Defensive Score Sheet: Oklahoma State vs. Kansas

I’m back, baby!

OK, so I still have quite a backlog to get through, but I’ve already done the actual charting on a couple of them, and just need to do data entry and formatting. And Saturday looks to be a marathon charting day for the rest.

Here’s the chart for Thursday’s game:

Notes…

• From the box score stats, it seemed to be a good defensive game, with both teams under one point per possession. But watching closely, what I saw was a lot of missed shots from both teams. Not forced misses, just decent looks that clanged off the iron. Except when Keiton Page was shooting, of course. That guy made some twirling-and-falling-down shots.
• The defensive score sheet matches my impression, as the “Team” defensive lines were two of the better defenders, even with the inclusion of 4 technical foul free throws in Oklahoma State’s “Team” line.
• Markieff Morris played splendidly in his little time on the floor. His only negative defensive contribution was the single one of his 5 fouls that sent an OSU player to the line.
• After being away from the charts for so long, it’s comforting to come back and find things exactly as they were before: Markieff Morris at the top, and Elijah Johnson at the bottom. I’m still not sold on Johnson as the primary point guard for Kansas.
• Several of the Kansas guards we torched by Page. Morningstar’s and Reed’s games look especially good when we have the poor performances of Taylor, Johnson, and Selby as comparisons.
• You might notice that this chart shows Oklahoma State with a better defensive rating than Kansas. I believe that has to do with the large difference in free throw shooting between the teams skewing the possession estimates. But to be honest, I’m not positive. I’ll look into it this weekend.
• Finally, my usual pet stat, the fraction of turnovers for each team that were caused by the actions of a solo player. My theory is that good defense is accomplished via teamwork, and so team that looks better subjectively ought to have fewer solo turnovers. Tonight’s numbers: 4 of 10 (40%) for Kansas; 5 of 7 (71%) for OSU. I’m not sure which team actually played better D, so hard to say whether this fits the pattern.