2025-2026 MBB computer projections thread

Yea, I and think I had been as well. Not that I didn't think he was good but he was one of the players that could step up and have big night every few games.

No, this dude is expected to have a big night every night. He will have a few off games ( as in 10 pts, 7 reb, 2 assist if that is bad) but he is without a doubt one of the best 5 players in the country.

The thing is, he is so smooth, he doesn't display any emotion and he knows how to choose his spots.

After he goes in Allen Fieldhouse and puts up 20/10/5 I'll reveal my perfect comp for him and I will catch major flack for it but I am absolutely right with it.
Shane Battier?
 
A blend of Niang and Royce White is the ISU comp that comes to mind for me for Jefferson.

He's "tougher" than both of them I think though. He was an absolute dog on the boards last game, which we needed since Baylor was being allowed to jump all over us with hardly a foul called under the auspices of "offensive rebounding".

I'm not that big a fan of JJ bringing the ball up so much, but TJ seems to be a fan and likely knows better than me.
 
He always looks pissed off to me.

In a good way.

Like he's always looking for an ass to kick.
I think someone mentioned it in the Iowa game thread, but that game is the only time remember him showing much emotion. Just always has the same demeanor to him, again not a bad thing though.
 
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I think Arizona, ISU, Duke & UConn are currently a notch above all those others.
And Michigan.
I think someone mentioned it in the Iowa game thread, but that game is the only time remember him showing much emotion. Just always has the same demeanor to him, again not a bad thing though.
I think it was in the WVU game that he fought for an offensive rebound and scored, getting fouled, and flexed, very briefly. That's as much emotion as I've seen out of him.
 
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And Michigan.

I think it was in the WVU game that he fought for an offensive rebound and scored, getting fouled, and flexed, very briefly. That's as much emotion as I've seen out of him.
Yeah I think what I was remembering was an and one as well against Iowa.
 
Can we get a few posters in this thread to do a CF podcast on the bball team? I want a really analytics in the weeds bball podcast

100% agree. The CF pods are still heavy football focused and feels like we aren’t giving this basketball team the attention it deserves (and we all want).
 
Basketball is somewhat unique in team sports in the outsized impact that one exceptional player can have, e.g. witness LeBron going to the Finals for like eight years straight no matter who else was on the team and healthy.

The unique thing about this team to me is (I'm perhaps underselling Jefferson here), we don't have a super-high-end talent, high-usage alpha-scorer-type player. None of our current roster is a shoe-in to be an NBA Lottery pick. But we do have three guys who would each be the best player on most other teams (very few other teams have three such players) and other players filling out the roster who complement those three really well. It's a master class in roster construction and buy-in by TJ.

Hard to overstate what a hot start this has been. Even if we're punching well above our weight and the wheels fall off here and we finish out .500, that's still a 23-8 regular season, pretty damn good!
Lol, well, if Jefferson wasn't such a good passer and distributer, I think he'd be adding another 3-5 points per game given he has the same assists/game as our pg. He feeds Milan a lot and having a 55% 3 point shooter is nasty. Have you seen that video of a guy explaining how ISU has some elite efficiency player combinations with our lineup and I think he compared it to all time or some form of working it historically. I don't know if I'll find it though. It definitely is cool to listen to.
 
I think Jefferson's body control and touch are also underrated. Yeah, he's giant and can pass, but the way he bullies people out on the wings, you would think he'd get called for more charges. And there are so many college players—I'm thinking of one of Michigan State's bigs, since I've seen them in person—who can hold their own in the post but either get caught in bad spots and turn it over or get blocked, or who freeze up and short-arm floaters that have no chance. When Jefferson manages to get to the rim, I'm struggling to think of a time he didn't lay it up baby soft on the backboard
 
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I think you have a lot of guys in NCAA getting good NIL money that otherwise would be playing in the G-League or Europe making less money. At the same time, it concentrates that talent to the places that have money to spend.
The NIL system has its drawbacks but it has created a better talent pool for college basketball and it shows. The transfer portal sucks because cores rarely stay together for long, we've been very fortunate that the Iowa State cores of the last few years have for the most part, but the quality of play in college basketball is higher as a result.
It also puts a bigger emphasis on coaching as rosters have so much turnover from year to year and coaches have to figure out a way for it to mesh on the fly. I think T.J. is especially good at this which is why Iowa State has thrived.
 
100% agree. The CF pods are still heavy football focused and feels like we aren’t giving this basketball team the attention it deserves (and we all want).
Let Him Cook is a great show, although not much on the analytics side of things.
 
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I think Arizona, ISU, Duke & UConn are currently a notch above all those others.
Michigan has to be included in that top tier even after the struggle against Penn State, UConn almost lost to Providence also. I think Purdue is in that grouping as well, they're loaded. That win Iowa State had against them at Mackey is the best any team has had this season so far, that's a great team loaded with talent and experience.
 
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Top ten right now on Torvik w/o preseason effects.

Two points.

1.) Michigan's defense is stupidly good. They're 4.2 points better per 100 than the next team (Arizona). They're probably the most likely national champion in the betting odds right now.

Good as many other teams have been... Michigan is a Death Star right now. But...

2.) Iowa State up to #2 in the rankings over Vanderbilt!

1767980387705.png
 
Top ten right now on Torvik w/o preseason effects.

Two points.

1.) Michigan's defense is stupidly good. They're 4.2 points better per 100 than the next team (Arizona). They're probably the most likely national champion in the betting odds right now.

Good as many other teams have been... Michigan is a Death Star right now. But...

2.) Iowa State up to #2 in the rankings over Vanderbilt!

View attachment 165758
On unfiltered Torvik we're #6 under Michigan, Purdue, AZ, Vanderbilt and Uconn. Did they just all start with better priors? Hard to imagine Vanderbilt would have

I've been trying to figure out the differences between KenPom, Torvik and EvanMiya and what it means that we're so much lower in Torvik
 
Kenpom often seems to rate us a bit higher than Torvik.

Torvik sorts teams by the "barthag" score, which is the odds of beating (outscoring) a hypothetical average D1 team. Kenpom sorts teams by "NetRtg" which is just tempo-adjusted points scored minus points yielded, per possession. Nothing to do directly with winning/outscoring anyone in particular.

Why we favor better in one vs. the other, not sure. Kenpom I know does not consider "winning" in any direct way, all it cares about is what was the actual margin vs. the expected margin; maybe Torvik does.
 
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