Indiana’s three road victories have moved them to the top of the Plus/Minus Rankings. Penn State’s two road wins to start the season were quickly countered with two home losses to leave them smack dab in the middle of the pack.

Plus/Minus Standings

This is my first report using the new Player Plus Minus System. The results seem to be more consistent with most people’s opinions of the play of the players involved, so I think this passes the sniff test.

Player Plus Minus System Ranking

Cornley now moves to the top of the plus/minus list with 10 positive games and only two negative ones. The top five in order are: Cornley, Battle, Claxton, Walker, and Morrissey. Battle has been steadily progressing his way up the plus/minus charts and it shows here.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the meaning of the terms in this Plus Minus System chart.

PM Rating is the sum total of the individual game minus scores. The game plus minus score is the difference between the delta scoring of the teams while the player was on the floor and the delta scoring while he was off.

G+ is the number of games where a player had a positive plus/minus game score.

G- is the number of games here a player had a negative plus/minus game score.

G% is the percent of all games played that were positive plus/minus games.

PM Rating per game is the PM rating divided by the number of games that the player participated in.

PM

Note: This is an interactive chart and these columns are sortable simply by clicking on the column header.

I’ve never been completely satisfied with the plus/minus system that I have been using, so I decided to do some additional research into the area. I think I’ve found some adjustments that I can make to my methodology that will make the system more meaningful.

One of the issues with the simple plus/minus raw number that I have been reporting is that it can be completely blown out of proportion by one lopsided game. Racking up a huge positive number in any one game can mask many negative performances in other games. For example, every player in the Canisius game recorded a positive number from 18 to 37 points. There’s little doubt that some of the guys season long numbers are heavily waited by that one game - that’s a problem.

What the plus/minus raw number that I have traditionally been reporting represents is how the team did while the player was on the floor. It says nothing about how the team did with the player OFF the floor. The team might be scoring at a plus margin with the player in the game but at an even better margin with him out. You couldn’t tell that from the old way of calculating the number.

The new Plus/Minus Rating number will compensate for that. Simply put, it’s the points delta for the team while the player is on the floor minus the points delta for the team while the player is OFF the floor. If a team plays better with the player off the floor he will have a negative Plus/Minus Rating for that game.

I will report a players Plus/Minus Rating for every game plus total the game ratings to give a Net Score for the season. I’ll also calculate the Net Score per game to balance out the numbers for situations where a player didn’t get into a game.

One thing to keep in mind with this number is that it is really measures what a player does compared to what his replacements do. It shouldn’t necessarily be used to compare two players. However, a player with a large plus number is performing better than his replacements and should be considered a candidate for more playing time while a player with a negative number perhaps should have his time reduced.

I’m also going to make a nomenclature change. In the reports that I’ve presented in the past, I’ve calculated what I called the plus/minus winning percentage. If a player had a positive plus/minus number for a game he was credited for a “win” in my winning percentage calculation (a negative number equated to a loss and a net zero for the game was calculated as half a win and half a loss). I’m going to do the same percentage calculation based on the new version of the plus minus but will no longer use the confusing term “winning percentage”. Rather I’ll refer to the as Plus Games and Minus Games (abbreviated G+ and G-). The percent of games that are Plus Games will be abbreviated as G%.

I will definitely be reporting the individual plus/minus games using this new methodology and will probably do the same for the pairs analysis (I’m still playing with the spreadsheets for the pairs).

With two road scalps in hand, Indiana claims sole position of first place in the plus/minus standings. Penn State gave back one of their scalps by blowing a 16 point second half lead over Minnesota at home.

The Big Ten +/- Standings

The concept is simple. It’s based on the theory that you should protect your home court. Failure to do so, costs you a point. Winning a game on the road, on the other hand, earns you a point.

During the course of a a season the +/- standings will likely vary a little from the usual standings but it will give you a better feel for who is winning those all important road games. At the end of the season, the +/- standings will equate to the usual standings.

Here’s the first report.

I won’t bother to file regular reports but will carry the standings in the sidebar.