Today’s question, sports fans, is what can we learn, if anything, from stat sheets?

Take Utah State for instance. At 18-1, the Aggies have as good a record as any school in the land, but thus far have received no love from the pundits. Digger Phelps included, but, hey, that’s probably a good thing.

They’re undefeated in the WAC, haven’t beaten anybody really of note, but they played BYU close in their only loss. What they’ve got goin’ for them is that they put the ball in the hole. As my pal Dave advises ad nauseum, it’s hard to win if you don’t make shots. And vice versa. Utah State makes 50.8% from the field, second in the land. (More about the best shooting team in a bit.) They hit 37% from beyond the arc, only commit 11 TOs per game and don’t foul a lot. Their assist to TO ratio is fourth best in the nation.

Which is why they’re 18-1. That’s an impressive number no matter who you are playing, unless you’ve got NJIT on your schedule every other game.

Okay, now you ask, what about the locals? Read on.

There are reasons why UK is rolling. The Cats are the best shooting team in the land at 50.8%. And they are ranked 2d in field goal percentage defense behind Purdue. And they’re also 2d in blocked shots per game, 10th in rebound margin and 13th best in assists.

Kentucky’s Achilles heel? All together now: Turnovers. Same as it ever was this campaign. Committing 18.1 per game, UK is ranked 322 out of 330. Ouch. Their TO margin (-2.7) is 297th, not much better.

All of which is to say that if UK holds on to the ball, say, three or four more trips down the court each game, and continues scorching the nets, the Cats become the team nobody wants to play come tournament time.

Ken Pomeroy, who has evolved as the college hoops statistical guru, computes that U of L has the best defensive efficiency rating of any team. Don’t ask me how his formulas work, but the guy is respected. So he must know what he’s talking about, right?

So that’s the main reason the Cards are on the uptick. Clamping down on the defensive end. As if we didn’t know. Because they’re only ranked 181 (of 330) in FG %, and 171 in 3pt FG %. The rest of their numbers aren’t all that glossy. 7th best in blocked shots per game, but that’s their only rank in the top ten.

Which, thank heavens, goes to show my buddy Dave isn’t exactly correct. Louisville has been beating teams despite mediocre offensive efficiency.

Indiana? Uh, fuhgettaboutit. The Hoosiers have, not surprisingly, a triple digit ranking in every NCAA statistical catagory. All together now: Wait ’til next year.

So what does it all mean? I dunno. Shooting is a good thing. Defending is a good thing. Turning it over is a bad thing. But, hey, we knew all that, didn’t we?

– Seedy K