šŸ“‹ Xs and Os (not Jimmys and Joes)

Yeah, I mean but it has to be measured using actual play by play data, though, right? Ie when the ESPN game tracker says player x attempted 3 point jump shot at 16:41.

Because every possession ends with a FGA, a TO, or FTs and possessions are equal

3 Likes

That seems like a reasonable assumption. But I haven’t run it down on their website glossaries

Got it. I wasn’t sure if they made any adjustment for pace of opponents played like there is with efficiencies.

I’m curious (curious enough to type out a post, not to actually look at the data) if power conference teams tend to play faster because they have better athletes

Basically the answer is yes, PBP data. Not sure how he accounts for ORs. It seems like circa 2013 he wasn’t able to clean that out.

https://kenpom.com/blog/behold-average-possession-length/

Since I’m not reading that, my guess is the data just got better. ORs are not counted as extra possessions. they are subtracted from FGA. So, assuming the timing is precise (which seems like a leap across all D1), you just need a time stamp on makes, DRs, TOs, and FTs and a big ass excel spreadsheet to calculate.

If you had good enough data (to your point, questionable in all of D1), you could measure something like first shot possession length, until any rebound (offensive or defensive). But given that he’s still linking an explanation from 2013, I wonder if he’s just still counting the full possession.

Also worth noting that these components aren’t adjusted, but overall pace is adjusted.

1 Like

Hmmm…delving into the realm of a debate about almost completely useless information…

A) there’s no need to adjust average possession length for pace because it is what it is
B) still not reading it
C) ORs are subtracted from FGA. Even though the shot clock resets, an OR is not counted as an extra possession (even though it kinda should be) in a pace calculation.
D) fine maybe I’ll read it when I walk my dog later. Looked like a lot of words.

He adjusts the overall pace for competition. So if a super fast team plays Bennett-era Virginia he finds a way to normalize that

Irrelevant for this calculation, from what I can tell. Pace measures possessions. These O/D component** stats don’t. It’s basically just a measure of how long you have the ball before the other team has the ball. So circa 2013 at least an OR would just make it seem like a longer possession.

** so they’re not really components, to be clear

I expect when most people talk about pace, the metric they really want is ā€œhow long from taking possession to first taking a shot (or drawing a foul)ā€. That ignores possessions ending in turnovers, it ignores everything that happens after an OR, and of course it ignores defensive possessions. So it’s a completely different metric! But it’s still probably what people are casually thinking about when ā€œpaceā€ comes up.

3 Likes

Also, to be clear, this is called a discussion. If we were debating, you’d know, because you’d be wrong

4 Likes

Exactly! And for all I know, that’s what Ken is now doing, but if so, he hasn’t updated the explanation

Yes I was just coming back to confess my sin on this matter

1 Like

I was wrong. So it’s a debate. So you’re wrong.

1 Like

Consider yourself absolved. It’s tricky terminology - I’m not being consistent with it.

Pace is adjusted (in Kenpom)

Average possession length isn’t

It’s such a different metric that it would be really confusing to change it and yet keep calling it the same thing, so I hope he didn’t. The only good way to introduce it would be as a new metric (ā€œtime to first shotā€).

Seems more like something Torvik would do tbh. He likes to fiddle with new toys.

1 Like

How was the .475 derived? I’ve also seen .44 and .4 elsewhere.

What do you do with a TO followed immediately by another TO? Or ball goes OOB off opposing player? New possession probably, but opposing team basically never had real possession. Also happens so infrequently that it probably isn’t worth parsing the data for that.

https://kenpom.com/blog/ratings-glossary/

Yup, saw that. But also saw this. https://kenpom.com/blog/the-possession/

The glossary description, which uses .475 is from 2012, and the other one is from 2004, so I guess he settled on .475

I just clicked the first google link. I don’t think the value of one FTA is going to change much in any argument about pace but you guys do you guys.