Most Efficient Players?

All over the Internet there are hundreds of die-hard Kentucky Wildcat fans that can not believe Mark Coury plays 20 minutes per game and then there are people who are screaming at anyone who will listen “WHY ISN’T GILLISPIE PLAYING AJ STEWART!!??”. Everyone has an argument as to what players UK should put on the floor because they do better when they are in than others.

I have created a formula to show exactly who does better in their time in the game and who would perform the best if they were to play a full game. I add (PPG+RPG+APG+SPG+BPG)-(T/O PG+ Missed 2’s PG+ Missed 3’s PG+Missed FT’s PG) to show how efficient a player is during his time on the court, to calculate how efficient a player is per 40 minutes I do the same thing except I add together the per 40 minutes averages for each player.Now we can really settle the debate as to whether Michael Porter really is the worst player on the team or if Ramel Bradley is the best. Below I will talk about a few of the players that might surprise some people and where they rank among team leaders in each category.

AJ Stewart 

According to my calculations Patrick Patterson is the most efficient player on the Wildcat roster and Mike Williams is the least. Surprisingly AJ Stewart actually is more efficient per 40 minutes (24.44 EP40*) than Everyone on the team aside from Patrick Patterson (36.71 EP40), Joe Crawford (35.29 EP40), Ramel Bradley (34.12 EP40) & Jodie Meeks (31.28 EP40). Stewart plays more efficient per 40 minutes than Derrick Jasper, Mark Coury, Ramon Harris & Perry Stevenson yet he plays less minutes than all four of them. Stewart ranks in the top 5 in every category per 40 minutes except in assists and steals. He even ranks 5th in Points per 40 minutes.

Michael Porter

Porter’s minutes have gradually decreased through out the season and many UK fans, including myself do not really mind it. When Porter is in the game he seems to turn the ball over, make defensive errors and will not make many shots. When I reviewed the efficiency ratings I noticed that I had been right about Porter all along, there are some that believe he is geniunely good at the game but the majority of us were right about him. Porter is in the bottom 4 in almost every category, he does rank 1st in steals per 40 minutes but he averages 4 turnovers per 40 minutes and only averages 3.6 AP40 (Assists per 40 minutes). The bottom line is that he does not produce enough stats in the right areas to be a reliable Point Guard down the stretch and Gillispie should give him playing time that reflects that.

Patrick Patterson

Patrick Patterson has already been crowned the most surprising player on the team this season. The Freshman is top 3 on the team in minutes, points, rebounds, blocks & steals and ranks 4th in assists, he also is the most efficient player on the Wildcat roster. Patterson almost 20 points per 40 minutes (PP40) and averages 9 rebounds per 40 minutes (RP40). The thing is that Patterson would really help the club by playing a few more minutes a game because he would get you another couple buckets and a few more boards and that can really benifit a team in a close game down the stretch of the season. Patterson’s 36.71 EP40 rating is phenomenal and ranks close to the top in the nation. This rating system allows people to compare two or more players from different teams and see who is the more efficient player and who helps the team more when they are out there or if they were to play the full game.

Player	Efficiency per game***	Efficiency per 40 min.****
Patrick Patterson	32.399	36.71274788
Joe Crawford	27.971	35.29463722
Ramel Bradley	28.061	34.11671733
Jodie Meeks	20.564	31.27604563
Perry Stevenson	11.365	22.61691542
Ramon Harris	10.064	19.63707317
Derrick Jasper	14.4	21.81818182
AJ Stewart	7.272	24.44369748
Mark Coury	7.694	22.30144928
Michael Porter	6.593	14.81573034
Jared Carter	2.715	18.40677966
Mike Williams	2.4	16

I didn’t know how to just post a link to the excel document so here is the compressed version. As you can see Patterson is the most efficient player and Mike Williams is the least efficient. 

Other Formulas

I will be using the EP40 formula on a few of the other best players in the nation and I will compare them to the UK players to see how they stack up and rank against the nation’s elite. I also plan to gather information such as:

•  What lineup scores the most points per game
•  Which lineup scores the most points per possession
•  Which lineup out-scores the opponent the most

Ramel Bradley’s Injury

Just reported that Ramel has a grade 2 concussion. There are 3 “grades” of concussions and he has the second most serious type. Probably will not be able to go against Auburn or maybe even Alabama.

UK @ Georgia – Post Game

Kentucky fought through all the adversity that anyone could have imagined today in Athens, Georgia against the Georgia Bulldogs. Playing the entire game without sophomore starting guard Jodie Meeks, and without the best player on the team, Ramel Bradley, for the second half UK pulled out a tough road victory against a quality Georgia club that had been unbeaten at home coming in to the game at a perfect 10-0 in Athens. Kentucky also picked up their first road win ALL YEAR today as they defeated the Bulldogs 63-58. Many players stepped up for the ‘Cats today, many of them household names like Patrick Patterson (16 points, 6 rebounds & 2 assists), Derrick Jasper (2 points, 6 rebounds & 5 assists), and especially wounded star senior Joe Crawford who, even though he missed the final 4:31, finished with 26 points and 5 rebounds. Crawford is still suffering from the plantar fasciitis that has plagued him the entire season, he had to be taken out many times to let the trainers work on his foot and quickly re-entered the game and got some points. In his last two trips to Athens Crawford has averaged 28.0 ppg and has shot over 50% from the field, he seems to really play well at Georgia and carried the team for many minutes at a time.

KEYS TO THE GAME… After The Game

Kentucky surprisingly really only completed one of the KEYS TO THE GAME that I wrote in the UK/UGA preview. I stated that UK needed to force turnovers and get some quick run outs to play well and although they only forced 7 turnovers, they only committed 8 themselves. The 8 turnovers the Wildcats committed is less than half of their average of about 17 per game, which ranks last in the SEC. Kentucky did force some crucial turnovers down the stretch, Michael Porter came up with a big steal in the final minutes to put UK in a great position to win, which they were able to accomplish.

The main KEY TO THE GAME that I do not think Kentucky executed very well on was containing Sundiata Gaines, UK allowed him to get into the lane at will and convert easy buckets close to the basket. Gaines did shoot under 50% though which is at least something that Kentucky can be proud of defensively, Gaines only turned the ball over 1 time so UK definitely needs to work on that in practice. I say in just about every game preview that I do that Kentucky needs to contain the opponents best scorer or play-maker to make the game a lot easier on themselves, and up to this point this season they have not done that in almost any game. The only game that comes to mind in which UK contained the opponent’s best player was the UK/Tennesseegame in which Chris Lofton finished with 22 points, 8 coming in garbage time.

The third KEY TO THE GAME that I wanted the ‘Cats to accomplish was for our men to attack the basket to draw some fouls and go to the line where UK is top 10 nationally. UK shot very poorly from the line finishing just 9/17 (52%) on the day. Kentucky did do a very good job of attacking the basket and getting points in the paint. Crawford had numerous layups and short jumpers in the lane that led to his 26 points, Patterson finished with 2 alley-oops and a lot of other short jump hooks and lay-ins. Without Meeks and Bradley UK was missing a big part of their perimeter game so it was vital to get the post scoring and slashing the lane part of the game working by all means necessary.

Surprise…

The surpise of the game was probably how easily Joe Crawford got into the lane and just how well Kentucky played withouttheir floor leader and best player Ramel Bradley. Bradley was the main reason UK won the Vandy and UT games and many thought when he went out that UK would not be able to run a proper offense and would lose the lead. Kentucky showed a lot of toughness and heart in this game fighting through the unexpected injury to Bradley.

My prediction for the next game, February 6th at Auburn, is that UK wins their fourth consecutive game even against a scrappy Auburn team. I think UK wins 64-57 against Auburn, similar to the game that was played against Georgia today. If Bradley does not play I think UK will still win but it will be a lot closer and lower scoring. I think if Ramel sits out that UK wins 55-51 with Patrick Patterson logging 20 points and 8 rebounds.

Other Notes

•  For those that are concerned I do not know that status of any of the players’ injuriers yet. I would bet that Bradley and Crawford will play but that Meeks will be out yet again with the hip injury he has been suffering all year. I will update these situations when new information arrives. 

NEXT GAME

Feb. 6 @ Auburn

8:00 pm EST on ESPN Full Court