We’ve looked at the offensive shooting numbers for the last ten champions, this week we’re taking a look at the defensive shooting percentages. On the men’s side, D1 was the stingiest for true shooting percentage at 50.1% but it was a tight range with D2 at the highest figure 52.3%
For effective field goal percentage, the numbers drop and here D1 has a significant advantage at 45.6% vs 47.6% and up for the other levels. The champs at the D1 level have not been the best at defending the three-pointer – that was both levels of NAIA – but clearly the two-point field goal defense really tilts in favor of D1.
On the women’s side, the overall numbers are much lower than the men’s side. Here D1 and D3 lead the way but this is where the dominance of UConn and Amherst, respectively, really tilt the scales. Both of those teams have dominated opponents during their multiple championship runs, and as we have said before, in a sample size of ten, that can really affect the results.
Now we can look at the spread between the offensive and defensive numbers to get a real feel for what makes these teams great – maybe you can’t get to one mark or the other on either end of the floor but if you can get to these spreads, you’re probably pretty good.
On the men’s side, both D3 and D2 are the leaders in both true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage.
On the women’s side, D1 is +17% in both categories – a huge margin – but the other levels are no slouches far outpacing the men’s side with the lowest number coming in at just over 9%.
Again, all of these numbers don’t guarantee success but I would say, especially when it comes to the spread numbers, if you can come close to these figures, that means you’re probably going to be a pretty good team. It’s also good to see where you’re already pretty good and where you might need to get better.