bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2006/11/tempo-free-stats-last-years.html
Wednesday, November 01, 2006. Last year's "introduction" to tempo-free stats is here. Maybe we're already past the "early adopters" phase with this stuff because the borderline tutorial tone of this piece now strikes me as a little bit off. Para; 5:30 AM. A very special wonk. The blog's final days. Me, simmons, and 150 million other american males. The four dullest topics for a hoops blog. Drama, magnitude, and finality. 2007 "power"-conference velocity report. Special report: in tedium's path.
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/03/do-hot-coaches-stay-hot-after-theyre.html
Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Do "hot" coaches stay hot after they're hired? Some don't. No one could be hotter than Steve Alford. Was eight years ago this month. His 12th-seeded Southwest Missouri State team (since morphed into simply Missouri State. Had beaten 4th-seeded Wisconsin. To reach the Sweet 16, before falling to 1-seed Duke. We've since found out what he could do. Not much, and he's now fled the power conferences entirely. Then again, some "hot" coaches do OK. Bill Self. Hot" class of 2000, Tulsa.
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2006/12/every-rebound-needs-adjective-we-gather.html
Friday, December 29, 2006. Every rebound needs an adjective. We gather here today to pay our last respects to the term "rebounding.". True, "rebounding" had a good life. But its time has long since passed. For example. In the wake of Florida. S mauling of Ohio State. Last Saturday, it was said that the Buckeyes' "rebounding" has to improve. After all, Ohio State was outrebounded 43-25 in that game. Only problem: you can't get any rebounds if the other team doesn't miss. And they may not be created equal.
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/04/later-wonk-10-in-series-of-last-day.html
Tuesday, April 03, 2007. 10 in a series of last-day posts. This blog had a good run: three seasons, 593 posts, and some page views by you all. The busiest month was this past March. The busiest day, February 21, 2006. Season 2 witnessed the full-force arrival of tempo-free stats. If you delve into the archives under, say, November 2005 and find yourself thinking there may have been moments when the numbers were so abundant that they got in the way, you're not alone. I think so too. In any event, I had a ...
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/04/wonked-out.html
Tuesday, April 03, 2007. Wonked out.for good. Today is the last day for Big Ten Wonk (though not for John Gasaway). So here are 11 valedictory posts, in honor of the conference that's given me a title and a topic for three seasons. 1 There was a national championship game last night. 2 The Big Ten is better than people who link to me say it is. 3 Funky stats: don't wait for the revolution, it's already here. 4 Leave the tournament the way it is. 5 Regress your view of your coach toward the mean.
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/04/regress-your-view-of-your-coach-toward.html
Tuesday, April 03, 2007. Regress your view of your coach toward the mean. 5 in a series of last-day posts. There's a hoary old chestnut that says a quarterback receives too much credit when his team wins and too much blame when they lose. Said chestnut needs to be multiplied 100-fold and applied to college basketball coaches. The next time you hear an analyst talking about a coach in glowing terms more appropriate for a chess grand master, think of said coach instead as having roughly the same degree of ...
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/01/good-news-bad-news.html
Monday, March 26, 2007. I demand golf clubs! I've decided that this will be the last season of "Big Ten Wonk.". Next season I'll continue to write on a regular basis on college basketball. I just don't know where, exactly. Watch this space for a referral. Regular readers know that this past season I spent less time on, say, Northwestern. Than on North Carolina. Last month when Kyle Whelliston visited the casa. On the occasion of Butler- Southern Illinois. The following few seconds unspooled:. Or I could ...
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/04/nod-perfunctorily-toward-your-columnist.html
Tuesday, April 03, 2007. Nod perfunctorily toward your columnist. 8 in a series of last-day posts. For decades the sports columnist, by virtue of their profession, enjoyed three effective though not total monopolies:. 1 The ability to see the games. 2 The ability to reach readers. 3 The ability to talk to players and coaches. Like that coming from a stagecoach manufacturer circa 1910. This state of affairs in fact doesn't faze most sportswriters. In December 2004. That month Illinois. Good grief, if mand...
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2007/04/jane-austen-press-conferences-and.html
Tuesday, April 03, 2007. Jane Austen, press conferences, and college basketball. 6 in a series of last-day posts. One of the nice things about having these here newfangled internets and eleventy-gillion channels on your HD is the ability this explosion of offerings has afforded to eavesdrop on previously restricted events. Take press conferences. The last one I listened to start-to-finish was the one following the Xavier. The press conference was stupefyingly dull. Very long pause.). Very long pause.).
bigtenwonk.blogspot.com
Big Ten Wonk: 2004-07
http://bigtenwonk.blogspot.com/2005/11/style-sensitive-hoops-critique-style.html
Tuesday, November 01, 2005. Style-of-play is the ur-debate in sports. It's why fans get up in the morning. And so it is with hoops. No pundit of the game worth his salt can go more than a day or two without issuing a stinging indictment on some team's style of play. Team X shoots too many threes, it is said. Or maybe they don't shoot enough free throws. They play too slow. They play too fast. A rain of threes on the offensive end matched with a zone D. Your style is of course going to be a function of yo...
