And I think this — the subject line on an email from overtheSEC — might be an understatement. And I’m delighted. All the things we knew and thought we knew about officiating and the way games and teams are adjuticated are now on paper.

Here’s the summary from a self-described “stats and excel nerd.” My clarifications are in [italicized brackets]:

I was working on this yesterday prior to the game because I knew that UConn had beaten Nova because of how much they were able to get to the free throw line but I went ahead and finished today.

What I’ve done:

Tab 1 [This will be the two items on the left column in the gallery below.] 

I’ve taken the number of free throw attempts by each team in every Big East Conference game this season

I’ve calculated the averages and breakdowns of FTAs per game,
FTA differential per game, and FTAs per game by the winning and losing teams

Tab 2 [This will be the third item in the right column … and this is the money maker]

I’ve broken down by team, the number of FTAs per game when winning, when losing, and overall as well as how many FTAs they average per game and how many their opponents average

What does it tell us:

Probably what we already know

1. You’re more likely to win if you get to the FT line more than your opponent

2. The teams in the top of the league are more successful in that than others

3. There are some consistency issues (this could be a result of either teams or referees–I argue the latter but it’s tough to prove)

Check this out though: Nova plays Marquette on 1/2 – 48 total FTAs

Marquette plays Georgetown on 1/6 – 22 total FTAs
Nova plays Louisville on 1/11 – 94 total FTAs
Louisville plays Cincinnati on 1/24 – 23 total FTAs
Georgetown plays Nova on 2/6 – 73 total FTAs

Anything I’m missing?  You’ve seen my comments, I just feel like the BE officiating has so much control over the games because of the slashing guard.  I feel like the Coliseum should start chanting “Let them play! Let them play!”

If this doesn’t do anything for you, that’s fine.  I’m a stats and excel nerd

Uh, no. Nothing’s missing. It’s good. It’s thorough. It’s a  little too good and thorough. Look, you’re probably going to be fired when your boss gets words of this. Just stay away from my job, OK?

Everyone else, enjoy.