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Show MyWeberMedia.com | April 18, 2019 | 17 Israel Barnes attempts a layup agaisnt University of Montana. JOSHUA WINEHOLT | The Signpost force an opponent into on defense. In coach Duft’s office was a sign reading, “No Threes. No Paint. Contest Every Shot.” This is the defensive philosophy of an analytically conscious coaching staff. In 2012, Weber State enlisted the assistance of Ken Pomeroy, the creator of the college basketball stats website kenpom. com, who currently works for the Utah Jazz analytic department. “I have always been fascinated by the story that numbers can tell and was doing this before it was cool,” Pomeroy said. “I live in Utah and was happy when Weber State reached out to pick my brain.” Without even watching a basketball game, Pomeroy was able to look at the numbers on his site to determine that there was one glaring weakness for the Wildcat defense. At the time, Weber State was leading the Big Sky Conference in defensive field goal percentage, but they were not a good defensive team. “We asked Ken to take a look at our stuff to see if he could help out,” Duft recalled. ”Without even watching any game film, he looked at the numbers and found that we were giving up way too many 3-point attempts.” He said teams in the Big Sky Conference have long taken and made more threes than any other conference in the country, so they had to build a defense around that setting. “We changed our entire defensive philosophy from what he told us,” Duft said. “You can’t necessarily control how well a team shoots because some of that is just on the talent of the player, but you can eliminate the attempts. We learned that by eliminating the attempts, you are eliminating the chance of them making more threes per game.” Since the change, Weber State has led the entire NCAA in 3-point attempts allowed per game on three separate occasions, and they have never been below 20th. While the numbers and analytics can be fascinating, the goal of any team is always to win. So has this analytic focus led to winning? Since taking over at Weber State, Randy Rahe has gone 266–153, a win percentage of .653. Weber has had the best record in the Big Sky five times, they have won the conference tournament three times and they have made three NCAA Tournament appearances. While Duft has been a leader of this analytic movement here at Weber State, he was quick to point out that winning is always going to be about more than just numbers. “There is a place for analytics, but there is also a people component,” Duft said. “You can definitely take it too far because, at the end of the day, you still need the guys with the courage late in games to take and make these shots.” As former Detroit Piston guard and current Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas once said, “The secret of basketball... is that it’s not about basketball.” Weber State has worked hard to recruit not only the most talented players but athletes with character. “You have to have guys who are competitive and passionate. You have to have a chemistry to your team where they enjoy each other,” Duft said. “Basketball is too much of a team sport to have it be all about the numbers.” Zach Braxton goes up for a dunk during one of his final games with the Wildcats. JOSHUA WINEHOLT | The Signpost GET OFF THE WAITING LIST AND ON TO A NURSING DEGREE! Evening degree programs • Associate’s degree in Nursing • Classes start monthly JOSHUA WINEHOLT | The Signpost OgdenNursing.com Call 801-284-3216 or stop by for a campus tour. Comment on this story at signpost.mywebermedia.com For graduation rates, the median debt of graduates, and other data, see stevenshenager.edu/studentinformation. West Haven (Ogden) Campus 1890 South 1350 West |