Every coach has their own philosophy when it comes to the game. That’s one of the best parts of basketball. You can play it in a lot of different ways. Do you want to play fast? Slow? Well, if you play fast, be ready to turn it over a bit. If you play slow, then you better be efficient. I’m not going to list out the multiple ways of playing the game but what is actually important when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament and what should coaches be focusing on statistically to make sure they have a shot at winning it?

“Defense wins Championships” Yeah…yeah we know. But, does it? Sure, defensive teams have won championships but the women’s game is evolving at rapid speed. We’re seeing more scoring, more threes, faster pace. Is that winning championships? It is definitely putting more notice on women’s basketball. Everyone loves Caitlin Clark and Iowa leads the nation in scoring by 6 full points. They make the most 3s per game and everywhere they go they sell out. Yes, CAITLIN CLARK. If they played slow and were a defensive team would they sell out? I would say no. Would they have gotten to the National Championship game last season. I would say no again. It works…for them.

We are seeing changes in play but I don’t think we’re there just yet. Basketball is a copycat sport. When coaches see things that work, they copy them. South Carolina plays a certain way, LSU plays a certain way. UCONN and Stanford in the past had high efficiency Princeton style offenses. Are teams playing fast because it’s exciting and help’s attract recruits or are they doing it to give themselves a chance against the powerhouses in the women’s game that, in my opinion are still playing like the NBA in the 90’s.

The point of all of this is I want to know what stats matter. Is it defense, offense, threes, steals, assists? What does your team need to be elite at in order to make it to the tournament, but also to go deep into the tournament. So I’m going to track it. How many teams are in the top 15 in the country in a particular statistic in each round of the tournament. I used the NCAA website for the statistics. Unfortunately, pace is missing. I’m a D3 coach my synergy budget is a little different and I’m writing a blog, not a book.

How many teams in the specific round are in the Top 15 in the country in each Statistic