Coach K on JRob

[UPitt '89]

The funny thing is that I say that there is almost never a stretch of a game with 10 possessions over 2:30 minutes and your proof that you are right is listing a bunch of games that had seven or eight possessions in the last 2:45. I mean you do realize that all of the examples you came up with from tonight's games support my point and not yours, don't you?

I said 8-10 in my original post.

But let's take the number 10+ and compare it to your "almost never" statement.

Just in this weekend's ACC games:

UNC-Virginia: 13 possessions in the final 2:40
VT-WF: 11 possessions in the final 2:30
UL-Miami: 10 possessions in the final 2:33
NCSU-Syracuse: 10 Possessions in the final 2:30

That's 4 ACC games in one weekend that had 10 or more possessions in the final 2:40.

That's a strange definition of "almost never" you have.

The stats back me up and prove that your "almost never" statement was nonsense. But you'll keep arguing against it, because that's what you do.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Well at least now I can see part of the problem. You don't know how to count possessions. For instance:

UNC-Virginia (this is upside down because that's the way it copied and I have no interest in changing it):

2H - 00:02 Missed Jumpshot by Theo Pinson. Rebound Wilkins
2H - 00:05 Sub out Luke Maye
2H - 00:05 Sub in Brice Johnson. Sub out Jackson
2H - 00:05 Missed Freethrow by Theo Pinson. Rebound Pinson
2H - 00:05 Missed Freethrow by Theo Pinson. Rebound TEAM
2H - 00:05 Foul by Isaiah Wilkins
2H - 00:05 Rebound Theo Pinson
2H - 00:07 Missed 3PTR by Joel Berry II. Block by Gill
^^ Possession 8 ^^
2H - 00:15 Sub in Theo Pinson. Sub out Johnson
2H - 00:15 Sub in Kenny Williams. Sub in Maye
2H - 00:15 Timeout VA
2H 74-79 00:15 Freethrow by Devon Hall
2H 74-78 00:15 Freethrow by Devon Hall
2H - 00:15 Foul by Marcus Paige
2H 74-77 00:17 3PTR by Marcus Paige. Assist Berry II
^^ Possession 7 ^^
2H - 00:22 Sub out Theo Pinson. Sub out Williams
2H - 00:22 Sub in Isaiah Hicks. Sub in Johnson
2H - 00:22 Missed Freethrow by Anthony Gill. Rebound Johnson
2H 71-77 00:22 Freethrow by Anthony Gill
2H - 00:22 Foul by Joel Berry II
2H - 00:29 Sub out Brice Johnson. Sub out Hicks
2H - 00:29 Sub in Theo Pinson. Sub in Williams
2H - 00:29 Timeout NC
2H 71-76 00:29 Layup by Joel Berry II
^^ Possession 6 ^^
2H - 00:32 Sub in Brice Johnson. Sub out Pinson
2H 69-76 00:32 Freethrow by Malcolm Brogdon
2H 69-75 00:32 Freethrow by Malcolm Brogdon
2H - 00:32 Foul by Joel Berry II
2H - 00:34 Sub in Theo Pinson. Sub out Johnson
2H - 00:34 Turnover by Brice Johnson
^^ Possession 5 ^^
2H - 00:36 Sub in Brice Johnson. Sub out Pinson
2H - 00:36 Missed Freethrow by Devon Hall. Rebound Johnson
2H - 00:36 Foul by Marcus Paige
2H - 00:44 Sub out Luke Maye. Sub out Johnson
2H - 00:44 Sub in Theo Pinson. Sub in Hicks
2H - 00:44 Timeout NC
2H 69-74 00:47 3PTR by Justin Jackson. Assist Berry II
^^ Possession 4 ^^
2H 66-74 00:55 Layup by Anthony Gill. Assist Perrantes
2H - 01:17 Missed Layup by Marcus Paige. Rebound Gill
^^ Possession 3 ^^
2H - 01:22 Sub in Luke Maye. Sub out Hicks
2H - 01:22 Missed Freethrow by Devon Hall. Rebound Paige
2H 66-72 01:22 Freethrow by Devon Hall
2H - 01:22 Foul by Isaiah Hicks
2H - 01:45 Missed Freethrow by Brice Johnson. Rebound Brogdon
2H - 01:45 Foul by Isaiah Wilkins
^^ Possession 2 ^^
2H - 01:50 Rebound Joel Berry II
2H - 01:53 Missed Layup by Devon Hall. Block by Hicks
2H - 01:55 Missed Layup by Devon Hall. Rebound Hall
2H - 02:13 Timeout NC
2H 66-71 02:14 DUNK by Isaiah Hicks. Assist Johnson
^^ Possesssion 1 ^^


That's not 13 possessions, it's 8. In fact it's only 7-1/2 if you start at the 2:30 mark that you continue to now try to expand, because Virginia never actually got an 8th possession. If you go to 2:40 then it's a full 8, not 13. I can't even imagine how you get 13 possessions out of that.

Similarly the Wake Forest - Virginia Tech game wasn't 11, it was 9-1/2. The Louisville - Miami game wasn't 10, it was 6. The NC State - Syracuse game wasn't 10, it was 5. The Seton Hall - Xavier game from Saturday that you touted as having 11 possessions actually only had 9. So the real issue here isn't my statement that it is rare for a game to have 10 possessions in 2-1/2 minutes, it's the fact that you appear to have no idea what actually constitutes a possession and how to count them.

To go a step further, there were 17 D1 games yesterday. ESPN has the play by play for 14 of them. None of them had 10 possessions in the last 2:30. The McNeese State - Lamar game (77-74 McNeese) came the closest with 9. It was the only game with more than 7.

On Sunday there were 25 games. The 9-1/2 in the Wake - Virginia Tech game was the most of the day. The way I am counting them for this exercise that 9-1/2 counts as 10 (I'm being kind and rounding up for you). There were two other games at 9, the aforementioned Seton Hall - Xavier game and the Nevada - Colorado State game. No other games were higher than 7.

That's 39 total games over two days, and the only way we even get one game to 10 is by rounding the actual 9-1/2 possessions up. There were only 4 of the 39 that even had more than 7 (or should I say more than 6-1/2?). Do you know why that is? Because games with 10 possessions in 2-1/2 minutes are rare. One might say that they "almost never" happen. Especially if you actually know how to count possessions.