Sports and Numbers

Kansas vs Syracuse (Kansas City, MO)

PSAN-Related Player Ratings - Cumulative This Season

(PSAN-O = Offensive impact, PSAN-D = Defensive impact.  For PSAN-D, lower ratings are better.  PSAN70 ratings are just PSAN expressed as "per 70 possessions" to reflect efficiency.  The difference between ePSAN and PSAN is that "e" is enhanced and weighs recent games more - used for Kansas only.)

Player Analysis:

(largely in context of ratings above)

It was clear that Aldrich and Collins would be the anchors for Kansas this season, but most people are probably surprised to see how much devastation Aldrich is causing opponents inside the paint.  He is nearly twice as efficient as Collins overall, with a nearly equal impact on both ends of the floor.  The Morris brothers have also been a clear positive for the Jayhawks, with Markieff's greater playing time contributing to his greater contribution thus far.  Marcus has been the more efficient of the two, though, and the only one with the positive offensive rating.  While Brady Morningstar has not been an offensive contributor very much, his defensive ratings have helped to make him a slightly positive contributor.  Meanwhile, Travis Releford has been a solid contributor in games, so the reason for his lack of playing time must have something to do with his contributions between games.  The speedy Tyshawn Taylor makes most of his impact on defense for now, until he can learn how to avoid charging fouls.

Syracuse has more balance than the Jayhawks so far this season.  Onuaku (junior forward) and Joseph (freshman forward) are the players with a strong mix of efficiency and overall impact.   Flynn and Harris have had great impact but at a somewhat lower efficiency level.  None of the Orangemen display the kind of balance on offense and defense that Aldrich and Collins bring to the court for Kansas.  Flynn, for example, has a spectacular offensive rating but actually has a worse than zero defensive rating (positive ratings are bad on defense).

Last 7 Game Analysis

Here, we look at the last seven venue-appropriate games to see how the teams are performing.  If the game takes place on the road for Kansas, for example, the analysis looks at the five most recent non-home games for Kansas.  In addition, the two most recent games, regardless of venue, are added.  That way, we get a picture of the how the team is performing of late.  This season, the analysis also splits offense and defense.  Teams often are more or less consistent on one side of the court than the other.  This analysis will reflect that.  Based on the strength of the opposing offense and defense they've played over the last seven games, each team's offense and defense is evaluated based on strength and consistency.  Those numbers are then plugged into a simulation of 5,000 games.  The results are what you see below.

 Margin of game was less than 1 point in 3.7% of games.

Game Projections

(Not a prediction.  Read more details in "FAQ & Terms" section.)

No manual adjustments to projections were made for this game

Projected Boxscore