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Oklahoma State 69, Central Arkansas 57 : Plus/Minus

Since the Central Arkansas game was the first one of the season I did not see, it worked out well that I finally figured out how to calculate Plus/Minus so I can start posting it instead of my usual... you know... analysis mixed with wang jokes. For those unfamiliar with Plus/Minus here are the nuts and bolts:

  • Plus/Minus is the scoring differential that occurs while any player, or group of players is on the court.  So for a one-player example, if Matt Pilgrim enters a game with the Cowboys leading by 3, then is substituted out 2 minutes later (or in Pilgrim's case, ejected) with the Cowboys leading by 1... then Matt Pilgrim's Plus/Minus for that time on the court was -2.  All these pluses and minuses are added together for a game (or really any time period) to calculate that players Plus/Minus. This can also be done for any group of players.
  • The higher the Plus/Minus, the greater the group being evaluated outperformed their opponent while they were on the court.... and vice-versa.
  • It was difficult as shit for me to figure out how to do this... so appreciate it.

For this game, I am just going to show the Plus/Minus for all the 5-man units that saw the court, but as the season progresses (and I get more time to write up the rest of the combinations) I will switch to showing the highest impact groupings of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 man units, and roll them up for the whole season. 

Here are the Plus/Minus results for all the 5-man units from the Central Arkansas game (sorted by minutes played):

Lineup Minutes Plus/Minus
D Williams, Moses, Sidorakis, Gulley, Page 14:36 5
D Williams, Moses, Olukemi, Penn, Page 04:41 3
D Williams, Moses, Olukemi, Brown, Page 03:10 5
D Williams, Moses, Brown, Page, Gulley 02:34 0
D Williams, Moses, Brown, Page, Penn 02:33 -5
Shaw, D Williams, Sidorakis, Page, Penn 01:41 1
D Williams, Pilgrim, Sidorakis, Gulley, Page 01:24 0
Moses, Olukemi, Sidorakis, Brown, Page 01:14 0
Pilgrim, Shaw, Olukemi, Page, Penn 01:13 -1
Pilgrim, Moses, Olukemi, Penn, Page 01:12 -1
Pilgrim, D Williams, Olukemi, Page, Penn 01:00 3
Shaw, Moses, Olukemi, Penn, Page 00:59 2
Moses, D Williams, Olukemi, Page, Gulley 00:52 0
Moses, Brown, Page, Olukemi, Penn 00:52 1
Shaw, Moses, Brown, Olukemi, Penn 00:44 -1
Shaw, Moses, Brown, Page, Penn 00:41 0
Shaw, D Williams, Brown, Page, Gulley 00:34 0


And just for the hell of it I threw my least favorite 2-man unit of Keiton Page and Ray Penn into the analysis... and to my surprise, they actually finished with a +3 in 15:12.  Perhaps I will learn over the course of the season that the two 5'9 guys being on the court at once isn't as detrimental on the defensive end as I think it is.

So for the entire game the Pokes used 17 different 5-man units.  The most productive lineup came from the starting 5 (as it should be), while the least productive lineup featured both 5'9 guards paired with D Williams, Moses, and Brown.

The Cowboys next game is on Saturday at noon on the road at LaSalle.