NERDstats

I've been splitting the NERDstat posts into two this year. Last year I was writing "the thing I want to say and the stats I want to evaluate" into one big, long post (sometimes 5,000 words). This year I've done a lot of

My youngest son was the first one to let me know that "OK" wasn't a proper text response. This was at least 10 years ago. He'd be all "I should be done around 5:45 so you can pick me up at 6:

This is probably the best stat so far this season: Against a top-10 schedule (currently #9 in the FPI SOS), the Illini are +1 in turnover margin (10 turnovers gained, 9 turnovers lost). That's good for 59th nationally, so right in the middle of the pack. Tough schedule

Apologies for not getting this up until Friday afternoon. Other stuff (including the basketball preview, coming out Sunday night/Monday morning) has taken up most of my time this week. But I always need to NERDstat after every game, so let's NERDstat. We'll start with the

I really enjoy crazy box scores. I'm not a Los Angeles Rams fan (not only did Stan Kroenke lie and cheat, he lost $790 million to the City of St. Louis in a lawsuit because he lied and cheated), but I was a St. Louis Rams fan. I

I woke up at 3:37 this morning. No idea why. It felt like one of those "the game is today and my brain is too excited to let me sleep" kinds of things. I famously did not sleep at all the night before the Duke game. And