Dayton 79 VCU 65: Look at offensive efficiency and what the numbers tell us

[glabedz]

Dayton made a statement Tuesday evening with their 79-65 victory over VCU. Taking a closer look at the game at Dayton Arena the first thing to notice is the offensive efficiency. The Flyers posted a 111 while VCU checked in at 92. What is offensive efficiency?
In simple terms it is points per possession. VCU averaged .92 points per possession to the 1.11 of the Flyers. For the sake of having good round numbers at our disposal, offensive efficiency is points per possession per 100 possessions. In simple terms, points per possession times 100. Now, what constitutes a possession?
Dean Smith devised the points per possession metric decades ago during his assistant coaching days at Air Force Academy. For years, an offensive rebound started a new possession. The last twenty or so years tempo free advocates decided an offensive board extended a possession not started a new one. So a possession ends on a made field goal or free throw, missed shot rebounded by the opposition or turnover. ...

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