So I paid a visit to Statsheet.com tonight and hours later came out with a few observations about the team to date. Posted these on another board, figured I'd share here as well. Take these for whatever you will:
In thinking about Mason's improvement this year and his increased role on this team, I ventured over to Statsheet.com (only go there if you want to lose the next 4 hours of your life) and performed an interesting comparison- Jr year Tyler Zeller to Jr year Mase. Mason compares favorably (excepting his one achilles, that darned FT shooting- and even there, at this point he gets to the line more frequently than just about anyone. C'mon Mase, surely you can be >50% from the line!)
http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/com...ller=2010-2011
I also decided to run Austin Rivers' current performance against freshmen Kyrie Irving, Jason Williams, Harry Barnes (just for hype's sake, not similar players,) JJ Redick and Senior Daniel Ewing (because that was the first year Dan's usage % came close to the other guys, and because he was playing the role of a natural SG handling the ball quite a bit on a team without a pure PG in the starting lineup.) I'll let you all check it out, but Austin definitely holds his own amongst that elite company and some of his numbers are eerily similar to the other guys in various categories. Bare in mind that those guys had an entire season (ok, not Kyrie... sniffle) to grow so it's understandable that their numbers are better than Austin's. Also, those are some of the best freshmen to ever play the game (and a senior Daniel Ewing isn't bad either.) Austin is definitely holding his own.
http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/com...5=daniel-ewing
Other observations:
-Mason's fouls per game has gone down each year he has been at Duke. He's doing a great job of staying on the floor so far this year.
-Andre is playing more mpg this year, but his usage percentage and offensive efficiency is about the same (so far.) What has changed is that he is getting more time (thanks to improved defense and opportunity, I would imagine.)
-Seth is in a new role, but he is also stepping up rather significantly. Through 5 games, his usage is up 5% while all of his shooting percentages are also up, he's getting to the line more often, while also improving his #s in rebounds, assists and steals. Really, the only downside is the turnovers, but he still holds an A/TO ratio of 1.5
-Similarly, Ryan's usage is up but his efficiency is up almost across the board as well: he's shooting a better % from 2, 3 and the FT line; he's improved his rebounding efficiency (which takes PT/tempo into account.) His blocks are a little down (early) and his turnovers a little up, but overall the numbers support what I have seen with my eyes- RKelly is a player!
-Meanwhile, Miles' offensive usage is up but he has yet to match his past efficiency on the offensive end. He's getting to the line at a fantastic rate, but has regressed in his FT shooting (so has Mason.) He's getting a higher percentage of his points from the FT line, but there are more available if he can just get back to his previous career high of a 66% FT percentage (his Soph. season.) Interestingly, he is playing almost an identical MPG as he has the past 2 years. Something tells me that there is more that PlumOne has to offer, and I think he will perform better as the year goes on.
-Overall, it seems like the majority of the returning guys are ceasing the opportunity for bigger roles and putting forth better and more efficient all-around performances than they have to date in their careers. The one area where each of them has gotten worse is turnover rate, which tells me that these guys are still getting accustomed to the larger roles (read: usage %) that they are taking. I think this team will get better at valuing the ball, rebounding and applying ball pressure as the year goes on. And for the love of God, I just hope that Miles and Mason can figure out the free throw shooting thing! Otherwise, a lot of encouraging things on this team's statsheet profile to date!