Sports and Numbers

In this series of articles, I'm going to rate the players from KU teams of this decade.  I'll try to provide some context for the ratings.  A couple of important caveats to this kind of analysis: 1) I'm using season-ending boxscores, which means that the ratings don't account for how well a player performed against specific opponents, and 2) There is really no way of knowing whether a team with a power rating of 90 one season is the same as one rated 90 in another, although from top to bottom in college basketball, there probability isn't huge variability in team strength averages from season to season.

Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball 2002-03

Overall Record: 30-8
Conference Record: 14-2
Conference Tournament: 1-1 (Semifinalist)
NCAA Tournament: 5-1 (Runner up)
Final Sagarin Predictor Rating: 95.28 (#1)

Season Totals

(sorted by total minutes played) 

Derived Statistics

(sorted by points per game) 

Player Ratings 

Player Analysis

The joy and the pain of this season for KU fans was unforgettable.  It was a roller coaster ride going from three early losses all the way to the national championship game.  This was a joint effort between the remnants of the amazing senior class (Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich), a tough junior college big (Jeff Graves), and a sophomore nucleus of Wayne Simien, Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Michael Lee.  Fate was unkind, however, to big man Simien.  He courageously came back after his shoulder injury to carry KU against Colorado before one last "tweak" that ended his season.  Many KU fans wondered what could have been if only Simien had remained healthy.  Well, if these ratings are any indication ... things could have been even more special.

As amazing and awe-inspiring as Collison played that season, the most efficient player was far and away Simien.  In only 24 min/gm, he averaged nearly 15 PTS, 8 REB and 1 STL on 64 eFG% shooting and strong FT rate.  These numbers are staggering.  Simien shot below 50 percent from the field only twice all season, and one of those was a 4-of-10 performance.  The final 2006-07 season player ratings for all Big 12 teams have not been released on this site yet, but just a hint ... this efficiency is not far off from what Kevin Durant did in his miraculous season in terms of efficiency.  Remember, Simien did all of this on the nation's #1-ranked team (by Sagarin Predictor).

Let's not forget though, it was Collison who contributed the most overall this season.  I might also add that his efficiency was through the roof.  Collison averaged a healthy double-double (18 PTS, 10 REB) in 32 min/gm, while shooting nearly 57 eFG% and averaging 1 STL and 2 BLK.  He was a star, and he probably would have been MVP of the Final Four if not for his abysmal 3-of-10 freethrow shooting.  In fact, Collison attempted at least 10 freethrows in a game five times all season.  Only once did he make more than 50% of his attempts.  But Collison will be remembered mostly for his 24-point, 23-rebound performance against Texas and his 33-point, 19-rebound domination of Duke in the Big Dance.  This was a triumphant season for the kid from Iowa.

Kirk Hinrich had another great season in the backcourt.  His overall efficiency barely changed from his junior season, mostly because his shooting was down quite a bit.  He still shot an excellent 57 eFG%, but this was about six percent off the prior season's sizzling rate.  Regardless, Hinrich was out there scoring more and making more happen.  He finished only one point-per-game behind team-leader Collison and swiped nearly 2 STL/gm.  Hinrich's key block against Arizona that sent KU into the Final Four will be one of his lasting marks.  The steady shooter, tenacious defender and heady player was so integral to one of the most successful stretches in KU basketball history.

As much of a headache as Jeff Graves was to Roy Williams, his numbers were somewhat of an elixir.  In just under 20 min/gm, Graves averaged 6 PTS, 7 REB, and 1.3 STL on 51 eFG% shooting and one of the highest FT rates on the team.  He shocked many with his 37-minute, 16 PT, 16 REB performance in the championship game (although he shot 2-of-7 FT).  Graves performed at an efficiency that nearly kept pace with Hinrich and ahead of starters Miles and Langford.

Keith Langford's 3rd-rated contributions mostly came as a result of his significant playing time (33 MIN/gm) combined with solid but not spectacular efficiency.  Langford's numbers were solid all-around, with good shooting (55 eFG%) and balanced REB, AST, STL, BLK.  It's just that with that much playing time, he didn't make as much of it as others did.  Still, much of his value was in defense and his unique ability on this team to drive with the ball.  Those were sorely missed when he fouled out in the championship game.

Aaron Miles improved significantly in his efficiency from his freshman to sophomore seasons.  Although his performance wasn't great, it was in the solid range.  It's just tough to have too high a rating when you can't shoot well, and Miles certainly did not shoot well (45 eFG%).  He had a surprising 3 REB, 6.4 AST and 2 STL average.  He did the best he could do with his limitations.

Backups Michael Lee and Bryant Nash had decent and fair seasons, respectively.  Only one of these two could shoot the ball much (Lee), while the other had a hard time keeping the ball away from spectators.  Christian Moody played a fairly efficient game in limited action, and we would find out next season that he was good enough to play a bigger role than mop-up duties.  Jeff Hawkins though ... wow, who would have thought he was going to dribble the ball so much the next season?