That's probably one of my favorite Brandon Jennings' highlights of the season, if for nothing else than John McGlocklin's reaction. But you have to admit, you were probably doing the same thing when you saw that the first time. Lots of people are mentioning Jennings for Rookie of the Year, but exactly how good has he been?

Let's start off with the leader boards. Jennings has poured in the points, as he's 14th in the NBA in made field goals (173), 6th in the NBA in made 3-pointers (50), 14th in the NBA in 3P FG% (44.6%), and 12th in the NBA in scoring (21.2 ppg). But Jennings isn't just racking up the points, he's making his teammates better as well. He's 13th in the league in assists per game (6.0). His assist to turnover ratio isn't in the top 20 (Ridnour's is though, he's #7), but it is a healthy and respectable 1.96. If you consider the traditional triple-double stats (points, assists, and rebounds) and sum those up, you get a pretty good idea for who the most complete players in the league are. Jennings is 22nd in the league in this category with 30.9 points, rebounds, and assists per game.

But there are some other metrics that show just how good Jennings has been. I'll take a look at those after the jump!

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More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

This guy will be playing in the best bowl game of 2009-2010. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

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In the never-ending effort to rank the bowl games, most articles rely on just the author's subjective analysis of all parts of the game. For example, how big of a mismatch is it? How good or bad are the teams? Are the stakes high? Is it a traditionally good bowl game?

I've decided to put a statistical spin on things, by using the latest Fremeau Efficiency Index ratings from Football Outsiders. FEI is basically a formula that, "considers each of the nearly 20,000 possessions every season in major college football. All drives are filtered to eliminate first-half clock-kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores. A scoring rate analysis of the remaining possessions then determines the baseline possession efficiency expectations against which each team is measured. A team is rewarded for playing well against good teams, win or lose, and is punished more severely for playing poorly against bad teams than it is rewarded for playing well against bad teams."

It is probably a better method of ranking teams than what the BCS or human polls would provide. So, what I did was compute a few things. In each of the tables I post, you'll see some abbreviated titles above certain columns. FEI next to certain teams is simply the latest FEI of each team (updated after championship week). Avg FEI indicates the average of both teams' ratings. The higher the value, theoretically the better the teams that will be competing in the bowl game. Everyone likes to watch bowl games with the elite teams. FEI Diff indicates the differential in the rating of the two teams in each game. Both of those values are ranked from 1 to 34, with 1 being the best rating. Z is simply the average of twice the z-score of the Avg FEI and the z-score of the FEI Diff. Basically, how much better the teams are compared to the average bowl game, and how much more evenly the teams are matched, play into this value. I weighted it to give the advantage to the bowl games with better teams in them, as those will be the ones most people want to watch.

For the rankings, follow the link below; they are after the jump!

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Willie Warren still leads the pack in the statistical plus-minus department. Obviously he's been one of the more valuable players on the team, and it shows, as his SPM figure has ballooned to an absurdly high 26.24. I wish I had calculated it after the Arizona game when he had 25 points and played a great game, because I'm sure the figure would have dropped last night. Willie got in a bit of foul trouble and then couldn't really find a rhythm.

Tiny Gallon, Steven Pledger, and Cade Davis all still boast positive figures. Tony Crocker has made a very sharp turnaround. Previously he was slightly negative, but now has the second highest SPM on the team (11.23). Tommy Mason-Griffin has also made a considerable turnaround. After starting out the season strongly in the negative, he is almost back to a neutral figure and has been playing much better as of late.

As the team continues to jell, Crocker is going to be very important. His last two or three games have been great - he's hustled and scored, and done everything in between. The Sooners really need Crocker to be a legit second scoring threat to Warren. If both of those guys are firing on all cylinders, it will be tough to stop the Sooners' offense. This is because the Sooners would then have two guys who can create their own shot, and be scorers rather than shooters (there's a huge difference).

Add in a couple of marksmen (Pledger and Davis), a floor general (Tommy Mason-Griffin), and a big man (Tiny Gallon) and things are looking brighter for OU. One big concern I have is that Tiny Gallon will start to wear down especially as OU gets into conference play. They don't really have a lot of depth in the post. I think Orlando Allen has been playing alright, and he deserves more of a look off the bench than he's gotten recently.

The Sooners have clawed their way back to 6-3. Perhaps they'll start receiving a few votes in the polls next week. First, they're going to need to prove they can win away from home, and they'll have a couple of opportunities coming up - most notably this Saturday at Utah. Second, they need a signature win. Beating UTEP (ranked #29 in the KenPom ratings) on December 21st, and beating Gonzaga (AT Gonzaga) on December 31st would both qualify.

Of course, getting on the Sportscenter cycle doesn't hurt with the pollsters, and that's what Crocker's performance last night did for the Sooners.

Fresh off a 67-47 domination of Arkansas (2-5), the Sooners play host to Arizona (3-3) on Sunday in the Pac 10 - Big 12 Hardwood Challenge. Above is a chart of the Statistical Plus-Minus breakdown for the OU-Arkansas game. Again, here is a basic definition of SPM:

The one measure that I found that I really like is statistical plus-minus. What is it? Basically it is the number of points that a player would add to a team if that player replaced an "average player", over 100 possessions. It is based on tempo neutral statistics (averaged for "per 40 minute production"). It accounts for things like turnovers hurting a team, and things like assists and steals helping a team.

I excluded Andrew Fitzgerald and T.J. Franklin from the analysis as neither played more than 3 minutes. Admittedly SPM works best when applied over a longer stretch of games, but it does offer some revealing trends. Ryan Wright had probably his best game of the season, which is funny because you probably wouldn't have noticed him on the court all that much. He only played for 12 minutes, but had a productive 12 minutes with 4 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist. As expected, Tony Crocker was basically the MVP of the game. He had more minutes than Wright (Ryan's production probably would have fallen with more minutes). It was one of Tony's best games as a Sooner. It seemed like every time down the court he would get a rebound. He finished with 16 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block. 

Willie and Tommy Mason-Griffin both had solid games. "TMG", as he is sometimes called, needs to round out the stat line just a bit more. His assist totals continue to stay down, but he also decreased the number of turnovers he had. Cade Davis' SPM figure is slightly negative, which is enormously misleading. He's probably the other candidate for MVP in the Arkansas game. He hassled the nation's top scorer, Rotnei Clarke, all game long and held him well below his season average with 11 points. Without Cade's consistent effort on the defensive end, this game would have been much closer. For reference, Cade held Rotnei to a -3.46 SPM figure, an unbelievable accomplishment for the junior guard from Elk City, Oklahoma. The most impressive thing was the number of isolation plays they ran for Rotnei Clarke, and how all but 1 or 2 (if memory serves me right) failed because of Cade's defense. I thought the shift to man defense was a big plus for the team as a whole.

Bottom line:  Cade Davis deserves a lot of credit for the performance he had against Arkansas, and defending Rotnei Clarke. It's no easy job to defend the nation's leading scorer for 38 minutes, especially when you're used to coming off the bench. Cade has had to work hard ever since he got here, and clearly the effort is paying off. 

More on the 'Zona game after the jump!

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More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

By dashing OSU's hopes for a bid to the BCS, the Sooners jumped up the ladder in the Big 12 pecking order. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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Well ccmachine already detailed the options pretty well in this post a couple of days ago, so read that for good bowl information. I'm here to provide a few quotes and news nuggets from the past couple of days and then try to break them down with a little analysis. 

Most Likely Scenario - Texas beats Nebraska

Texas would travel to the National Championship Game and the Cotton Bowl would select Oklahoma State as they are next in the Big 12 pecking order behind the BCS. Oklahoma State is close to Dallas, and as ccmachine pointed out, "The attraction that a Les Miles vs. Mike Gundy match-up would bring is off the chart." 

Nebraska would then get selected for the Holiday Bowl, in all likelihood, as most reports in the media and indications are that the Cornhuskers would get a berth here with a loss to Texas.

“If Nebraska loses in that game, we believe Nebraska would be a better selection for us than Texas Tech,’’ [Holiday Bowl Chairman of the Board] Baber said.

“(The Raiders) need to root for Nebraska to beat Texas,’’ he said. “That’s probably the best chance of them being here.’’

This leaves several options for the Sooners, more after the jump...

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More photos » by Steve Helber - AP

Hopefully we won't be seeing any sour looks like this one. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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At 7PM tonight, the Oklahoma Sooners (3-3) try to build a winning streak after winning their last time out against Nichols State. The Sooners are a perfect 2-0 at home so far, and have averaged a 17.5 point victory in the Lloyd Noble Center. They will be hosting the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4) who have yet to play a true road game, and who are coming off three straight losses at home to mediocre opponents - Morgan State, East Tennessee State, and Alabama State.

From indications in interviews, it seems as though Willie Warren will manage to crack the lineup again, after he was either in the doghouse or ill the last time out against Nichols State. More of the preview, after the jump.

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More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Cade Davis has been one of the Sooners' most valuable players this season. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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There's lots of interesting basketball statistics being developed these days to determine the value of players to their basketball team, similar to WARP in in baseball, or DVOA in football, and I figured I would take a look at it since the regression was easily available. 

The one measure that I found that I really like is statistical plus-minus. What is it? Basically it is the number of points that a player would add to a team if that player replaced an "average player", over 100 possessions. It is based on tempo neutral statistics (averaged for "per 40 minute production"). It accounts for things like turnovers hurting a team, and things like assists and steals helping a team.

Here's a good post on the topic on 82games.com (an NBA website), if you feel like becoming a stat nerd. I used this updated regression from basketball-reference.com to calculate the values for the Sooner basketball team over the entire season so far. Players with less than 40 minutes logged were not included.

Follow the link to see the results, posted in a table after the jump. The results are very interesting, and somewhat surprising, unless maybe you've watched all the games so far with a keen eye to what's been going on.

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Talented Sooner guard Whitney Hand is out for the remainder of the 2009-2010 season with an ACL injury.

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Well the Sooner's doctor office just keeps getting fuller and fuller. I don't know if someone has a voo-doo doll of our Sooner players somewhere, but this is just getting ridiculous. I will defer to the official Soonersports.com for the recap on this injury:

The University of Oklahoma sophomore, who was the 2009 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, underwent an MRI Monday morning that revealed a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee.

"All of us are aching individually and collectively for Whitney right now because she loves to play basketball," OU head coach Sherri Coale said. "Although we lose her tangible presence on the floor we won't lose the intangible quality of her leadership. We would ask the Sooner nation to keep Whitney in their thoughts and prayers and to stand united alongside our team as we move forward in our season."

Hand's injury occurred near the end of the first half of OU's win over San Diego State on Friday, Nov. 27, at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.

Oklahoma will pursue a medical hardship waiver to preserve Hand's eligibility.

This leaves the OU women's basketball team with just 9 players to work with for the remainder of the season.

Home: Mr. Hyde; Away: Dr. Jekyll

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With a 1-5 record away from home thus far this year, and a 5-0 record within the friendly confines of Gaylor Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, one wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn that the Sooners have some pretty severe home-road splits. 

It's been very difficult to explain exactly why that is. The offense is under the guidance of redshirt freshman Landry Jones, who just isn't accustomed to playing in a hostile environment yet. He seems to get flustered more easily on the road. At home, though, Jones has even set some school records through the air.

However, even the defense has fallen victim to the road woes. One only has to look to the last game where Texas Tech had the ball for over 37 minutes and shredded the Sooners for 549 yards.

Thus, the splits provided to the left shouldn't be too surprising, but they really are. The Sooners outgain opponents by 321 yards at home, but then get outgained on the road!

At home, OU outscores opponents by about 40 points on average, but on the road they lose by about 3 points on average. In virtually every statistical category, there is a dramatic difference between their home statistics and their road statistics.

There are even some dramatic splits with players. Landry Jones has a 175.37 passing efficiency at home, but only 102.13 away from home. DeMarco Murray rushes for 77 yards per game at home, but only 39 yards per game away from home. 

Luckily, the Sooners don't need to worry about road woes this week as they host the Cowboys from Oklahoma State. This will only be OSU's fourth game on the road all season. Their previous games - against Iowa State, Baylor, and Texas A&M - were not exactly "tests". The average ranking of those three teams, using Football Outsider's rankings was 83rd (out of 120 FBS teams). The toughest game was probably against #54 Texas A&M.

I don't know if any other top team has had such an easy schedule away from home. As a matter of fact, Oklahoma State fares poorly in the FO rankings because of their poor strength-of-schedule (92nd nationally, or 29th easiest).

The last time a ranked OSU team visited Norman was in 1997, when they beat the Sooners 30-7. The last time the Sooners were unranked in a Bedlam game was in 1999, Bob Stoops' first year. The Sooners won in Norman 44-7.

The Football Outsiders playoff odds updated after Green Bay's victory over San Francisco showed some encouraging trends. It should be noted that Green only held a 0.8% chance to take the division, something that would be predicated on the Vikings losing 4 more games than the Packers the rest of the way. Basically, the Packers are battling for a wild card berth.

Those odds gave them a 69.1% chance of locking up a wild card berth, and a 69.8% chance of reaching the playoffs altogether. This was a 14% improvement over the previous week, and surprisingly high given that we were tied record-wise with two other teams (Philadelphia and New York) and one game ahead of another (Atlanta).

Those playoff odds are likely to improve after the Packers beat the Lions to improve to 7-4, and the New York Giants lost to the Denver Broncos to fall to 6-5. Let's take a look at the Packers playoff chances with a bit more analysis, after the jump. We'll be examining the Packers, Dallas (because they are the one division leader that appears not to have everything sewn up already), Philadelphia, New York, and Atlanta. However, Carolina, San Francisco and Chicago will not be included, as their odds were all worse than 10%, and the Packers own the tiebreaker over San Fran by virtue of their victory (San Fran has the best odds of any of the 4-6 teams).

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