LAWRENCE
In Bill Self’s mind, there are two reasons why a college basketball team’s statistics are often skewed during the first third of the season. The first is competition, Self says, and this idea is pretty straight forward. Some programs play rather hazardous nonconference schedules. Some teams don’t, and this is one reason Self often says he prefers to look only at conference stats when evaluating teams.
The second reason, Self says, is a little more nuanced. Sometimes, he says, teams are still just figuring things out in November and December, tinkering with lineups and finding themselves before the holidays.