Scoring

Scoring is up thus far in CBB. The average score is just under 73 points per game. 6 teams are averaging above 90 thus far. Two of those are Big 12.

Oklahoma St. 98.5
UCLA 97
Kentucky 95.6
West Virginia 94.7
Creighton 92
Citadel 90.8

Kansas is ranked 19th in scoring at 85.1.

On the flip side is Virginia. Virginia has the best defense by a mile. They hold opponents to 44.1 points per game. Other notable defensive oriented teams are

Texas Tech (4th-57.9)
Louisville (5th-57.9)
Syracuse (8th-58.5)
Baylor (9th-58.7)
Kansas St. (13th (59.1)
West Virginia (23rd-60.

As for scoring margin, Kansas is 25th at 16.9 which is 5th in the Big 12 behind

West Virginia (1st-33.
Texas Tech (7th-21.1)
Iowa St. (9th-20.4)
Kansas St. (23rd-17)

Incidentally, of the 1082 games thus far, the worst performance was Eastern Washington against Texas. Texas was a 1.1 point favorite but won by 33 a 34.1 point underperformance.

Thus far this season on all 1082 games the DPPI has been off an average of 7.35 points in the final margin.

Thanks, Corpus. Interesting numbers to ponder, for sure. These stats show some strength from future opponents in the conference. To me, the question is also how these Big 12 schools rank in strength of schedule.

It does appear as though capturing #13 will not be a cakewalk. I am encouraged, however, that HCBS seems more "up" on this team at this point in the season than some previous campaigns (maybe it's just my rose-colored glasses, or hearing aids, in this case). There have been other threads questioning and debating the up side and potential of where growth potential will come from with our team. I will not go into all of the players and positions, but I will add that experience and mental toughness cannot be overlooked, especially with our floor leaders, Frank and Devonte.

I think that last point about experience of Frank and Devonte is very important. In the end it is about match-ups and always a little bit of luck. I think playing against good bigs early in the year will pay dividends late.