ADB is preparing for our field trip to the Zona game, but because we are far nicer than you deserve, we managed to put together this mailbag. But it’s just Meghan and Peter. It is the A Dime Bard Mailbag. You’re welcome.
Big Ron asks: How much of the team’s improvement is real and how much is just seeing what we want to see?
Certainly the quality of the opposition hasn’t been anything to write home about, but going into the season, I cited the entire collection of large boys and men on the roster as the biggest X factor. So far, we’ve seen huge jumps in performance from a number of players, but none more than Josh Carlton and Tyler Polley. Carlton has increased his field goal attempt rate by 18.4 percent. Normally, when a player starts shooting a lot more, their efficiency goes down. However, for Carlton, his field goal percentage has actually gone up by 23 percent. Polley has made even bigger strides on the offensive end, seeing his field goal attempt rate go up by more than 30 percent while increasing his field goal percent by more than 50 percent.
Both players have made huge jumps on the defensive end as well. Carlton’s block rate has increased by nearly 45 percent while Polley’s has gone up a ludicrous 228.6 percent. Of course, players who protect the rim more aggressively tend to foul more, but this hasn’t happened either. Polley’s foul rate remains basically unchanged (went from fouling on 4.6 percent of possessions to 4.7 percent), while Carlton’s foul rate has dropped by a mammoth 34 percent, meaning he has reached the point where he can actually play full games without fouling out (on aggregate).
These improvements are showing up in spades in their advanced metrics, with Carlton improving his Offensive Rating from 105 to 136, and his Defensive Rating from 107 to 100. Polley has seen similar results, going from 92 to 128 on the offensive end, and 115 to 105 on the defensive.
Will these improvements hold up as the schedule gets tougher? It’s hard to imagine that they won’t dip a little bit, but it’s clear that both Carlton and Polley are significantly better players than they were a year ago, and that is going to make an enormous difference for a team that was starved for functional interior play.
Ben asks: Who is starting at the 4 come AAC tournament play? Sid or Polley?
Well Ben, if Peter were answering this question, he would tell you that Sid isn’t really a 4 and is listed as a guard on the roster. And as you can see from the above answer, Polley is absolutely killin’ it. Hurley has said Sid will get minutes as the default 4 when they go small, so I’m sure he’ll get minutes when there are three guards, him and a big on the floor, but I don’t expect him to start at the 4 barring unforeseen circumstances. Jelly looked like someone who hasn’t played in a real basketball game in a good, long while when we finally got to see him, but he clearly needs to work on his game to get into the starting lineup.
Daniel asks: What’s a better dairy bar flavor: blueberry cheesecake or banana chocolate chip
Daniel. What the fuck. Why are we choosing between these two when there are a myriad better options? Honestly. We’re trying to have a civilization here.
— Meghan and Peter, both horrified
The UConn Blog asks: Doing anything after the Arizona game?
It’s funny you should ask. Alex, Russ, Peter and I will all be attending the Zona game on Sunday, and afterwards will be at The Press to crash the TUB party (level of drunkenness tbd)! Meet them, meet us, talk hoops, drink booze, get stickers. Name a better crossover.
— Meghan
