Canada-CIS Statistical Team Leaders
The 2016-17 Canada-CIS season is now in the record books, and Carleton walked away with the championship. On their way to the top, they bested many teams, which in their right, are worth mentioning for their noteworthy accomplishments. There are other winners. Teams that broke records and were the best in particular statistical categories. A lot of these achievements go unnoticed or pass us by without much pomp and circumstance. Most of them are only appreciated when seen through the lenses of advanced statistics and basketball metrics, something not ordinarily appreciated by the pedestrian basketball fan.
CONTEXT IS KEY
The highest scoring team may not always be the best offensive team. Some teams prefer to play an up-tempo style of offense, pushing the ball down the floor and running at every opportunity. On the other side of the coin, are teams that like to “milk the clock” and slowly set up their offense in a half-court set. These contrasting playing styles influence the number of possessions in a game and subsequently, the opportunities to score, rebound, and compile other statistics.
IT’S ABOUT THE POSSESSIONS
It is fair and balanced criteria to assess teams and what they do on a per-possession basis, as opposed to a per-game filter because they can be compared more evenly, regardless of the pace of the game. The NBA was the first to use these type of advanced stats. Until today no such data was available for the Canada-CIS. Court Side Newspaper is the first source in the world to introduce it for numerous countries, leagues, and players.
LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN CANADA-CIS
Carleton stayed undefeated for 19 CIS games in a row. A season record. They only lost one single game in 2016/2017, against Ryerson 79-86 in the conference tournament. Cape Breton had the longest losing streak of 20 games. They didn’t win a single CIS game this season.
TO RUN-AND-GUN OR GRIND IT OUT?
Brandon was the fastest CIS team in 2016/2017. They averaged 82.9 possessions per game. Their aim was to get as many opportunities to score as possible and hopefully outgun their opponents. The slowest CIS team was Ottawa with only 69.6 possessions per game.
MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER
While Brandon played at the highest pace and UBC Vancouver averaged most points, they were not the best offensive teams. The best offensive team this 2016-17 season was Carleton with an impressive Offensive Rating of 129.9 (129.9 points per-100 possessions). Laval had the worst offensive rating with only 85,4 points per 100 possessions.
ROCK-SOLID DEFENSE
The toughest CIS team to score against was McGill. Their stingy defense allowed only 82,7 points per-100 possessions. Runner-up Carleton allowed 82,8 points per 100 possessions. Cape Breton on the other hand, had the worst defense in the league, allowing 123 points per-100 possessions.
UBC VANCOUVER WERE SNIPERS FROM THE FREE-THROW LINE
UBC Vancouver recorded a 30.2 free throw rate. That’s the ratio of foul shots to field goal attempts. In addition, they also had the best True Shooting Percentage(63,2 TS%). True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.
CARLETON WERE CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS
Carleton grabbed 63,2 % of all available rebounds (Rebounding rate). They were followed by McGill (58,2). Furthermore, it is also noteworthy that no team crashed the offensive glass like Carleton (44,4% of all available offensive rebounds).
CARLETON’S LITTLE SECRETS
There are not many secrets to Carleton’s championship title. Their winning record this season says enough. But there is more. Defense wins championships. At least that’s what they say. It held true in regards to Carleton because they had the second-best defensive rating. However, they really stood out with their offense (absolutely superior in Canada-CIS) and incredible rebounding. They also ranked 1st in effective field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio. Also, Carleton ranked top-5 in most other categories of the advanced stats. A true champion!
These are just some of the advanced statistics that we have available. For more, please visit the Basketball Database.