I’m a big believer in statistics and how telling they can be about a team or a player. Now, with college basketball teams well past the halfway points in their regular-season schedules, we have a sample size significant enough to really learn about UK’s men’s and women’s teams.With that in mind, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the more interesting numbers for both teams.RPIThis is the time of the year when the cottage industry that is bracket analysis and projection really gets going, and the RPI is a central part of that discussion.As of Sunday, John Calipari’s ‘Cats are ranked 13th in the nation according to CollegeRPI.com with a strength of schedule ranking of 21. Kentucky’s nonconference schedule was among the toughest in the country, but UK’s early Southeastern schedule has served to hurt that ranking a bit, due to games against LSU (No. 184) and Auburn (No. 307).Fortunately, UK’s schedule strength figures to be boosted down the stretch, as the Wildcats play six games total against Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida, each of which is currently ranked in the top 20 of the RPI. If UK can perform well in those games, look for that No. 13 ranking to climb into the top 10, which would help UK improve on its current No. 4 seed as projected by Joe Lunardi of ESPN.As for UK Hoops, Matthew Mitchell has his team ranked 14th in the RPI with a strength of schedule ranked 21st. With nine of their final 10 games coming against teams ranked in the top 100 of the RPI, the Cats will have plenty of opportunity to enhance that ranking.  Additionally, UK is just 3-4 against RPI top-50 teams and will be looking to add a few quality wins in its four remaining games against top-50 squads like Tennessee, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. With another resume win or two, UK would move up from the No. 5 seed that ESPN is currently projecting it will receive.Individual statisticsPlayers from both the men’s and women’s teams are having stellar statistical seasons. The following players rank in the top 100 nationally in at least one major category. Statistics are through this past Sunday’s games.Terrence JonesRebounds per game – 8.9 (48th)Points per game – 18.3 (56th)Blocks per game – 1.8 (69th)Brandon Knight3-point FGs per game – 2.5 (70th)Points per game – 17.6 (71st)Doron Lamb3-point percentage – 48.1 (35th)Free-throw percentage – 83.3 (94th)Josh HarrellsonRebounds per game – 9.2 (40th)Blocks per game – 1.7 (80th)DeAndre LigginsAssist/turnover Ratio – 2.0 (91st)
Victoria DunlapSteals per game – 3.4 (4th)Points per game – 17.3 (51st)Rebounds per game – 9.2 (51st)Field-goal percentage – 48.5 (80th)Blocks per game – 1.6 (93rd)Keyla Snowden3-point percentage – 44.4 (11th)3-point FGs per game – 2.7 (34th)Ken Pomeroy Statistics There are more computer rankings for college basketball out there than any one person could possibly keep track of, but if you aren’t already, do yourself a favor and check out Ken Pomeroy’s ratings.If you aren’t familiar, Pomeroy evaluates and ranks teams objectively based on possession-by-possession efficiency with field-goal percentage, turnovers, rebounding and free-throw frequency being the primary components. Oftentimes, pace can significantly skew how a player or team is perceived, but looking at things on a possession basis corrects for that.For example, Wisconsin scores just 70.4 points per game, tying them for 146th in the nation in points per game. Looking at this stat alone, you would probably conclude that they are a middle of the road offensive team. However, Wisconsin plays the slowest pace of any of the 345 teams in Division I basketball; its adjusted tempo rating, according to Pomeroy, is 58.0, meaning the Badgers play nearly 10 fewer possessions per game than the average team.Looking purely at how efficiently Wisconsin plays offense each possession, the Badgers are in fact one of the best offensive teams in the country. In fact, Pomeroy rates them as the second-best offensive team in college basketball behind only Pittsburgh (another team that plays at a very deliberate pace). They shoot the ball well, rarely commit turnovers and get a number of offensive rebounds, all of which pave the way for Wisconsin to be a very good offensive team in spite of the fact it doesn’t score a ton of points per game.With that little treatise out of the way, let’s take a look at what Pomeroy’s ratings tell us about this year’s Kentucky team thus far. (Unfortunately, Pomeroy ranks only men’s teams)Overall, Kentucky is the sixth-ranked team in Division I, behind only Ohio State, Kansas, Duke and Texas, in that order. That’s obviously a much higher ranking than either of the human polls, so Big Blue Nation should like seeing that, but what about this makes Pomeroy’s ratings so partial to the Wildcats?Offensively, UK is the ninth-best squad in the country and the reasons why are pretty simple (and also pretty similar to why Wisconsin is so good offensively). UK commits turnovers on just 16.2 percent of its possessions, which is fifth best in DI. UK also shoots the ball well and hits the offensive boards hard, leading to well-above-average ratings in both departments.The one hole that UK has shown on offense, according to Pomeroy, is its ability (or lack thereof) to get to the foul line. This is a topic I have heard discussed before about this team, so it’s interesting to see it borne out in the stats. UK is 184th in the nation at getting to the foul line, according to Pomeroy,Jones and Liggins are the only two Wildcats to rank in the top 500 players nationally in Free Throw Rate (this stat is exactly what it sounds like it is). What I take away from that is that players like Knight, Lamb and Darius Miller need to be more aggressive in taking the ball to the hoop through contact.On defense, UK is also highly rated, checking in at 11th in the country in defensive efficiency. The Wildcats’ defensive calling card is limiting good looks at the basket, as UK is fourth in effective field-goal percentage. Kentucky is also solid in limiting opportunities for both offensive rebounds and trips to the foul line, ranking above average in both departments.The one thing UK doesn’t do so well defensively is force turnovers. Kentucky’s opponents are committing turnovers on just 18.7 percent of their possessions, which puts UK at a paltry 266th nationally.  With that said, this isn’t as big of a cause for concern as you would think. None of Calipari’s last three teams (two at Memphis, one at Kentucky) have ranked better than 89th nationally in defensive turnover percentage, including last year when UK was 218th. If you can remember, that team was pretty darn good.  UK could stand to force a turnover or two more per game, but philosophically, Coach Cal’s teams don’t need to be forcing all kinds of turnovers to be effective on defense.