Overall NU's 121 ranking is at its lowest point for the season ... 55 spots behind CBC and only 11 slots improved over last year's injury-marred season. This is bad.
The 118th ranked offense actually inched to a new high water mark though still 93 spots behind CBC. Propelling the offense forward has been better shooting (eFG%) and getting to the line more often. The biggest problem with the offense continues to be turnovers. The hope is that these will be cut down with time as players get used to driving and dishing. We can already see Sobo doing a better job of getting into the lane under control.
The defense is ranked 140 which is easily the low mark for the season and is now just 31 spots better than CBC's much maligned defensive effort. All four factors contributed to the 40 spot drop since GR 1.04 but eFG% was the key contributing factor: it dropped an eye popping 92 spots. This eFG% is still 79 spots ahead of what teams shot against CBC's teams, but this gain is offset by a dramatic drop in forced turnovers that the 1-3-1 generated as well as more fouls committed by CCC's base man defense. Rebounding continues to be much improved as to be expected from better rebounding positioning created by man defense.
Tonight NU travels to Raleigh to battle NC State. Seeeeaaaaaacaaaaaaaaattttttttt!
