Its ‘luck’ lol
I am not sure how to spin things around in my head to find Mattd’s list as not indicative of a trend. If we enter luck into the equation a reasonable person might just as easily argue that luck was the only reason Florida #17 and UNC #21 were able to win championships with defensive teams outside of top 15 defensively.
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Nope, the exception to the rule always applies to JB and Michigan basketball.
Scoring more points than your opponent wins championships. In my opinion Beilein schemes his defense accordingly. He will look to take something away, but not to lockdown. He will want to be able to get timely stops but not on every possession.
Agreed, but ultimately, historical data dictates that teams that are good/great defensively tend to be those teams that score more points than the opponent in a championship manner. We can try to beat around the bush all we want, but reality is that you have to be a good/great defensive team in order to win a championship.
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Can’t believe this is even debatable.
Offense is somewhat more important in winning championships and in making the championship game. Here are the offensive KP rankings for the last 10 years of the champ:
2016 - Nova - #2
2015 - Duke - #3
2014 - UConn - #39
2013 - Ville - #4
2012 - KY #2
2011 - UConn -#18
2010 - Duke - #1
2009 - UNC - #1
2008 - KU - #2
2007 - FL - #1
The average is 7.3, and you only had two champs outside the top 4. For comparison, the average defense KP finish for the champ in defense is 9.9, and you only had two champs inside the top 5. And that UConn offense probably throws the averages off in terms of how important it’s been to have an elite offense.
Another thing is to look at who makes the championship game. Nova and NC were 1-2 in offense, NC was 27th in defense, Nova was 6. Last year, Wiscy and Duke were in the top 3 in offense, neither were in the top 10 in defense, Wiscy was 54. Two years ago, KY was 10 on offense, 41st on defense, while UConn was 39 on O, 10 on D. Three years ago, Michigan and 'Ville were 1 and 4 on offense, Michigan was 48 on defense, Ville was 3.
Over the last four years, seven of the 8 teams in the championship game had a top ten offense, including 6 in the top 4. On the other hand, 4 had top ten defenses, only one it the top 5.
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We got 45% of the rebounds in that game. Hardly suggests we got killed.