Theft on the Rise in Minnesota

Theft no the Rise in Minnesota
December 22, 2013

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have a steal rate of 12.6% which is 11th best in the nation through Saturday’s games. Only three teams have a rate higher than 15% (VCU at 18.2% is #1).

The Gophers also lead the Big Ten in steal rate.

Several players boast strong individual steal numbers, but what is especially impressive is that the two Gophers in the top 10 of Big Ten thieves (min 40% of available minutes played, data per KenPom.com) have also limited the amount of fouls they are called for.

Rank	Player	Team	Steal %
1	Shannon Scott	OSU	5.0
2	Mitch McGary	MICH	4.6
3	Roy Devyn Marble	IOWA	4.6
4	Aaron Craft	OSU	4.5
5	Bryson Scott	PUR	4.4
6	Travis Trice	MSU	4.4
7	Deandre Mathieu	MINN	4.3
8	Leslee Smith	NEB	3.6
9	Tim Frazier	PSU	3.1
10	Austin Hollins	MINN	2.9

Stealing the ball is great. Fouling the other team and potentially putting them on the free throw line is not. Let’s re-sort this top 10 based on fouls committed per 40 minutes.

Rank	Player	Team	FC/40
1	Roy Devyn Marble	IOWA	1.5
2	Austin Hollins	MINN	1.9
3	Travis Trice	MSU	2.6
4	Deandre Mathieu	MINN	2.8
5	Tim Frazier	PSU	2.8
6	Aaron Craft	OSU	2.9
7	Shannon Scott	OSU	3.2
8	Bryson Scott	PUR	3.9
9	Leslee Smith	NEB	4.7
10	Mitch McGary	MICH	5.0

Finally, here is the group ranked by their steal % divided by FC/40 ratio. This table helps to illustrate just how impressive Devyn Marble’s numbers are. Deandre Mathieu and Austin Hollins aren’t looking too bad either.

Rank	Player	Team	Ratio
1	Roy Devyn Marble	IOWA	3.03
2	Travis Trice	MSU	1.70
3	Shannon Scott	OSU	1.56
4	Deandre Mathieu	MINN	1.55
5	Aaron Craft	OSU	1.54
6	Austin Hollins	MINN	1.53
7	Bryson Scott	PUR	1.14
8	Tim Frazier	PSU	1.11
9	Mitch McGary	MICH	0.92
10	Leslee Smith	NEB	0.76