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Another day…another stat: Assists
Ah yes, assists – those gems of generosity encouraged by many a coach. Often times teams built for success over the long haul are those whose players are willing to give it up and get it back. Sometimes this stat can be misleading as we shall see.
As of today here are the most generous teams in the country:
| Rank | Name | GM | W-L | AST | APG |
| 1 | North Carolina | 26 | 24-2 | 501 | 19.3 |
| 2 | Missouri | 26 | 22-4 | 500 | 19.2 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh | 26 | 24-2 | 472 | 18.2 |
| 4 | VMI | 26 | 20-6 | 469 | 18.0 |
| 5 | Illinois | 27 | 21-6 | 481 | 17.8 |
| 6 | BYU | 25 | 20-5 | 445 | 17.8 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 25 | 14-11 | 442 | 17.7 |
| 8 | Sam Houston St. | 24 | 14-10 | 423 | 17.6 |
| 9 | Florida | 26 | 20-6 | 454 | 17.5 |
| 10 | Syracuse | 26 | 19-7 | 442 | 17.0 |
Oh yeah – stocked with contenders. Okay so maybe there are a couple of pretenders there like VMI and Sam Houston State. 
The leaders going into last year’s tourney:
| 1 | Notre Dame | 30 | 24-6 | 573 | 19.1 |
| 2 | Sam Houston St. | 29 | 22-7 | 540 | 18.6 |
| 3 | Kansas | 31 | 28-3 | 577 | 18.6 |
| 4 | Duquesne | 29 | 17-12 | 527 | 18.2 |
| 5 | Utah St. | 32 | 23-9 | 580 | 18.1 |
| 6 | Tennessee | 31 | 28-3 | 560 | 18.1 |
| 7 | Michigan St. | 31 | 24-7 | 559 | 18.0 |
| 8 | Boise St. | 30 | 22-8 | 538 | 17.9 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 31 | 25-6 | 555 | 17.9 |
| 10 | VMI | 29 | 14-15 | 518 | 17.9 |
Of course Kansas won the title. Michigan advanced to the Elite Eight. Tennessee went to the Sweet Sixteen, but their representation can be deceiving. Many of their assists came as the result of using a press. They created turnovers and conversion for lay ups against weaker teams. That scheme only worked so long. ND managed a win last year.
Two years ago:
| 1 | VMI | 33 | 14-19 | 681 | 20.6 |
| 2 | Sam Houston St. | 31 | 21-10 | 596 | 19.2 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 34 | 28-6 | 634 | 18.6 |
| 4 | Northern Ariz. | 30 | 18-12 | 544 | 18.1 |
| 5 | A&M-Corpus Christi | 32 | 26-6 | 579 | 18.1 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 31 | 25-6 | 558 | 18.0 |
| 7 | Eastern Wash. | 29 | 15-14 | 514 | 17.7 |
| 8 | Penn | 30 | 22-8 | 531 | 17.7 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 31 | 24-7 | 542 | 17.5 |
| 10 | West Virginia | 31 | 22-9 | 541 | 17.5 |
Carolina advanced to the second weekend of play before bowing to Georgetown. A & M lost to Memphis in the round of sixteen. ND opened by falling to Winthrop.
To what degree will assists play a role in determining this year’s champion?
Stats courtesy of NCAA.com.
2 Responses to “Another day…another stat: Assists”
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I find it interesting that ND and SHSt made the top 10 all 3 years. It would appear that assists must be the by-product of other aspects of the team’s game (e.g. defense/press) rather than the result of an unselfish style of offense, at least to be a big winner. I don’t know Sam Hous St’s style, but I do know that ND’s assist ranking comes from style, and we know they are certainly not proven winners. I guess the saying should go; “teams don’t make the assist, assists make the team.” You can’t have a style that emphasizes the assist, your style must generate assists as a by-product, at least if you want to win.
Adding to the head-scratch level of this stat is that at least last year – Sam Houston was in the top ten of field goal percentage defense, but 49th with 8 steals per game. Definitely a correlation as far as SH ST. goes with the level of resistance faced and stats accrued. An interesting twist is that Stephen F. Austin – also of the Southland Conference – ranked in the top ten of a couple of defensive categories. Doesn’t matter – Texas-Arlington earned the Southland’s bid to the Dance.