Ben Robinson, Sports Editor

Stats reveal UW basketball’s keys to success

The 4-0 start of the UW men’s basketball team can be attributed to many factors: the return and improved play of key players from last year’s Big Ten championship team, including Kirk Penney, Devin Harris and Freddie Owens; the impact freshmen Alando Tucker and Boo Wade have already made; the increased comfort level the players have with head coach Bo Ryan’s swing offense.

While all of these have contributed to UW’s early success, Ryan points out a number of telling stats that reveal some other reasons behind the No. 25 Badgers’ perfect start.

One of Ryan’s favorite stats is points-per-possession, a statistic not tracked by the NCAA, but one the coach says is crucial to winning games.

In four games this season, the Badgers have averaged close to 1.1 points per possession according to Ryan, and have posted an average margin of victory of 20.5 points. Ryan puts considerable stock in the stat, and says that if a team averages over one point per possession, they put themselves in a position to win most games.

“It’s a proven statistic; it’s one of the most reliable statistics out there. Nobody else uses it except for a few coaches I know, but it’s pretty reliable.

“So far we’ve taken advantage of our opportunities, some second shots, some offense off our defense,” Ryan said. “[The points-per-possession stat] doesn’t answer all your questions, like what you’re getting off your half-court offense, if you’re scoring different ways, but it’s still all part of your total offense.”

While the Badgers will strive for a high points-per-possession average, they will hope to limit turnovers, one of Ryan’s focal points. In four games this year, the Badgers have committed only 35 turnovers, an average of 8.75 per game, and turned the ball over only seven times against UW-Green Bay Saturday, although Ryan said the total should have been less.

“I thought the first four games helped us, only seven turnovers in Green Bay,” Ryan said. “You might say, ‘well, that’s not anything great,’ but it is. It was on the road, our first time away from home. I thought we did a very good job of making decisions with the ball. And if you look at the videotape, three of them weren’t turnovers but were called that way, so that made me feel even better.”

Ryan attributes the low number of turnovers to the Badgers’ focus in practice and a team-wide desire for the offense to run smoothly.

“It’s what you’re willing to accept in practice,” Ryan said. “If you’re willing to accept guys throwing the ball around, then maybe you’re throwing the ball around a little more during a game. I have a pretty short fuse when it comes to that, and they know that. It’s not just about pleasing me, though; please your teammates.”

By comparison, the Badgers have forced their four opponents into 61 turnovers in their four games so far.

Another stat Ryan views as being key to the Badgers’ success is free-throw shooting. In their four victories so far, UW has averaged 25 free throw attempts per game, making 20.25 of them. UW’s opponents have only made it to the line an average of 11.5 times per game.

“It’s a statistic that’s a pretty good one,” Ryan said of the free-throw shooting. “If you’re making more free throws than the other team is shooting, then you tend to have a pretty good year.”

Ryan attributes some of the Badgers’ success in getting to the line to Wisconsin holding the lead most of the time, as well as UW’s swing offense, which puts an emphasis on entering the ball into the post every possession, and not simply hurling up shots from the outside.

“You will shoot more free-throws if you’re playing with a lead, unless you’re coming down and shooting wild shots, hernia shots as we like to call them,” Ryan said. “If you’re working the ball, working though the post, you tend to get to the free-throw line more than if you’re working on the perimeter.”