Comparing the season openers for Kansas basketball 2013 v 2012
Kansas opened the basketball season by beating the University of Louisiana Monroe 80-63. I started the season by watching the game on TV and then pulling up the box score from Kenpom.com. I compared last night’s game with the season opener from a year ago when Kansas beat Southeast Missouri State 74-55. Comparisons give context.
The game was slower this year
Last night’s game had 70 possessions compared to 73 the year before.
Both teams score more per possession this year
Kansas’ scored 1.14 points per possession this year and ULM scored 0.90. Last year the comparable stats were 1.01 and 0.75.
The gap between Kansas and ULM was 0.24 points per possession. That’s just a little bit less than last year’s first game (0.26).
More players played this year
Nine Kansas players had 10 minutes or more playing time this year compared to seven players last year.
Both teams made more of their 2 and 3 point shots
Kansas made 64 % of their 2-point and 38.9 % of their 3-point shots. Both of those percentages are better than the first game last year.
ULM made 46.2 % of their 2-point and 30 % of their 3-point shots. both of those percentages are better than Kansas’ opponent shot in the first game of last season.
Lots of fouls this year
If you watched the game, this was obvious. I don’t actually know if the rules have changed or if the way referees are calling fouls has changed, but the effect is that there were a lot of fouls. Last year’s opening game had 38 fouls, last night’s game had 58 fouls.
Both teams this year shot worse on free throws.
I don’t know how teams and players will adjust to the new approach to calling fouls. In some ways it will be interesting to see how quickly that happens. I’m hoping it happens quickly because the gap in play when there are lots of fouls makes the sport less interesting to watch.
I don’t know how often referees look at replays to make sure they've made the right call. But, I hope that doesn't increase along with the increase in fouls.
