The Most Unsustainable Stats so Far in 2015-16 Season

A few short weeks into a sports season, some stats are always unsustainable. Someone's always on pace for 97 home runs or an undefeated title campaign.

When it comes to these early statistical anomalies, this young college basketball season is no anomaly. These stats are good for a laugh, but they won't last over the long term—or will they?

No, they won't. These are the craziest, eye-poppingest examples of the phenomenon just four or five games into the new season.

All statistics are current as of Nov. 22. Statistics are derived from several different sources; each one is indicated on the slide.

Ronnie Johnson Can't Be This Good of a Shooter

Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

The stat: 87.5 percent from the field

You can't see Houston guard Ronnie Johnson. He's so invisible right now, in fact, that I couldn't even find a picture of him in a Cougars uniform. I had to use his photo from Purdue, which is where he played before he transferred.

Anyway, Johnson is the high-octane leader of one of the country's most highest-octane offenses, and he's out of the gate with a bang. Take a look at Johnson's also-nation-leading 50.5 player efficiency rating. To put that in perspective, Jahlil Okafor's PER last season was 30.7. Frank Kaminsky's was 34.4.

And yes, this is field-goal percentage, not free-throw percentage. Although, to pile on some additional strangeness, Johnson does average an identical 87.5 percent from the charity stripe.

Break Up the Mean Green

John Weast/Getty Images

The stat: 111 points per game as a team

That's a high number. Of course, that sort of thing will happen when you start the season with Jarvis Christian and Texas College—or as I like to call them, two NAIA schools.

Still, give props to the North Texas Mean Green. I'm sure it's been one heck of a two-game ride. For one brief stretch in November, they thought they'd live forever.

Matt Donlan, Energizer Bunny

The Stat: 41.3 minutes played per game

I include a video here not because it's impressive (though I guess it is), but because there's no photo of Matt Donlan in our database. 

But I couldn't be deterred. When your statistics show you playing more than 100 percent of the average game length, half measures in other areas are simply not acceptable. You have to give 103 percent. Just like Matt Donlan.

Yes, Donlan is averaging more than 40 minutes per game. That's strange and most likely unsustainable, you see, because regulation college basketball games are only 40 minutes in length. The arithmetic! It doesn't add up!

The lad from Melbourne, Australia, has the highest number of minutes played per game at this point thanks to a 51-minute effort in a recent triple-overtime loss to Florida Gulf Coast.

Sadly, the Penguins of Youngstown State are 0-3 on the young season. But at least they can take solace in their young Melbournian iron man.

Syracuse Has to Break out

Nick Lisi/Associated Press

Malachi Richardson

The stat: 67.3 points per game 

Before the season began, the Orange were earmarked for an offensive resurgence. Behind Malachi Richardson, Michael Gbinije and Kaleb Joseph, Jim Boeheim's crew was supposed to be burying opponents under an avalanche of long-range bombs.

Unfortunately for the Orange, they're only managing this much, good for a tie for 283rd in the nation. In three games thus far, they have yet to break 80. The low-water mark was 57 points in the opener against Lehigh.

Syracuse is 3-0, so it's not so dire. But it's certainly not the start observers expected, and it certainly won't be sustainable when conference play rolls around. Here's guessing they get it sorted out. The law of averages almost demands it.

Jordan Roper and Brent Wrapp Are Scientific Marvels

Dawson Powers-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Roper (right)

The stat: 16-1 assist-to-turnover ratio

Point guards Jordan Roper (Clemson) and Brent Wrapp (Cal State Bakersfield) are incredibly efficient. Look at their ratios! It's too bad we can't convert them into useful energy that we could expend throughout the day.

These two are like the lithium-air batteries of college basketball. Never mind that Wrapp and Roper have played only three and four games thus far, respectively. Never mind that! They are here to save us all.

Better Than Perfect?

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Brannen Greene

The stats: 122 percent and 100.4 percent

These are the respective true shooting percentages of Brannen Greene of Kansas and Malik Milton of Southern Methodist.

How can a person average more than a 100 percent conversion rate on shooting? I'm glad you asked. The answer? I have no idea. It's all in the math. And as you can see, I'm a writer.

For the curious, here's an explanation of how true shooting percentage can top 100 percent. It is possible but also rare. So I'm guessing this won't last.

BYU Needs Charity from the Stripe

Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Collinsworth (left)

The stat: 54 percent team free-throw shooting 

The BYU Cougars are historically a pretty respectable shooting team. This season is no different; thus far, they're hitting 48 percent of their shots from the field, good for third in the West Coast Conference.

It's a different story when they hit the free-throw line.

That 54 percent clip is good for 342nd in the nation and second-to-last in the WCC. That is quite strange—and quite bad. The nadir came in a 66-65 loss to Long Beach State on Nov. 17. During that game, the Cougars only managed to convert eight of their 21 free-throw attempts for a 38.1 percent clip.

You have to think the BYU free-throw percentage will eventually come into line with their percentages in other areas of the game.

All advanced statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.