Alabama Basketball: Five Reasons Tide Postseason Is NIT And Not NCAA

Dishing the Ball and Keeping the Ball

The greatest college basketball coach of all-time said shooting was the least important skill. According to John Wooden, what a player did away from the ball and what he did while possessing and passing the ball were more important.

Many of today’s basketball experts believe the best stat to predict success in basketball is the assist-to-turnover ratio. Above 1.25 assists for every turnover is good – 1.5 is great. The best in the nation this season is UCLA at 1.86.

Alabama is .825 per teamrankings.com and that puts the Tide at No. 302 in the nation.

Assists cannot be recorded without made baskets, so a better shooting team than the Tide would have a higher ratio than Alabama basketball. But made baskets have as much to do with movement off the ball and crisply delivered passes as shooting touch.

For example, a “catch-and-shoot” three-pointer goes in the basket more often than a three pointer shot off the dribble. “Catch-and-shoot’ requires a player away from the ball finding an open space and a precise pass being delivered so the shooter can go up immediately, balanced and squared to the basket.

There is the turnover component. Less than 12 per game is good, under 10 is great. Alabama is No. 255 in the nation at 13.8 teamrankings.com. At first, 13.8 does not appear to be enough to determine the outcome of games. Let’s give that some more thought.

Teams, like Alabama who run a more deliberate offense resulting in a slower pace, are less prone to turnovers. More importantly, because of its chosen slower pace, Alabama has fewer possessions than most teams. Alabama averaged 70.2 possessions per game, largely because Alabama rebounds so well.

By comparison, Auburn averages 77.7 possessions per game and Kentucky 76.8. When a team’s style delivers fewer possessions than its opponents, wasted possessions (from turnovers and other reasons) can determine the outcome of games.