College Basketball's Most One-Dimensional Teams This Season
In theory, a college basketball team strives to be as balanced as possible. It doesn't want to be too reliant on one player or one aspect of the game for fear that if that area or individual gets neutralized, there are no other viable options.
This is the goal. It's not always the reality.
Through the first six weeks of the 2015-16 season, several teams have found themselves leaning heavily in one direction or another with their style of play. Either that or they are getting a very high percentage of production from a small sample of players, often just one, leaving them in position to get shut down if that scoring star has an off night.
We've identified eight teams that to this point in the season are quite one-dimensional. Whether it's by design or by accident, it's something that all future opponents will be aware of and will try to impact.
Arkansas Razorbacks
1 of 8
Massive roster turnover has caused Arkansas coach Mike Anderson to tinker with his team's offensive approach. So far that's meant relying heavily on interior play and two-point shooting, with 77 percent of its field goal attempts coming from inside the three-point line.
The Razorbacks aren't a bad three-point shooting team by any means, their 43 percent rate ranking ninth in the country.
They just don't take many long-distance shots, taking 165 in 11 games. Only 12 other Division I schools have attempted fewer, and 10 of those have played fewer games.
Guards Anthlon Bell and Dusty Hannahs are handling the three-point shooting, while the remainder of the team hangs out closer to the basket. All 62 of 6'3" guard Manuale Watkins' attempts have been two-pointers, resulting in a 56.5 percent efficiency that is tops among Arkansas' most-used players.
Iowa State Cyclones
2 of 8
At 84.5 points per game, Iowa State ranks 25th in the country in scoring behind an up-tempo attack that puts a premium on finding the open man to take the shot. The Cyclones shoot 50.4 percent from the field, which is 12th best overall, and their top three scorers (seniors Jameel McKay and Georges Niang and junior Monte Morris) are all shooting at least 52.7 percent.
Imagine how much better ISU would be if it took advantage of that part of the court known as the free-throw line.
The Cyclones take only 15 foul shots per game, fewer than only 11 other teams in the country. They've managed to start 10-1 despite getting only 10.1 points per game from the line, due to their 67.3 percent free-throw percentage, though they also do their best to avoid sending opponents to the line.
ISU's foes have taken a combined 146 foul shots in 11 games, only making 94.
Niang, who leads the Cyclones at 19.2 points per game, is the team leader in foul shots with just 41.
Memphis Tigers
3 of 8
Scoring is up across the board in college basketball, the result of teams adjusting to the new rules that have made it possible to get additional possessions and move more freely on offense. For Memphis, though, it's upped its production the old-fashioned way: by drawing fouls and getting free points without taking time off the clock.
The Tigers have a free-throw attempt rate of 53.1 percent, taking 359 foul shots compared to 676 field goal attempts in 11 games. Even with an unimpressive 69.9 percent efficiency, they're getting almost 23 points per game at the line.
That's helped Memphis up its scoring from 67.3 last season to 79.2 points per game in 2015-16. The Tigers are 8-3 this year after finishing with an 18-14 record last time out.
.png?w=256 "NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship")
New Mexico State Aggies
4 of 8
New Mexico State has represented the Western Athletic Conference in the NCAA tournament the previous four seasons, and the Aggies figure to be the favorites to make that five in a row. That's assuming sophomore Pascal Siakam remains as dominant as a scorer and rebounder as he's been in 2015-16.
Siakam is eighth in the country in scoring (23.6 points per game) and sixth nationally in rebounding (11.8). According to Joshua Parrott of the Basketball Times, the 6'9" forward is the only player in Division I in the top 10 in both categories.
Originally from Cameroon, Siakam scores 8.2 points more per game than NMSU's second-leading scorer, junior guard Ian Baker, and his rebounding tally is nearly seven more per contest than any other Aggies player. He's had double-doubles in 11 of 13 games, with a pair of 35/10 outings along the way.
North Florida Ospreys
5 of 8
Defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion North Florida hasn't shown much interest in playing defense this season, choosing to let its array of scorers run wild and hope that will be enough to come out on top. It's produced a respectable 10-5 record so far, though outside of a season-opening win at Illinois, the Ospreys haven't made any significant waves.
They've had chances, playing at Arkansas, Dayton, LSU, Louisville and Saint Louis. Those represent their five losses, and in four of them they shot better than 50 percent, including a 64.3 percent clip allowed in a 119-108 loss at LSU.
Santa Clara Broncos
6 of 8
Santa Clara isn't likely to challenge for an NCAA tournament bid this season, sitting at 4-10 overall and 0-2 in the West Coast Conference. Yet the Broncos could rise up and pull off an upset or two down the stretch if Jared Brownridge can get hot with all the shooting he does.
Brownridge, a 6'2" junior guard who averages 19.9 points per game, has attempted 218 shots this season. That's fifth most in Division I and nearly twice as many as the Broncos' next most frequent shooter, forward Nate Kratch. Kratch averages 11.6 points per game thanks to 59.5 percent shooting, compared to Brownridge's 37.6 percent rate.
Brownridge can run really hot or really cold, depending on the night.
He had 44 in an overtime loss to Arizona during the Wooden Legacy, then three days later he was just 4-of-15 from the field for nine points in Santa Clara's first win of the season. He's shot 50 percent or better in three of the Broncos' last five games, going for 36 (on 10-of-17 shooting) on a Dec. 21 loss at Pacific.
Villanova Wildcats
7 of 8
Live by the three, die by the three? No team in college basketball identifies more with this cliche than Villanova, which so far in the 2015-16 season has attempted 51.7 percent of its shots from three-point range.
Not surprisingly, this strategy has produced mixed results.
The Wildcats are shooting 31.7 percent from outside, which ranks 253rd in Division I. But because they attempt 31 per game, they still get plenty of points from the perimeter. Villanova averages 76.1 points per game, with nearly 39 percent of its production coming on threes.
But when the shots aren't falling, Villanova struggles to score. This was never more evident than in the 78-55 loss to Oklahoma on Dec. 7 at Pearl Harbor, when Villanova was 4-of-32 from three-point range. Its second worst three-point effort came in a 59-45 win against Stanford, when it went 7-of-34.
Wyoming Cowboys
8 of 8
A surprise NCAA tournament qualifier last season after winning the Mountain West Conference tourney, Wyoming used a plodding, methodical style that featured two main scorers in guard Josh Adams and forward Larry Nance.
Nance is now in the NBA, leaving Adams alone to do it all himself. Literally.
The 6'2" senior has almost doubled his scoring from a year ago, going from 12.8 to 25.5 points per game. That accounts for almost 34 percent of Wyoming's 75.2 points per game, nearly single-handedly providing the Cowboys' increase from 61.5 per game in 2014-15.
But Adams doesn't just contribute as a score. He's the team leader in assists, at 4.2 per game, thus helping to produce a Division I-leading 323 points via his scoring and passing.
All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.png?w=480 "NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship")
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
