Monday, January 12, 2009

Stat of the Week

73 percent

Albany made 8-of-11 3-point attempts in its 82-77 victory at Patrick Gym yesterday. While 8-of-11 is impressive regardless of the team responsible, consider that Albany entered the game dead last in perimeter shooting among America East teams. Even after last night's game, the Great Danes are making less than 29 percent of their threes -- no other team in the conference is below 30 percent. Every player on the Albany roster misses at least 65 percent of his attempts.

This information can indicate any of a number of things related to last night's game, not all of which can be true. If Albany has better shooters than its previous form indicates, then the Great Danes are even more dangerous than generally believed. Perhaps that isn't the right answer either. Maybe Vermont has poor perimeter defense, which is something Catamount head coach Mike Lonergan mentioned yesterday after the game, or perhaps this was an outlier performance and Albany merely got lucky. Not many teams can expect to turn the ball over 21 times and win a game.

In any case, the result adds importance to Wednesday's game between Binghamton and Albany, two teams that take a lot of two-point shots and allow opponents to get to the line. Don't expect to see eight made threes by either team. For that matter, it wouldn't be a surprise if neither team has double-digit attempts from beyond the arc. Fifty free throws, on the other hand, is a distinct possibility.

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