Submitted for N.C. State's Consideration

I've thought of a potential Wolfpack coach. The salient statistics:

• Associate coach for two national championship teams, and 3 ACC champs
  
• Extensive knowledge of the Duke-UNC-N.C. State dynamic
  
• Possibly the most experience in the country in defeating Krzyzewski
  recruited teams.
  

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Wolfack coach, Pete Gaudet.

Big Tar Wonk

You know, everyday I check this site, and each time I curse the lazy schmuck who can't be bothered to update the damn thing with his half-formed ruminations. And don't get me started on the way he can't respond to e-mail.

So in leiu of season ending analysis, I offer season ending data dumps. Before the ACC's rapid exodus from the NCAA, I put together the tempo-free stats for the ACC conference season, using the ACC provided stats and combing box scores to fill in the blanks - primarily rebounds allowed and shots against. There are some interesting conclusions to be teased out of them, starting with comparing Duke's fouls to those of the typical perimeter-oriented team, but I never summoned the energy to make a full post out of it. There's no point in letting the work go to waste, though:

The offensive stats (Points Per Possesion, Effective FG Percentage, Offensive Rebounding Percentage, Turnover Percentage, and Free Throw Proficiency):

                PPP    eFG   OReb    TO %   FTP
Duke            1.12  0.554  0.323  0.201  0.343
North Carolina  1.11  0.541  0.432  0.235  0.287
N.C. State      1.11  0.556  0.282  0.203  0.335
Boston College  1.10  0.517  0.444  0.207  0.297
Miami           1.08  0.484  0.394  0.177  0.220
Wake Forest     1.05  0.492  0.414  0.218  0.259
Florida State   1.04  0.523  0.339  0.222  0.314
Virginia Tech   1.02  0.489  0.317  0.166  0.194
Georgia Tech    1.00  0.512  0.395  0.258  0.227
Clemson         0.99  0.484  0.372  0.217  0.223
Virginia        0.99  0.455  0.395  0.216  0.257
Maryland        0.96  0.457  0.357  0.232  0.314

And the defensive stats (Their opponent's results for the same, with defensive rebounding percentage replacing offensive and opponent's free throw attempts measuring fouls):

                OPPP  OeFG   DReb   OTO%   OFTO
North Carolina  0.98  0.463  0.724  0.186  0.335
Duke            0.99  0.469  0.612  0.219  0.306
Clemson         1.01  0.525  0.676  0.259  0.459
Maryland        1.01  0.483  0.679  0.219  0.358
Florida State   1.03  0.524  0.673  0.240  0.369
Georgia Tech    1.06  0.506  0.677  0.210  0.478
Virginia        1.06  0.511  0.706  0.178  0.366
Virginia Tech   1.06  0.538  0.680  0.243  0.363
N.C. State      1.08  0.485  0.665  0.182  0.348
Miami           1.08  0.524  0.678  0.234  0.449
Boston College  1.08  0.519  0.672  0.202  0.345
Wake Forest     1.14  0.529  0.672  0.184  0.454

And yes, Duke's opponents really didn't make it to the line that often, did they?

Here's a quick summary of efficiency margin:

North Carolina  0.13
Duke            0.13
N.C. State      0.03
Boston College  0.02
Florida State   0.01
Miami           0.00
Clemson        -0.01
Virginia Tech  -0.04
Maryland       -0.05
Georgia Tech   -0.06
Virginia       -0.07
Wake Forest    -0.08

And just how much each team lives and dies by the three-pointer:

               3FGA/A  3FG %
N.C. State      0.453  0.405
Clemson         0.384  0.324
Duke            0.356  0.409
Miami           0.332  0.350
Virginia        0.330  0.318
North Carolina  0.322  0.400
Wake Forest     0.316  0.374
Boston College  0.311  0.355
Florida State   0.274  0.388
Georgia Tech    0.259  0.414
Virginia Tech   0.254  0.318
Maryland        0.204  0.346

I wouldn't have thought N.C. State would be more trigger happy than the Redick-addicted Blue Devils. Anyway, if you have a particular number fetish, have at it.

Colder Than the Coldest Winter Was Cold

...was the second half shooting for the Tar Heels. Some of it was Latta's injury, a good deal was Little's foul trouble, but for a long stretch of a the game if your name wasn't Elana Larkins, you weren't getting the ball in the hoop.

I really thought the Miller three-pointer was going to start the run, but they couldn't string it together. Offensive frustration eventually leads to defensive mistakes, and that's all she wrote. Here's to next year.

Consensus

Almost all the talking heads at ESPN have UNC winning the championship. CBS agrees. And the AP already thinks Sylvia Hatchell is the coach of the year. The Final Four tips off momentarily.

Oh, and the AP was pretty fond of the men's coaching job as well.