by Paul Jordan
I know it’s early…. but it is never too early to talk final four and Kentucky basketball. And I will be honest, I don’t watch that much college basketball other than SEC. So I figured now is as good a time as any to look at the other teams that may be meeting Kentucky in Indianapolis and see how UK matches up with them in regards to bench depth. In doing this, I just looked at the players that you can expect to play at least 10 minutes a game in the majority of the season and looked at their minutes per game, scoring, and rebounding and assists per game. Keep in mind as these teams tighten up their playing rotations, some players may not get as many minutes, but this is a good indication of the talent levels on the teams and what they have on the bench. For today’s comparison, I chose the top four teams in both polls: Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, and Villanova. Let’s see how that Cats stack up:
With the addition of DeAndre Liggins, Kentucky has nine players in that rotation that regularly play at least 10 minutes a game, Perry Stevenson is averaging just 8.9 points a game so he really can give UK 10 players if needed. Kentucky’s starters are currently averaging 27.9 minutes a game through the Florida game.
- John Wall – 33.6 min, 17.3 pts, 3.8 reb, 7.1 as
- Patrick Patterson – 32.1 min, 16.6 pts, 8.1 reb 1.2 as
- Eric Bledsoe – 29.4 min. 11.3 pts, 2.9 reb, 3.1 as
- Darius Miller – 24.6, 7.6, 2.7 reb, 1.9 as
- DeMarcus Cousins – 19.8 min, 15.3 pts, 9.2 reb, 0.8 as
- Ramon Harris – 16.2 min, 2.7 pts, 3.4 reb, 0.9 as
- Darnell Dodson – 15.9 min, 7.4 pts, 2.8 reb, 0.8 as
- Daniel Orton – 13.9 min, 3.6 pts, 3.6 reb, 0.7 as
- DeAndre Liggins – 10.6 min, 2.4 pts, 0.9 reb. 0.5 as
The Longhorns actually have 10 players that play at least 10 minutes a game and it says something about a teams depth when a player like Jai Lucas can only manage around 14 minutes a game. The Longhorns rely a lot less on their starters than Kentucky, as the starters only average 22.4 minutes a game and some of their bench players average more minutes than the starters.
- Damion James – 27.2 min, 17.3 pts, 11.2 reb, 0.9 as
- Avery Bradley – 26.8 min, 12.7 pts, 2.5 reb, 2.8 as
- Dogus Balbay – 22.3 min, 4.5 pts, 3.6 reb, 4.6 as
- J’Covan Brown – 21.9 min, 10.9 pts, 2.5 reb, 2.4 as
- Dexter Pittman – 19.7 min, 13.4 pts, 6.8 reb, 0.6 as
- Jordan Hamilton – 19.3 min, 9.8 pts, 3.7 reb, 1.9 as
- Gary Johnson – 18.6 min, 7.8 pts, 3.9 reb, 0.6 as
- Justin Mason – 15.9 min, 2.6 pts, 2.0 reb, 1.6 as
- Jai Lucas – 13.9 min, 6.3 pts, 2.0 reb, 1.6 as
- Alexis Wangmene – 10.1 min, 3.1 pts, 2.1 reb, 0.2 as
The Jayhawks are in about the same position with the other two teams with 8 players that are averaging 10 minutes or more a game. But they have two players on the verge, Thomas Robinson (9.9) and Elijah Johnson (9.8), who both average 3.8 points. The Jayhawks starters average 26.58 points a minute.
- Sherron Collins – 32.2 min, 16 pts, 2.2 reb, 4.3 as
- Xavier Henry – 28 min, 15.1 pts, 4.2 reb, 1.8 as
- Cole Aldrich – 25.6 min, 10.6 pts, 10.4 reb, 1.1 as
- Tyshawn Taylor – 24.4 min, 7.5 pts, 2.6 reb, 3.9 as
- Marcus Morris – 23.7 min, 11.1 pts, 5.2 rebs, 1.0 as
- Brady Morningstar – 20.4 min, 4.0 pts, 1.7 reb, 3.1 as
- Markieff Morris – 15.3 min, 6.6 pts, 5.3 reb, 1.1 as
- Tyrel Reed, 14.7 min, 4.8 pts, 1.6 reb, 1.6 as
The Villanova Wildcats are an especially deep team as well, with 10 players over average 10 minutes a game and one player, Isiah Armwood at 8.5 minutes. The Wildcat’s numbers are a little skewed because Reggie Redding and Mouphtaou Yarou have played in just 6 and 5 games this season, but both are part of the regular rotation now. The Wildcats are the most reliant on their starters at 28.2 minutes per game.
- Reggie Redding – 31 min, 10.7 pts, 6 reb, 3.2 as
- Scotty Reynolds – 29.6 min, 18.8 pts, 3.9 reb, 2.6 as
- Corey Stokes – 27.0 min, 9.1 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.1 as
- Antonio Pena – 26.8 min, 11.5 pts, 7.9 reb, 1.3 as
- Corey Fisher – 26.6 min, 12.8 pts, 3.0 reb, 4.4 as
- Taylor King – 22.6 min, 10.8 pts, 6.6 reb, 0
.8 as - Malik Wayns – 16.9 min, 8.1 pts, 1.6 reb, 1.4 as
- Dominic Cheek – 15.6 min, 4.9 pts, 2.9 reb, 0.7 as
- Mouphtaou Yarou – 14 min, 3.6 pts, 2.8 reb, 0.4 as
- Maurice Sutton – 13.6 min, 2.6 pts, 3.4 reb, 0.2 as
Now as we always now, the number of minute played does not always equal production so we looked at thich team has the most contributors. I decided to see which team has the most players that average over 10 points a game, how many that average 5 points a game, and how many average over 7 rebounds a game.
Villanova has 5 players that actually average over 10 points a game while the other three teams all had four. When you look at how many players average over 5 points a game, Texas leads the way with 8 players, followed by Villanova with 7 and Kentucky and Kansas with 6. On the rebounding front, Texas and Kentucky had two players that average over 7 a game, while Villanova and Kansas has just one.
So what does all this tell us? Not a lot. All four of these teams are very similar with their bench depth and overall effectiveness, which is what we knew coming into this. The one individual stat that kept standing out was when it came to assists where John Wall had a 2.5 assist per game lead over the next highest player. Is this something that a championship can be built from? Maybe, maybe not.
But in four teams as even matched as this, that extra 2.5 assists per game can be the x-factor for Kentucky.
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