) Perry/YSU/301              5) Mays/WSU/126                 5) Gibler/Loy/54

Assists                           Steals                            Blocks
1) Williams/UWM/52         1) Williams/MKW/18             1) Brown/GB/35
2) Nored/But/46               2) Brown/CSU/17                  1) Eargle/YSU/35
3) Perry/YSU/42                3) Perry/YSU/16                   3) Lowe/Det/20
4) Buggs/Valpo/35           4) Broekhoff/Valpo/14          4) Woods/But/12
5) McCallum/Det/33         5) 3 tied with 13                   5) Averkamp/Loy/11

FG Made                       FT Made                         Turnovers
1) Van Wijk/Valpo/56        1) Mays/WSU/43                  1) Williams/MWK/35
2) McCallum/Det/50         2) Gibler/Loy/42                   2) Simon/Det/28
3) Broekhoff/Valpo/46      3) Nored/But/41                  3) Montgomery/CSU/26
4) Ward/YSU/44                4) Van Wijk/Valpo/40          4)  Nored/But/25
5) Simon/Det/43               5) Brown/GB/34                   5) VanWijk and Harris 21

Fouls                            FG Missed                       FT Missed
1) Van Wijk/Valpo/35       1) Simon/Det/72                   1) Nored/But/23
2) Jones/But/29                2) Talton/UIC/67                  2) Van Wijk/Valpo/21
3) Simon/Det/28               3) Averkamp/Loy/64           2) Marshall/But/21
3) Smith/But/28               4) McCallum/Det/62            4) Gibler/Loy/17
5) 2 tied with 27             5) Brown/GB/59                   5) 2 tied with 16

Updated HL PPS and Other Stat Leaders

Next weekend should be the halfway point for conference play.  So far here are your statistical leaders. We'll do the top 5 in each category.  I'm tracking many more categories and I'll post all the top 5's in every category after next weekend's games.

Player Productivity Score - how productive the player is per minute of game time
1) Broekhoff   Valpo   0.91775
2) Van Wijk     Valpo   0.91716
3) Holman         Det    0.89855
4) Brown           GB     0.75833
5) Gibler           Loy     0.74026

Minutes                                  Points                          Rebounds
1) McCallum  Det   278        1) McCallum   Det     130    1) Broekhoff  Valpo 65
2) Simon        Det   272        2) Mays           WSU   126     2) Brown       GB      62
3) Mays         WSU  267        3) Van Wijk    Valpo  119     3) Eargle       YSU    52
4) Allen          YSU  263        4) Gibler          Loy    110     4) Gibler        Loy    49
5) Williams   UWM  245        5) Ward          YSU    106     5) Woods       But    48

FG Attempted                    FT Attempted               Turnovers
1) McCallum  Det   102       1) Mays            WSU   51     1) Williams    UWM   28
2) Simon         Det  101       1) Van Wijk      Valpo  51     2) Simon        Det      25
3) Averkamp  Loy   90        3) Gibler            Loy    50     3) Nored        But      23
4) Brown         GB   83        3) Nored           But     50     4) Montgomery CSU 19
4) Mays          WSU 83        5) Brown           GB      41     5) Averkamp  Loy     18

KVW is right up there in points despite playing only 169 minutes so far.  Broekhoff was 6th in points scored at 105.

Horizon League PPS and other Stat Leaders

Another exciting weekend of Horizon League play has come and gone.  I've updated my stat sheets for conference play only and here are the results:

Player Productivity Score Top 10

HL PPS leader Ryan Broekhoff

1) Broekhoff   Valpo   0.95808
2) Holman        Det     0.84946
3) Eargle         YSU     0.79085
4) Brown          GB      0.75581
5) Mays           WSU     0.73913
6) VanWijk      Valpo   0.71074
7) McCallum    Det      0.68900
8) Gibler          Loy      0.67788
9) Ward           YSU     0.65217
10) Talton        UIC     0.62887


Other stat categories will show top 5

Points Scored                 Assists                       FT Made
1) Mays          WSU   108      1) Williams  UMW  26      1) Mays         WSU  39
2) McCallum  Det      91       2) Perry        YSU   25      2) Gibler        Loy  31          
3) Gibler        Loy      89       3) McCallum Det    22      3) McCallum  Det  26
4) Talton       UIC       86       4) Talton       UIC   21      4) Brown        GB   25
5) Averkamp  Loy      84       5) Allen         YSU  17      5) VanWijk    Valpo 23
                                              5) Buggs     Valpo 17

Turnovers                       Fouls                         FT Missed
1) Williams       UMW  20      1) VanWijk    Valpo  22  1) Nored      But    14
1) Nored             But  20       2) Averkamp  Loy    21  2) VanWijk  Valpo 12
1) Simon             Det  20       3) Humes       UIC    19   2) Gibler      Loy    12
4) Montgomery CSU  17       4) Simon        Det    18   2) Marshall  But   12
4) Averkamp      Loy   17      5) Buggs       Valpo 18   5) Perry        YSU  10

When looking at these stats remember that not all the teams have played the same number of conference games.  If you are interested in other statistical leaders or where your favorite player (assuming he is playing/performing enough for me to follow him) just leave a note in the comment section and I'll get back to you asap.

HL PPS (and various other stat) Leaders

After this weekend of Horizon League action I'm crunched some stats and calculated the Player Productivity Scores for the major players on each team.  This weekend I was able to eliminate some guys who's minutes and productivity made them non factors in this experiment of mine.  I hope you enjoy these stats as much as I do calculating them.  To view the previous top 5 in PPS click here.  CSU, Valpo, YSU, and Butler have played 3 games while the other schools have 4 games under their belts.

PPS
R. Broekhoff   Valpo  1.031578
E. Holman         Det   0.84906
G. Talton           UIC   0.83088
D. Eargle          YSU   0.80952
A. Brown            GB   0.75912
D. Brooks          YSU  0.73077
K. VanWijk      Valpo  0.7013
W. Gibler          Loy    0.7
R. McCallum     Det   0.64493

* Edwards from Valpo would make the top 10 but he has played not even half the minutes of the others on the list.

Some other stat leaders (top 5) in conference play, these are totals not averages:

Points Scored                                           Rebounds
Talton  UIC   74                                                  Brown           GB     33
Brown  GB    65                                                  Broekhoff   Valpo   31
Mayes  WSU  63                                                 Gibler           Loy     30
Brooks YSU  58                                                  McCallum     Det     29
Simon  Det   58                                                  Averkamp     Loy     26

Assists                                                      Free Throws Made
Williams   UWM   19                                          Gibler           Loy      23
Talton      UIC      17                                          Brown           GB       23
Jones        But      15                                          Mayes           WSU     21
Perry        YSU     15                                          Talton           UIC      19
McCallum Det     13                                          Simon            Det      16

Turnovers                                                 Field Goals Missed
Brito         Loy      14                                         McCallum     Det       33
Williams   UWM   13                                          Brown           GB        33
Talton      UIC       12                                         Simon            Det       32
Nored       But      12                                         Averkamp      Loy       32
3 tied at 11                                                        Barnes           UIC       29

Conference PPS

I'm keeping track of my Player Productivity Scores and thought you might be interested in seeing how some of the guys are scoring in conference play.  These scores are figured using a formula and only information found on a box score.  I think you will find at least one of these scores quite astonishing.  Last year, all conference players scored over over a .7 while the elite of our conference (N. Cole) scored out at a .9 (these scores were figured using all game stats not just conference stats like what I'm doing this year).  With two games in the book and a one - one record here are your PPS scores.

R. Broekhoff  0.98413
K. VanWijk    0.54902
R. Edwards   0.73529
E. Buggs      0.53521
M. Kenney    0.23611
W. Bogan     0.09375
J. Harris       0.04878

Ryan has far and away the highest score not only on the team but also the entire league.  I will post some updated stats after tomorrow's game for the entire league.  For as much criticism as Richie is taking, from me as much as anyone, he has the second highest score during conference play.  When he gets into the paint he is a real good asset on offense.  Will and Jay have been pretty, well, awful in conference play.  For Valpo to have success one, if not both, of these guys needs to find their shot.