A few thoughts about Minnesota...

[DodgerHawki]

Looking ahead to the Gophers, while the Gophers have 3 losses they are not a team that Iowa matches up well with. Purdue is 9th in the country in defensive efficiency according to Pomeroy, with the Boilers specialty being forcing turnovers on 26.8 percent of its opponents' possessions. Last night Iowa turned it over on 26.9 percent of its offensive possessions, right what Purdue has done to all its opponents.
Minnesota is a notch better at forcing turnovers, forcing TO's on more than 27 percent of its opponents possessions, good for 6th in the country. In terms of overall defensive efficiency, the Gophers are fourth in the country, allowing only 82 points per 100 possessions.As a comparison, Iowa led the country in defensive efficiency in 2005-06, allowing only 84 points per 100 possessions. So Minnesota can defend very, very well.

I would expect another game where every pass is contested. The Gophers advantage in length and quickness will be very tough to overcome. Penn State actually had the best offensive game of any team against Minnesota this year. But we don't have Talor Battle to break down their D.

 

[storminspank]

It's a Tubby Smith coached team, defense is a big deal.

Nolan and Johnson are 1 and 2 in the Big Ten in steals and Gophers have four players in the Top 10 in the Big Ten in Blocked Shots.

Yeah, defense is big for this team, as it has been under Tubby.

Al Nolen is one of the most underrated PGs in the Big Ten, if not the nation.
And then they have Rodney Williams - he's like Eric May v. 2.0. His athleticism is sick.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Just curious - where does Iowa rank in % of possesions where they force a turnover? I'm guessing it can't be good.

 

[DodgerHawki]

We force turnovers...

Just curious - where does Iowa rank in % of possesions where they force a turnover? I'm guessing it can't be good.

on a shade over 17 percent of our opponent possessions. That's not good (313th in the country). We are also near the bottom in terms of number of shots we block on defense, and in the bottom 20 percent in terms of opponent 3-point and 2-point percentage. So when you don't get teams to turn it over and when your opponent does shoot, they make a good percentage of them, you're basically screwed. Really the only thing that this Iowa team does very well is rebound on the defensive end. Our opponents rebound only 25 percent of their misses, which is the third-best mark for any team in the country. If only we could get teams to miss more shots

 

[hawkeye12345]

Where do you come up with these stats?

 

[DodgerHawki]

The greatness that is Ken Pomeroy.

Where do you come up with these stats?

He is a godsend.
2010 Pomeroy Ratings.

Click on any team to see their stats.

 

[storminspank]

Where do you come up with these stats?

KenPom; Tempo-Free stats.

Pretty much the only stats out there that really give you a good feel. I use them all the time.