Assists: Nolan and Marshall, where do they stand?

[rthomas]

Where are our stats people?
Nolan had 2 yesterday.
Marshall had 10 tonight.

Did Marshall pass Nolan?

[kong123]

i heard that he needed 8 to pull ahead of Smith

[dukelifer]

Where are our stats people?
Nolan had 2 yesterday.
Marshall had 10 tonight.

Did Marshall pass Nolan?

Duke would be better if Nolan could get this as it would mean sharing the ball more- but I doubt he will. Nolan lost this possibility when Drew left UNC.

[UrinalCake]

Yeah, but UNC has better finishers and an offense that caters more towards generating assists. Our offense has relegated itself to either a.) Nolan coming around a high screen and taking a mid-range shot, b.) Kyle taking his man one-on-one, or c.) Dawkins/Curry taking an NBA three. The kick-outs to open shooters don't seem to be there anymore.

[MarkD83]

Nolan 150 assists in 29 games; 5.17 /game
Marshall 149 assists in 28 games; 5.32/game

[Newton_14]

Where are our stats people?
Nolan had 2 yesterday.
Marshall had 10 tonight.

Did Marshall pass Nolan?

Hmm, 16 assists in a HOME game against FSU, and 10 more in a HOME game against Maryland. Any chance the HOME scorekeeper is being very generous in handing out assists in an attempt to thwart the Blue Devil chasing history? Nah, couldn't be. No way that would ever happen..:cool:

[Chris Randolph]

While I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE for Nolan to do something that has never been done in the league, I definitely care more about the ACC title. Hopefully things will go Nolan's way this week

[tele]

Hmm, 16 assists in a HOME game against FSU, and 10 more in a HOME game against Maryland. Any chance the HOME scorekeeper is being very generous in handing out assists in an attempt to thwart the Blue Devil chasing history? Nah, couldn't be. No way that would ever happen..:cool:

Scorekeeping has never been an exact science, more judgement calls and interpretation goes into it than most people realize, not to mention the stats calculated off the scorekeeping. Turnovers and assists are two of the categories more open to interpretation, and "improvement". Maybe Marshall has been getting credited for some hockey assists too.

[Jderf]

Hmm, 16 assists in a HOME game against FSU, and 10 more in a HOME game against Maryland. Any chance the HOME scorekeeper is being very generous in handing out assists in an attempt to thwart the Blue Devil chasing history? Nah, couldn't be. No way that would ever happen..:cool:

Scorekeeping has never been an exact science, more judgement calls and interpretation goes into it than most people realize, not to mention the stats calculated off the scorekeeping. Turnovers and assists are two of the categories more open to interpretation, and "improvement". Maybe Marshall has been getting credited for some hockey assists too.

Just did some adding and division, and if my numbers are right, then since the start of ACC play Marshall has averaged 4.4 apg on the road, while averaging 8.2 apg at home. Seems like he really needs the "atmosphere" of the Dean Dome to perform at his highest level.

[kong123]

Just did some adding and division, and if my numbers are right, then since the start of ACC play Marshall has averaged 4.4 apg on the road, while averaging 8.2 apg at home. Seems like he really needs the "atmosphere" of the Dean Dome to perform at his highest level.

interesting, so... players play better at home? is that why neither UNC or Duke have lost a game at home this season? You may be on to something!

[ice-9]

interesting, so... players play better at home? is that why neither UNC or Duke have lost a game at home this season? You may be on to something!

You'd expect it to be a little more, but nearly double is an interestingly large increment.

[UrinalCake]

Question for the gurus - who actually does the scorekeeping? Is it really a person employed by the home team? Or is it a neutral "official"? When the game is over, do they go back and watch the replay and make changes? And while we're on the topic, who operates the clock? I've always wondered.

[Acymetric]

Question for the gurus - who actually does the scorekeeping? Is it really a person employed by the home team? Or is it a neutral "official"? When the game is over, do they go back and watch the replay and make changes? And while we're on the topic, who operates the clock? I've always wondered.

Home team for both, I believe.

Digging something up from ancient history, Ken Pomeroy gives some nice statistical analysis (http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=14) of home-cooking when it comes to scorekeepers, and he finds that there are schools where the difference is significant. unc isn't mentioned anywhere, but he only mentions the 5 schools with the largest margin between assists at home and away. Ken seems to think that there's a trend of certain scorekeepers giving their teams the benefit of the doubt (consciously or subconsciously) and I'd say he's right.

Whether the unc scorekeeper is guilty of this I certainly can't say for sure, but the difference between home and away (like Texas A&M in the article) is pretty striking, isn't it?

[Jderf]

interesting, so... players play better at home? is that why neither UNC or Duke have lost a game at home this season? You may be on to something!

You'd expect it to be a little more, but nearly double is an interestingly large increment.

To contrast with Marshall's 8.2 : 4.4 home-away apg ratio, Nolan's is sitting at 5.6 : 4.0 (since the start of ACC play), a substantially smaller home court advantage.

I guess those cameron crazies just can't get out there and support their team as well as the tarheels can.

Judge for yourselves.*

*By which I mean "give in to your innate bias and prejudice and see whatever you want to see."

[UrinalCake]

Well to be fair, you'd have to look at how many assists the UNC scorekeeper gives to their OPPONENTS too. Maybe he's just more lenient, like a ref who calls the game looser. Which doesn't help Nolan in his quest for the title, but would eliminate the accusation of bias.

Also, regarding the Pomeroy analysis, does he adjust for the quality of opponent? Most top schools, including Duke, load up on some cupcakes at home, which would skew the numbers.

[Jderf]

Well to be fair, you'd have to look at how many assists the UNC scorekeeper gives to their OPPONENTS too. Maybe he's just more lenient, like a ref who calls the game looser. Which doesn't help Nolan in his quest for the title, but would eliminate the accusation of bias.

Hmm... you're making the shaky assumption that I want to be fair. :D