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The BYU Basketball Cougars are off to a solid 6-1 start, they're getting Top 25 votes in both major polls, and they have the respect of noted stats analyst Ken Pomeroy.
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While the Cougars' current RPI is 122 (according to Jerry Palm at collegerpi.com), Pomeroy has BYU as the nation's 14th rated team, leading the Mountain West Conference.
UNLV, for example, is ranked 17th and 18th in the Top 25 polls, and has an RPI of 16 to lead the MWC--yet, the Rebels' Pomeroy rating is only 72; so, you are asking, how accurate and representative are the Pomeroy ratings?
Well, as Pomeroy himself explains, his numbers not only represent a team's record or "how good their season has been," they represent how a team is playing. The Pomeroy ratings are essentially an objective and predictive indicator of a team's on-the-floor strengths; RPI is basically a measure of win percentage, and that of your opponents, and your opponents' opponents.
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In the most recent weekly NCAA Stats update (thru games of 12/06), BYU shows well, including top 20 rankings in five categories:
Won-Lost Percentage 36th (85.7)
Scoring Offense 32nd (80.6)
Scoring Defense 32nd (59.0)
Scoring Margin 8th (21.6)
Field-Goal Percentage 32nd (48.3)
Field-Goal Pct Defense 22nd (36.9)
3-Point Field Goals/Game 48th (8.0)
3-Point Field-Goal Pct 21st (41.8)
Three Pt FG Defense 164th (33.7)
Free-Throw Percentage 1st (82.7)
Rebound Margin 118th (3.0)
Assists Per Game 75th (15.3)
Assist Turnover Ratio 18th (1.43)
Blocked Shots Per Game 126th (3.7)
Steals Per Game 30th (9.7)
Turnovers Per Game 8th (10.7)
Turnover Margin 11th (6.3)
Personal Fouls Per Game 107th (17.7)
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Individually, BYU has the following players ranked in the national Top 25--
Jimmer Fredette: Free throw percentage (23rd; 93.0%)
Jackson Emery: Three point field goal percentage (8th; 52.6%)
Jackson Emery: Steals per game (22nd; 2.7/gm)
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By the way, Fredette has hit on 27 consecutive free throws; the BYU record is 32 in a row, by Michael Smith.
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A reminder: tonight's game with Arizona State is being billed as a white-out, with reduced price tickets available--including one dollar seats above concourse.
While tonight's game isn't accompanied by the same buzz that preceded last year's home game with Wake Forest, BYU players and coaches are hoping that the home crowd is out in force tonight, even on a snowy day along the Wasatch Front.
This is the first time a Dave Rose-coached team has welcomed a Pac-10 team to the Marriott Center; the last time a Pac-10 team played at BYU was more than five years ago: November 27th, 2004, when California came in and beat the Steve Cleveland-coached Cougars 67-64.
Arizona State is 6-2 on the season and should be in the mix in the upper half of the Pac-10, with the Sun Devils' only losses this season coming against Duke and Baylor, two teams with a combined record of 14-2.
Make no mistake, tonight's game is a big one for the Cougars' postseason resume; I would hope that a huge crowd is on hand to welcome the Sun Devils to chilly Provo.
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I would also hope that some of you have taken my recommendation and purchased a copy of Timothy R. Clark's book "The Leadership Test." It would make a great stocking stuffer this holiday season; its online list price is only $9.99. Clark is a former BYU defensive lineman who has gone on to become a successful executive and management consultant; this is his second book.
"The Leadership Test" tells a short story that will benefit not only leaders and would-be leaders, but family members, friends--anyone who wants to become a better person.
I rarely use this space for such recommendations, but "The Leadership Test" deserves as much attention as I can bring to it.
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