Welcome to this season’s first, last, and only installment of Tuesday Truths, where I look at how well 97 teams in eight conferences did against their league opponents on a per-possession basis.
Editor’s note: I took on some new commitments this season in the areas of teaching on Monday nights and writing a multi-thousand-word Tuesday feature on bubble watching. As a result, there was a measurable decline (to zero, if you must be so precise) in how often my traditional multi-thousand-word Tuesday feature on per-possession performance appeared. But, with today’s post, Tuesday Truths has now made an appearance for 10 consecutive seasons under two different names and across three different sites. Huzzah, The Streak!
Virginia and the incorrigible myth of in-game “separation”

Great finish, but shouldn’t you have won by more? (virginiasports.com)
Final results, conference games only
Pace: possessions per 40 minutes
PPP: points per possession Opp. PPP: opponent PPP
EM: efficiency margin (PPP – Opp. PPP)
ACC W-L Pace PPP Opp. PPP EM
1. Virginia 17-1 59.2 1.08 0.89 +0.19
2. Duke 13-5 69.6 1.14 0.97 +0.17
3. North Carolina 11-7 69.2 1.16 1.08 +0.08
4. Louisville 9-9 69.6 1.06 1.02 +0.04
5. Clemson 11-7 66.0 1.04 1.00 +0.04
6. Notre Dame 8-10 64.8 1.08 1.06 +0.02
7. NC State 11-7 71.1 1.08 1.07 +0.01
8. Miami 11-7 67.3 1.08 1.07 +0.01
9. Florida State 9-9 71.4 1.09 1.10 -0.01
10. Virginia Tech 10-8 67.0 1.06 1.07 -0.01
11. Syracuse 8-10 62.9 1.01 1.02 -0.01
12. Boston College 7-11 69.7 1.06 1.10 -0.04
13. Wake Forest 4-14 70.3 1.00 1.08 -0.08
14. Georgia Tech 6-12 65.7 0.96 1.05 -0.09
15. Pitt 0-18 64.8 0.87 1.16 -0.29
AVG. 67.2 1.05
For a fifth consecutive season, Virginia is doing strange things to the basketball frontal lobes of otherwise sensible observers. It is again being said that the Cavaliers will surely have trouble achieving “separation” from quality opponents in the NCAA tournament, a nice way of saying their offense isn’t actually good enough to go far into the bracket. Continue reading →