How the- ? A Statistical Analysis on OSU's 1-4 start

I won't be the first to tell you that the Beavers can win the inaugural Pac 12, but at the same time I cannot ever predict that the Beavers will start 1-4, 11th and only ahead of USC and BEHIND legit bad teams like Utah and ASU (who I preview for but am not afraid to say that they too will struggle). And mind you, we were one bad offensive performance away from starting 0-5.

What went wrong? A look at the great, good, the bad, and the ugly statistics on the Beavers after the jump. Note that these statistics are against Pac 12 teams, when OSU had that 1-4 stretch.

First of all, the things we do well:

- The frenetic fast pace that we wanted still exists. Our average games are 78-possession affairs on average, a pace that is by far the fastest among Pac 12 teams. Even to more moderate pace teams (67 possessions) we were still capable of speeding the game up, imposing our tempo and style of play.

- We averaged 80 points a game in the non-conference. We are leading the Pac with a whopping 83 points a game.

- Shooting 48% from the floor (3rd), 38% (!) from 3 (6th), and 70% from the line (2nd). Clearly, the FT woes look resolved so far.

- Remember how we love stealing the rock? That hasn't changed. Steal percentage, the percentage of possessions we rob the opponent, is 2nd best (12%). Our 9 spg is also tops.

- Our block percentage is also good, 3rd best (7.2%), and blocks per game is also top notch (4.6 bpg)

-Despite playing at the fastest pace, we are only average on turnovers a game (14 a game), which means that we protect the ball well relative to our pace.

Now for the ugly, or outright bad:

- Opponents average 89 points a game. Sure, the overtime games don't help, but the following stats are even more disconcerting.

- Check out these stats dialed up by opponents: 49% from the floor, 43.6% from the 3. 1.15 points per possession. All these numbers are EITHER DEAD LAST OR NEAR DEAD LAST in the Pac 12. Clearly, opponents are having their way with OSU on the offensive end of the floor.

- We're getting beat on the boards. Out of all the rebounds, opponents grab more than we do: 50.7% (8th best) against our 49.3%. We are outboarded on the offensive and defensive end: Opponents grab 68.8% of our misses, 32.6% of their misses, numbers that are below average (8th place give or take).

Remember that I said that the defensive end will determine the Beavers' postseason fate? The stats back me up beautifully. I'll link the source of the infomation presented above. Oh, and the ASU preview will be up as well soon. Ciao!

Source: http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/oregon-state/team_stats?season=2011-2012&type=conf