Tom Crean conducted a study using Statistics from 2005 Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12, and CUSA Season games that shows that there actually is an order of importance to those statistics.
I found the results of Coach Crean’s study in the newsletter distributed by Coach Creighton Burns:
- The team that recorded the high field goal percentage was the winner in 75 percent of the basketball games.
- The team that scored the most free throws was the eventual winner in 70 percent of the games.
- The team that recovered the higher number of rebounds was the winner 65 percent of the time.
- The team that committed the higher number of personal fouls was the eventual winner in oniy 25 percent of the games.
- The team that held the point advantage at halftime was the winner 74 percent of the time.
After seeing the study, I am even more convinced as to the value of keeping the ball out of the lane on defense, taking care of the ball to get high percentage shots on offense, and playing very hard on defense, but without fouling as the staple ingredients for success.