It has been a while, but not with Wisconsin sitting at 11-0 I thought it might be a good time to once again look at some advanced stats as it pertains to the Badgers.
Here's the key to the chart below:PPP = points per possession (by formula; I have not rounded up or down); OPP PPP = opponent points per possession; eFG% = effective field goal %; OR% = offensive rebounding percentage; DR% = defensive rebounding percentage; TO% = turnover percentage (per possession)
As you can see, other than a few early games, Wisconsin isn't really getting a lot of possessions, but the Badgers are making the most of them with a high efficiency (i.e. good points per possession). In fact, UW ranks 38th in the nation in PPP at 1.117. UW's defensive efficiency is just 61st in the nation, although a still at a very respectable 0.943 (for some context, last year UW was at 1.018 offensively and 0.877 defensively).
Wisconsin's effective FG% is up from last year - 53.7% this year compared to 48.6% in 2012-13 - which certainly has been a key factor to the hot start.
Meanwhile, turnovers, as usual, have been minimal. Wisconsin ranks ninth in the nation in turnover percentage at 13.5% (15.3% last season).
Low turnover, high effective shooting and making the most out of each possession. Not hard to see a formula for winning there.
If there's one bugaboo for the Badgers, it has been rebounding. While it has gotten better, Wisconsin still ranks 219th in offensive rebounding percentage - i.e. the number of rebounds off Wisconsin's missed shots it gets - at 27.6%.
However, the Badgers are 17th in the nation at defensive rebounding percentage at 77.6%, which kind of shockingly (based on a bigger team last year) is higher than its rate in 2012-13 of 76.4%.
Here's the game-by-game numbers:
| GAME | POSSESSIONS | PPP | OPP PPP | eFG% | OR% | DR% | TO% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 64.25 | 1.339 | 1.138 | 56.4% | 41.1% | 57.1% | 15.5% |
| Florida | 60.65 | 0.972 | 0.882 | 53.1% | 26.7% | 79.3% | 23.1% |
| UWGB | 71.075 | 0.971 | 0.884 | 48.3% | 17.1% | 72.5% | 14.1% |
| North Dakota | 73.775 | 1.396 | 1.115 | 69.4% | 27.5% | 69.7% | 12.2% |
| Bowling Green | 68.35 | 1.287 | 0.975 | 66.7% | 20.0% | 73.7% | 14.6% |
| Oral Roberts | 61.55 | 1.235 | 1.066 | 53.5% | 36.3% | 85.7% | 13.0% |
| Saint Louis | 62.25 | 1.012 | 0.850 | 51.1% | 19.4% | 73.9% | 14.5% |
| West Virginia | 60.075 | 1.165 | 1.006 | 50.9% | 29.0% | 84.8% | 11.7% |
| Virginia | 56.5 | 0.850 | 0.655 | 33.7% | 31.6% | 77.8% | 12.4% |
| Marquette | 58.925 | 1.188 | 1.012 | 46.4% | 36.7% | 63.9% | 10.2% |
| UW-Milwaukee | 64.275 | 1.214 | 0.785 | 59.0% | 29.0% | 86.7% | 12.4% |
