Can someone measure Jason Clark's wingspan?

I should be doing work right now, but instead I was trolling on Basketball Prospectus' website, which had an article about most tradeable players in the NBA [$]. Within that article is another link, to the wonderful DraftExpress pre-draft measurement database.

For some reason, that table got me to thinking about the relationship between height and wingspan, and how Jason Clark would figure on that scale. It also reminded me of a classic HoyaTalk thread: Jason Clark's Wing Span...

So, since I still don't want to do work, I decided to work out how big your wingspan should be compared to your height - at least if you are a potential NBA player, which is the cohort from which the data derives.

So, here it is:

It's that simple - just take your height and add 4.5" and that is your expected wingspan.

Some trivia from the database:

• the player with the greatest wingspan is former Hoya target John Riek
• the player with the best reach for his height is Dallas Lauderdale
• a few of those dots well-below the fitted line are from obscure Europeans, who might have bad measurements
• the player with the worst reach for his height from the reliable measurements is Marshall Plumlee

I should probably go back to work.

A Comparison

Color me optimistic this morning.  I'm pretty sure the source is simply halo from the Louisville win and general guilt from having let Brian carry this blog for the past two months, but either way, it occurred to me that this team is kinda, sorta, in that-wow-we-might-be-really-good way similar to the last Hoya Big East regular season champs.

This website keeps non-conference stats, and 2011-12 has all of one conference game played, so non-conference stats are what I'm going to use to compare.  I won't be ignoring the important (read: conference) games in the commentary, but the stats listed will all be non-conference.

The Center of Attention.

Stat           Hibbert [Sr]       Sims [Sr]
Poss%             26                 29  
ORating          122                118
OReb%             14                  9
DReb%             17                 18
ARate             15                 31
TORate            14                 18
Goofiness          8                 10
Block %           10                  8
Team Def Rating   88                 86
Indiv D Rating    89                 84
Monster Points     1                  0

I know. I'm as surprised as you. They have different strengths and weaknesses, but offensively, they have been similarly effective. We know that Roy's performance translated well to conference play -- his low post moves did not lose effectiveness, but we did see his offensive rebounding decline and turnovers increase as he became the focus of better defenses.

That's a concern for Sims; similar slides in either or more games where his shot is rolling out, and his effectiveness will start to rely almost entirely on his passing. And we know from experience the backdoors are severely cut down in conference play.

It is interesting to note that this year's Hoyas are statistically superior to the '07-08 Hoyas in non-conference defense. Some of that is opponent, but it's a nice sign for this year's Hoyas and Sims in particular.  

Verdict: Sims isn't having a Ya-Ya year; he's having what we'll call a Sims year in the future. Ya-Ya went from nothing to decent; Sims is well beyond that. But Roy was still better, though possibly by not as much as I thought.

the rest of the breakdown after the jump

Season Preview: Jason Clark

By some metrics, Jason Clark was the Hoyas’ best offensive player in conference play last year.

He led the team in eFG% [= (FGM + .5*3PM)/FGA] in conference play and was second only to Greg Monroe in TS% [= Pts/(2*[FGA + (.44*FTA)])]. He was the team’s best 3-point shooter. He was the team’s best rebounder from the guard spot, and again only Monroe was truly a better rebounder.

Of course, Clark wasn’t the Hoyas’ best offensive player. Actually, he really wasn't all that close to the top, probably sliding in at #5 spot in a short rotation. The reason was simple: turnovers.

As noted above, Clark was great at putting the ball in the hoop when he actually got a shot off.

The problem is that nearly 30% of the time Clark ended a Hoya possession, he never took a shot - he was turning the ball over. Every time Clark shoots the ball, the Hoyas score an average of 1.4 points, which is fantastic. But once you factor in the turnovers, Clark was a sub-par offensive player.

Clark is an extreme, but he’s no more an extreme on the Hoyas than the Hoyas are in college basketball. Since Thompson has been at Georgetown, the team has generally been very efficient at scoring when they actually shoot, and fairly poor at taking care of the ball:

Conference Play       
Year      TO Rate  Rank  TO/game   TS%  Rank   Off. Eff.
2004-05     22      11    13.8      56    2      105
2005-06     19       9    11.5      56    3      110
2006-07     22      14    13.4      60    1      115
2007-08     21      14    13.5      58    3      110
2008-09     23      14    15.0      54    7      101

This is not a surprise, of course.

The Hoyas work the shot clock, looking for a high percentage opportunity. Those extra passes and dribbles mean extra chances for turnovers. There are a significant number of attempts at backdoors and other cuts; those types of plays often result in either an extraordinarily high percentage shot - a layup or dunk - or a turnover. Additionally, the offense requires that all players handle and pass; there’s no doubt that some players are more turnover-prone than others (we're also looking at you, Mr. Vaughn). In other offenses the coaches may find a way to shield those players from having the ball too often.

The benefit to Georgetown’s approach, of course, is better shot selection than most teams. When working effectively, it generates a tremendous amount of easy shots and uncontested lay-ups. There are few ill-advised or forced shots.

In general, the Hoyas’ excellent True Shooting % has overcome the team’s difficulty with turnovers. But last year, two things happened on this front. The team did not make as many shots (and from my observation, did not get nearly as many easy shots). And the turnover rate increased as well as pace, leading to an increase of almost 1.5 turnovers per game.

This may not seem like much. But given the Hoyas’ efficiency at scoring, the benefit gained from reducing turnovers is more significant than most. Lowering the team turnover rate to 20% from 23% would yield an extra two offensive shot attempts per game, not including any put-backs. Provided that the team would take those extra shots at their normal accuracy, that yields an extra 2.5-3.0 ppg. Given the number of careless and stupid turnovers observed (painfully), there is no reason to think that a reduction of turnovers by one to two a game could only come at the expense of the team taking worse shots.

Georgetown was outscored in conference play 66 to 67 - 1 point! Would their record have been 7-11 if the average score was 69-67 instead? Looking at it another way, the Hoyas lost three games by three points or less: Cincinnati, at Syracuse and at St. John’s. With those extra points, that’s a 10-8 record and an NCAA bid without improving upon any other aspect of their game.

With Jessie Sapp graduated and Vee Sanford a freshman, more ball handling opportunities will fall to Clark this year. He was on the floor for just 44% of conference minutes last year and used only 18% of possessions once there. Both of those are likely to increase.

That means even more focus upon Clark’s ball-handling and decision-making than last year.

Another year of struggling to hold onto the ball, and much of the Hoyas’ season could replay like the Duke game, when Clark’s otherwise fine play was marred by a disastrous turnover when filling in at point for Chris Wright. But if Clark can solve his turnover problem, he may be one of the most efficient guards in the Big East. If the Hoyas as a whole can solve their turnover problem, they will return to being one of the best offenses in the country.

Recap: Georgetown 100, Savannah St. 38

No, that's not a typo.

A cursory look through the Georgetown Basketball History Project's archives indicates this was the most lopsided win since a 97-35 drubbing of Hawaii-Hilo in 1983. This was even worse than last year's Radford game (110-51), and that slaughter seemed to be incited by some chippy play by the Highlanders in the 1st half. I'm sure that HoyaSaxa.com will be able to put the game in its true historical context later tonight.

To add insult to injury, the official box score has the name of Tigers' school misspelled.

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            GU                              Savannah State 
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            34        32        66

Effic.        165.3     133.3     150.1        43.5      71.3      57.0

eFG%           79.3      72.9      76.4        21.9      34.0      27.2
TO%            20.3      24.8      22.5        23.2      24.8      24.0
OR%            81.8      55.6      70.0        30.8      22.2      27.3
FT Rate        55.2      41.7      49.1         6.2      32.0      17.5

Assist Rate    42.9      56.2      48.6        66.7      57.1      61.5
Block Rate     26.1       5.6      17.1         4.8       0.0       2.6
Steal Rate     11.6      18.6      15.0        11.6       6.2       9.0

2FG%           81.0      76.5      78.9        17.4      22.2      19.5
3FG%           50.0      42.9      46.7        22.2      42.9      31.2
FT%            68.8      80.0      73.1        50.0      75.0      70.0  

Since the Hoyas got to the century mark, you'd expect that the game was played at a high pace, but not so - 66 possessions is about average for G'town so far this year.

Let's get that red mark out of the way early - the Tigers came into the game as a poor offensive rebounding team, yet still managed to get 30% of their own misses in the 1st half. Now, to be fair, an OReb = 30% is no great shakes, but it is above their season average of 28% coming into the game.

Georgetown shot obscenely well from 2FG all game, with 26 of 38 2FGA either dunk, tip-in or lay-up. And when they did take 2-pt jump shots, they made a remarkable 10/12 - that's as much good fortune as skill.

But the most impressive stat has to be offensive rebounding: there were 20 available rebounds when Georgetown was on offense, and the Hoyas corralled 14 of them - 70%!! Amazingly, the Hoyas have had an even better night on the glass in the not-so-distant past, when they got 71% OReb against Seton Hall in 2007.

Savannah St. never shot the ball well from 2FG, but made a few more 3FGs to start the second half (and annoyed JTIII enough to cause him to call a timeout) to lift their shooting percentage in the Vesper half.

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

GU                    Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ             
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
Summers, DaJuan        33    10.5    99.9    10.5        34     52.2      3.5       +6.9
Wright, Chris          35     6.5   109.5     7.1        36     72.2      5.2       +1.9
Monroe, Greg           34     6.2   217.8    13.6        33     67.0      4.4       +9.1
Freeman, Austin        31     8.5   152.2    13.0        33     70.6      4.7       +8.3
Sapp, Jessie           38     5.7   190.2    10.8        37     64.5      4.8       +6.0
Mescheriakov, Nikita   24     1.9   127.2     2.4        25     43.6      2.2       +0.2
Jansen, Bryon           4     1.0   200.0     2.0         4    100.0      0.8       +1.2
Clark, Jason           37     7.8   153.7    11.9        37     31.2      2.3       +9.6
Vaughn, Julian         30     7.9   154.7    12.2        32     54.3      3.5       +8.7
Sims, Henry            29     4.2   143.5     6.0        29     30.1      1.7       +4.3
Wattad, Omar           25     4.2   215.4     9.1        25     51.9      2.6       +6.5
TOTALS                 64    64.3   153.2    98.5        65     54.9     35.7      +62.8    

Savannah State         Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ             
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
Bailey, Raye           56     8.7   117.8    10.3        54    149.2     16.1       -5.8
Jones, Anthony         46    10.5    71.0     7.5        46    155.1     14.3       -6.8
Shuler, Jovonni        34     6.2    40.4     2.5        31    132.0      8.2       -5.7
Hassan, Rashad         32     2.6   208.8     5.3        32    152.7      9.8       -4.4
Linton, Chris          42    15.0    35.4     5.3        42    145.5     12.2       -6.9
Hardy, Patrick         34     2.0     0.0     0.0        34    161.8     11.0      -11.0
St. Fort, Mark         15     0.0     -       0.0        14    155.2      4.3       -4.3
Mitchell, Rod          13     5.0     0.0     0.0        11    114.2      2.5       -2.5
Izevbigie, Glen        13     2.0     0.0     0.0        12    199.3      4.8       -4.8
Brown, Curtis          25     6.0    34.9     2.1        27    159.2      8.6       -6.5
Louis, Arnold          15     3.2    82.6     2.7        17    160.6      5.5       -2.8
TOTALS                 65    61.3    58.3    35.7        64    152.0     97.3      -61.6    

This was definitely a game for stat padding, as D. Summers was the only Georgetown player - starter or bench - to fail to produce a 100+ offensive rating, and he only missed by 0.1. He did, however, have the un-televised highlight of the game with a backdoor cut turned into a thunderous dunk in the 2nd half. As Dan Shulman (?) said a few years ago, "I never saw Princeton do that!"

In terms of absolute offensive efficiency, G. Monroe led with way, with his 3 offensive rebounds and 1 A / 0 TO (along with 3 blocks on defense) complimenting his efficient shooting performance.

Well, I could keep going down the list, but everyone had a nice offensive game today, so I'll cut right to the chase: the player of the game is . . . Jason Clark. Mr. Clark secures the first POTG for a bench player this season, as he was a perfect 3/3 2FG, 4/4 FT (and 0/2 3FG), grabbed 4 off. rebounds and 2 steals and committed no turnovers.

HD BOX SCORE

Savannah State vs GU
12/08/08 7:30 at Verizon Center
Final score: GU 100, Savannah State 38

Savannah State           Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Bailey, Raye           33:49  -48  14/36  1- 2  3- 5  3- 4  7/47  4/ 8  1/54  3/56  0/30  0/35  2/19   4
Jones, Anthony         28:58  -39   9/31  1- 6  2- 6  1- 2 12/42  0/ 8  0/46  0/46  0/27  1/31  0/17   1
Shuler, Jovonni        20:07  -24   2/23  0- 3  0- 2  2- 2  5/33  1/ 8  2/31  1/34  0/20  1/25  3/ 8   4
Hassan, Rashad         21:00  -24   4/24  2- 5  0- 0  0- 0  5/32  1/ 7  0/32  0/32  0/23  3/23  0/13   1
Linton, Chris          24:55  -32   5/29  2-11  0- 0  1- 2 11/38  0/ 9  0/42  4/42  0/26  2/27  0/11   2
Hardy, Patrick         21:14  -44   0/13  0- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/26  0/ 4  1/34  2/34  0/20  0/22  0/ 8   1
St. Fort, Mark         08:45  -17   0/ 6  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/10  0/ 1  0/14  0/15  1/ 5  0/ 9  1/ 4   2
Mitchell, Rod          07:13  -15   0/ 0  0- 5  0- 0  0- 0  5/13  0/ 0  1/11  1/13  0/ 4  1/13  0/ 3   2
Izevbigie, Glen        08:46  -21   0/ 5  0- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/ 9  0/ 1  1/12  1/13  0/ 8  0/ 8  0/ 3   2
Brown, Curtis          15:52  -31   2/11  1- 3  0- 3  0- 0  6/23  1/ 3  0/27  1/25  0/17  1/19  0/ 8   0
Louis, Arnold          09:21  -15   2/12  1- 3  0- 0  0- 0  3/12  1/ 3  0/17  1/15  0/10  1/ 8  0/ 6   2
TOTALS                 40:00       38     8-41  5-16  7-10    57  8/13  6/64 16/65  1/38 12/44  6/20  21
.                                        0.195 0.312 0.700       0.615 0.094 0.246 0.026 0.273 0.300    

GU                      Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Summers, DaJuan        19:21  +25  14/49  4- 6  2- 2  0- 1  8/28  1/13  2/34  5/33  0/21  1/11  4/25   1
Wright, Chris          21:03  +32   6/58  3- 5  0- 1  0- 0  6/32  4/18  1/36  1/35  0/22  0/14  2/25   1
Monroe, Greg           19:40  +31  13/54  4- 6  0- 0  5- 7  6/30  1/16  1/33  0/34  3/19  3/11  4/21   1
Freeman, Austin        20:30  +21  14/45  6- 6  0- 1  2- 2  7/27  3/13  1/33  3/31  1/21  0/ 9  3/24   2
Sapp, Jessie           23:58  +30  14/56  3- 3  2- 4  2- 2  7/29  1/16  1/37  0/38  0/25  0/ 9  3/26   0
Mescheriakov, Nikita   15:11  +30   3/39  0- 1  1- 1  0- 2  2/18  1/11  0/25  1/24  0/14  0/ 8  2/15   2
Jansen, Bryon          02:57  + 3   2/ 7  0- 0  0- 0  2- 2  0/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 4  0/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 1   0
Clark, Jason           21:14  +45  10/56  3- 3  0- 2  4- 4  5/32  1/19  2/37  0/37  0/24  4/13  1/27   2
Vaughn, Julian         20:20  +31   7/46  3- 3  0- 0  1- 2  3/23  3/14  0/32  2/30  1/22  5/ 9  3/23   3
Sims, Henry            18:33  +36   8/50  2- 2  1- 1  1- 2  3/24  0/15  2/29  2/29  2/16  0/ 8  4/16   0
Wattad, Omar           17:13  +26   9/40  2- 3  1- 3  2- 2  6/20  3/11  0/25  1/25  0/20  0/ 8  4/17   0
TOTALS                 40:00       100   30-38  7-15 19-26    53 18/37 10/65 15/64  7/41 14/20 32/44  12
.                                        0.789 0.467 0.731       0.486 0.154 0.234 0.171 0.700 0.727    

Efficiency: GU 1.562, Savannah State 0.585
eFG%: GU 0.764, Savannah State 0.272
Substitutions: GU 32, Savannah State 41

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: GU 4-4, Savannah State 1-1
Layups/Tips: GU 16-22, Savannah State 2-8
Jumpers: GU 10-12, Savannah State 5-32

Fast break pts: GU 8 (0.099), Savannah State 2 (0.065)
Seconds per off. poss: GU 17.5, Savannah State 20.2

Much like last season, Georgetown will turn from an absolute blow-out to a much more difficult task, facing off against the Memphis Tigers. Memphis is in the midst of an 11-day break (scheduled for finals, I'd expect), and will be looking to beat the Hoyas in consecutive seasons. SFHoya99 has a preview above.