With more than half of the 2019-2020 season in the books, it’s time to take a look at the 10 most watchable NCAA Basketball teams so far this season according to the Max Watchability Index.
I had a long intro recapping this NCAA Basketball season so far and remarking on how interesting it’s been, but as our Brian Rauf said in his Monday Morning mailbag, nothing else matters in sports right now besides the mourning of the tragic death of the legend that is Kobe Bryant. So instead of reading through my boring intro, here are some of the greatest plays from one of the greatest athletes I ever witnessed below.
Quick reminder, Watchability is split into three stat-based categories, offensive watchability, defensive watchability, and basketball IQ. Offensive Watchability consists of five stats, Assists Per Field Goals made, Pace of Play, Offensive Rating, Effective FG% and 3 Point Rate. Defensive Watchability consists of three stats, steal %, block % and overall forced Turnover %.
And finally, Basketball IQ is measured by two stats, turnover % and Foul %. All of these stats are multiplied together and averaged out to create a score given to each of the 353 schools in Division 1 College Basketball, where the schools are ranked highest to lowest to determine who is the most watchable. Now, for the top 10 most watchable teams in college hoops this season.
No. 10: Arizona
Kicking off the rankings at #10, this year’s Arizona squad has put the wild in Wildcats. Ranking as the 3rd fastest team in the nation in terms of Pace of Play and ranking 52nd in Turnovers Created, this young Wildcats squad has been ferocious competitors so far, winning their first 9 games of the season.
Led by maybe the dynamic freshman trio of Nico Mannion, Josh Green and Zeke Nnaji, Arizona loves to turn teams over and get out in transition, getting easy buckets for their young gunners and leading to an extremely high 56.2 Effective Field Goal %, good for 15th in the nation. This squad reminds me a lot of the Run TMC Warriors of the early 90s, a team that also had 3 young superstars and a coach that loved to get them out the break so they could showcase their talents. So, if you’re a fan of that type of basketball, I suggest you tune in whenever possible to watch this team play.