During the first four years of his tenure, Chris Collins has reiterated that he would like to play at a quicker pace. Whether that comes in transition or getting into the offense earlier, the goal has been to get more possessions by picking up the pace.
To put it bluntly, that has not happened in Collin’s first three years. The Wildcats ranked — out of 351 Division I teams — 338th, 341st and 340th in Kenpom’s adjusted tempo in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Playing slowly doesn’t necessarily mean playing bad basketball. Virginia, Wisconsin, Syracuse and a bevy of other schools have been able to take the air out of the ball, make opponents play nearly 30 seconds of defense per possession and win plenty of games.