Oklahoma State University Athletics
Statistically Speaking; The Numbers Behind Underwood
September 21, 2016 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER – In two of the last three seasons Brad Underwood's Stephen F. Austin teams strolled into the NCAA Tournament and took down a giant in the opening round.
In total, Underwood and the Lumberjacks won an NCAA record-tying 89 games and three conference championships. But what made them so good, statistically speaking? Let's dive inside the numbers of Underwood's run at SFA.
Since Underwood is a defense-first coach, let's start on that end of the court. Underwood runs a high-pressure man-to-man defense, and the goal is to make opposing teams feel uncomfortable from the tip. He likes to force guards to their off hand, and make crazy cross-court passes to big men who don't like to be pestered by ball-hawks. He wants to speed opponents up because that's when they make mistakes.
The results? Lots and lots of turnovers.
In fact, the Lumberjacks led the nation in turnovers forced (a stat category new to college basketball in 2016) last year at 18.56 per game. The improvement wasn't overnight, but the 'Jacks got progressively better at taking the ball away in each of the last three years. They ranked 47th in the country in steals in Underwood's first season, jumped to 37th in 2015 and were seventh in 2016 with 9.1 per contest.
Only one player in Underwood's SFA tenure was among the nation's top 100 in steals per game (Thomas Walkup was 20th last year with a whopping 2.09 per game), which speaks to his total team approach to defense. SFA's opponents averaged just 63.7 points per game over his three seasons, which puts you in position to win a lot of games – 89 of them to be exact.
Underwood is even more creative when his team gets the ball, which is fitting since he is now coaching on the same floor where the motion offense was invented by Mr. Henry Iba.
Underwood's offense is essentially position-less from the 1 to the 5, and uses ball movement to exploit numbers and mismatches. It requires heady, tough and versatile players to operate properly. Glen Miller, the associate head coach at UConn, described it as a variation of the "read and react" offense.
The results? Lots of scoring and tons of assists.
Last season, SFA shot 47.8 percent from the floor and scored 80.2 points per game, all while ranking second in the country with 18.7 assists per game. The year before, the 'Jacks led the nation with 17.5 assists per game and had the country's 10th ranked scoring offense at 78.6 points.
Despite his teams ranking second and first in the nation in assists in the last two years, no single SFA player ranked among the nation's top 100. Once again, it's a team-first concept.
When put together in a package, Underwood's teams tend to dominate the turnover margin (tops in the nation in '15-16 at +6.5) and, ultimately, the scoreboard. The 'Jacks also led the country in scoring margin last season and were in the top 10 in the category during his entire stay at SFA.
SFA Year-By-Year In The NCAA Rankings
In total, Underwood and the Lumberjacks won an NCAA record-tying 89 games and three conference championships. But what made them so good, statistically speaking? Let's dive inside the numbers of Underwood's run at SFA.
Since Underwood is a defense-first coach, let's start on that end of the court. Underwood runs a high-pressure man-to-man defense, and the goal is to make opposing teams feel uncomfortable from the tip. He likes to force guards to their off hand, and make crazy cross-court passes to big men who don't like to be pestered by ball-hawks. He wants to speed opponents up because that's when they make mistakes.
The results? Lots and lots of turnovers.
In fact, the Lumberjacks led the nation in turnovers forced (a stat category new to college basketball in 2016) last year at 18.56 per game. The improvement wasn't overnight, but the 'Jacks got progressively better at taking the ball away in each of the last three years. They ranked 47th in the country in steals in Underwood's first season, jumped to 37th in 2015 and were seventh in 2016 with 9.1 per contest.
Only one player in Underwood's SFA tenure was among the nation's top 100 in steals per game (Thomas Walkup was 20th last year with a whopping 2.09 per game), which speaks to his total team approach to defense. SFA's opponents averaged just 63.7 points per game over his three seasons, which puts you in position to win a lot of games – 89 of them to be exact.
Underwood is even more creative when his team gets the ball, which is fitting since he is now coaching on the same floor where the motion offense was invented by Mr. Henry Iba.
Underwood's offense is essentially position-less from the 1 to the 5, and uses ball movement to exploit numbers and mismatches. It requires heady, tough and versatile players to operate properly. Glen Miller, the associate head coach at UConn, described it as a variation of the "read and react" offense.
The results? Lots of scoring and tons of assists.
Last season, SFA shot 47.8 percent from the floor and scored 80.2 points per game, all while ranking second in the country with 18.7 assists per game. The year before, the 'Jacks led the nation with 17.5 assists per game and had the country's 10th ranked scoring offense at 78.6 points.
Despite his teams ranking second and first in the nation in assists in the last two years, no single SFA player ranked among the nation's top 100. Once again, it's a team-first concept.
When put together in a package, Underwood's teams tend to dominate the turnover margin (tops in the nation in '15-16 at +6.5) and, ultimately, the scoreboard. The 'Jacks also led the country in scoring margin last season and were in the top 10 in the category during his entire stay at SFA.
SFA Year-By-Year In The NCAA Rankings
| Category | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Steals/Game | 47 | 37 | 7 |
| Turnover Margin | 7 | 15 | 1 |
| Assists/Game | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Scoring Margin | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Scoring Offense | 49 | 10 | 23 |
| Scoring Defense | 36 | 113 | 11 |
| Turnovers Forced | N/A | N/A | 1 |
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