After LU won the CIB Championship this year Louisiana Monroe’s coach & players kept asking “How could they shoot that well against us?” - for the 2nd game in a row.

The answer is that, not only did LU play in a much tougher league, with tougher defenses, but also LU was a great FG shooting team, their 47.4% tied for 29th best in the NCAA, much better than any Sun Belt team, except their champs, Georgia State (48.0%).

Among the 351 NCAA teams last year, LU finished tied for 29th in FG% with North Carolina.

When you look at the NCAA teams with high FG%, you find a co-relation with winners. Here are the top 30 & their accomplishments last year.

Rank FG% Team (351 teams)
1 52.0 Gonzaga WCC champ E8
2 50.9 Notre Dame ACC champ E8
3 50.2 Duke NCAA champ
4 49.0 UC Davis Big W 1
5 48.8 Arizona PAC 1 E8
6 48.7 S F. Austin Soland 1
6 48.7 NC Central MEAC 1
8 48.6 Northeastern CAA champ
8 48.6 Sacramento St Big Sky
10 48.5 Lafayette Patriot champ
10 48.5 Evansville MVC CIT champ
12 48.3 William & Mary CAA 1
12 48.3 Ohio State Big Ten R32
12 48.3 Colgate Patriot 2
15 48.2 Utah Pac-12 S16
15 48.2 Murray State OVC 1
18 48.0 Denver Summit
18 48.0 Northern Iowa MVC champ
18 48.0 Georgia State Sun Belt champ
21 47.9 Wisconsin Big 10 champ F4
22 47.8 E. Washington Big Sky champ
23 47.6 Iowa State Big 12 champ
23 47.6 Belmont OVC champ
25 47.5 No. Colorado Big Sky
25 47.5 So. Methodist American Athletic champ
25 47.5 High Point Big South 1
25 47.5 Xavier Big East S16
29 47.4 LOYOLA (Chi) MVC CBI champ
29 47.4 North Carolina ACC S16

Good FG% shooting results in good things.

Where was Wichita State & Illinois State? The answer is that they made up in FG% defense & in extra shots for their lower (although not bad FG%).
Wichita State in rebounds & lack of turnovers was 305 ahead of their opponents. Illinois State was 170 rebounds & lack of turnovers ahead of their opponents. They were league leaders in these extra chances.

LU’s Coach deserves credit for picking up the team’s FG%. It has improved every year he has been with the Ramblers.

2011-12 42.1
2012-13 44.6
2013-14 46.2
2014-15 47.4

LU’s top 4 scorers all shot 48.5% or better last season.

In 3 point shooting, LU was even better. While the co-relation with winning is not as pronounced, as regular FG%, it is still there.

LU ranked 17th of the 351 NCAA teams!

Rank 3P% Team Conf
1 44.7 UC Davis Big West
2 41.3 Idaho Big Sky
3 40.8 Lafayette Patriot
3 40.8 Sacrmnto St Big Sky
3 40.8 Drake MVC
6 40.6 Indiana Big Ten
7 40.4 Utah Pac-12
8 40.0 E Wash, Big Sky
8 40.0 Citadel So Con
8 40.0 Gonzaga WCC
11 39.8 Wm. & MaryCAA
11 39.8 No. Iowa MVC
13 39.6 Iona MAAC
14 39.5 Colgate Patriot
15 39.4 Tenn.-Martin OVC
15 39.4 Utah State Mountain W.
17 39.2 LOYOLA (Chi) MVC
17 39.2 Vanderbilt SEC
17 39.2 Boise St. Mountain W.
Some others:
23 39.0 Notre Dame ACC
24 38.9 Villanova Big East
28 38.7 Duke ACC
32 38.5 Mich St. Big Ten

Most of the stats come from the excellent web site:
http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/stats?se ... stat_type=

Thanks Fleetsie !! It just shows to go you that one must SCORE and score with accuracy in this game. Oh ! one can win with Defense tainted with Oxenball, but what's the fun in that ?? Now then good Defense PLUS good scoring and accuracy is best---See Duke, UCLA Cinci KY and LUC back in the day !!

We were just great this past year --Better times coming up this next go around !!

Thanks, Fleet - I just burned an hour or two on the StatSheet site. Discovered 113 amazing facts, most of which I think I once knew. Best one that I hadn't seen in stark numbers was that the Ramblers were 9-1 this year in close (less than 6-point) games. That makes a winner and it's why I was so happy to go into the last two minutes up/down 2-3 pts.