Texas is sporting some magnificent defense right now.
Another win against a Top 25 team – this one was a 69-49 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M – cements the ‘Horns as a bona fide Final Four contender, along with a half dozen teams like Ohio State, Kansas, Pitt, UConn and Duke.
Tough to argue that right now. Nobody’s playing better than Texas.
But UT’s offense leaves a little to be desired. Jordan Hamilton is superb, but unless someone like J’Covan Brown or Cory Joseph is on their game, Texas can struggle. Will it be their downfall come March? Because sometimes great offenses wins championships too.
That’s the idea behind one section in “Scorecasting,” a new book by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim. It’s mostly NBA focused, but Eric Angevine over at CBSSports.com applied the same principles to the college game in this post.
Some of the 10 most efficient offensive teams have issues. But when cross-referenced with the 10 most efficient defensive teams, three schools pop up: Ohio State, Duke and Kansas. And Kentucky’s right there.
As Eric says, that’s a chalky bunch. And it doesn’t include Texas. Check back in a month. We’ll see where the ‘Horns are then.
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