Ohio State, yesterday, scored 1.30 points per possession against the #12 defense in the country (#7 before yesterday) and still lost by 5. We scored an astounding 1.37 points per possession.
To compare that to some other classic games:
2013 - Michigan - Kansas - Kansas scored 1.10 points per possession against the #37 defense in the country and lost by 2 in OT.
2013 - Michigan - Louisville - Michigan scored 1.17 points per possession against the #1 defense in the country and lost by 6.
2013 - Michigan - Florida - Michigan scored 1.07 points per possession against the #3 defense in the country and won by 20. 1.07 ppp against a defense as good as Florida is by no means bad, but in hindsight, a deciding factor in this match-up was Florida clunking its way to an awful 0.80 ppp against the #37 defense in the country.
2014 - Michigan - Kentucky - Michigan scored 1.28 points per possession against the #32 defense in the country and lost by 3.
Definitely not a conclusive list, but I'm just trying to think of some close games that were considered to be extremely well-played contests between elite teams. The Florida game doesn't exactly fit that definition, but I wanted one more data point from a game that was considered an elite match-up and an elite performance by Michigan. Obviously all 4 games mentioned were much, much bigger games than yesterday's game (which was still a huge game in its own right).
To put things in perspective for people who don't usually pay close attention to points per possession, 1.0 ppp is about average in college basketball but 1.1 points per possession is pretty run of the mill for good teams. 1.2 ppp is really good. 1.3 is an extremely high number that, if I'm not mistaken, top teams hit very rarely against anyone with a pulse.
I can only think of two Michigan games before yesterday where a team hit 1.3 ppp and lost: 2017 Michigan - Oklahoma State in the NCAA tournament (Ok. State - 1.38 ppp!!! against Michigan's #69 defense - and our defense was statistically a lot better than that in Feb/March) and 2018 Michigan at Purdue (Michigan hit 1.31 ppp against Purdue's #31 defense).
I don't have a database for this stuff, but I remember reading at the time that in 2018 there were only something like 200 instances of a team scoring 1.3 ppp in a game that entire season - very few considering you're talking about 350 teams playing 30+ games... and Michigan was literally the only team the entire season that scored 1.3 ppp in a game and lost.
In some of the games that are considered to have been the best-played heavy-weight match-ups in recent Michigan history, you've got the losing team trying to score on a significantly worse defense than our current group, and managing nothing like what OSU did yesterday. And in spite of OSU's amazing offensive performance against a great defense, we still managed to beat them.
To compare that to some other classic games:
2013 - Michigan - Kansas - Kansas scored 1.10 points per possession against the #37 defense in the country and lost by 2 in OT.
2013 - Michigan - Louisville - Michigan scored 1.17 points per possession against the #1 defense in the country and lost by 6.
2013 - Michigan - Florida - Michigan scored 1.07 points per possession against the #3 defense in the country and won by 20. 1.07 ppp against a defense as good as Florida is by no means bad, but in hindsight, a deciding factor in this match-up was Florida clunking its way to an awful 0.80 ppp against the #37 defense in the country.
2014 - Michigan - Kentucky - Michigan scored 1.28 points per possession against the #32 defense in the country and lost by 3.
Definitely not a conclusive list, but I'm just trying to think of some close games that were considered to be extremely well-played contests between elite teams. The Florida game doesn't exactly fit that definition, but I wanted one more data point from a game that was considered an elite match-up and an elite performance by Michigan. Obviously all 4 games mentioned were much, much bigger games than yesterday's game (which was still a huge game in its own right).
To put things in perspective for people who don't usually pay close attention to points per possession, 1.0 ppp is about average in college basketball but 1.1 points per possession is pretty run of the mill for good teams. 1.2 ppp is really good. 1.3 is an extremely high number that, if I'm not mistaken, top teams hit very rarely against anyone with a pulse.
I can only think of two Michigan games before yesterday where a team hit 1.3 ppp and lost: 2017 Michigan - Oklahoma State in the NCAA tournament (Ok. State - 1.38 ppp!!! against Michigan's #69 defense - and our defense was statistically a lot better than that in Feb/March) and 2018 Michigan at Purdue (Michigan hit 1.31 ppp against Purdue's #31 defense).
I don't have a database for this stuff, but I remember reading at the time that in 2018 there were only something like 200 instances of a team scoring 1.3 ppp in a game that entire season - very few considering you're talking about 350 teams playing 30+ games... and Michigan was literally the only team the entire season that scored 1.3 ppp in a game and lost.
In some of the games that are considered to have been the best-played heavy-weight match-ups in recent Michigan history, you've got the losing team trying to score on a significantly worse defense than our current group, and managing nothing like what OSU did yesterday. And in spite of OSU's amazing offensive performance against a great defense, we still managed to beat them.
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