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You probably read the last story and thought, "Wonderful, but where's the part that validates my hate for Maryland's offense, jerk?"
To be honest, I forgot to add that part to the last post. Whoops. Professional blogging: It's pretty much impossible.
As I noted in the last piece, this isn't a perfect estimation. As time of possession isn't made available to us scrubs, I relied on box score information to estimate total possessions per game and used it as the basis of the percentage possession that ultimately served as the function for determining average time of every team's offensive possessions.
The table below summarizes the top five fastest and slowest teams in the nation, in terms of average offensive possession time, for the last four seasons. Some names are familiar and expected, some may be a little surprising (likely because you live in Baltimore County and teams outside your area are considered imaginary). Show me a table!
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| 1. | Villanova | 0:59.34 | 1. | Princeton | 0:58.61 | ||
| 2. | Providence | 0:58.74 | 2. | Siena | 0:57.13 | ||
| 3. | Pennsylvania | 0:58.63 | 3. | Marist | 0:57.05 | ||
| 4. | Hofstra | 0:56.45 | 4. | Drexel | 0:56.65 | ||
| 5. | Princeton | 0:56.06 | 5. | St. Joseph's | 0:56.32 | ||
| 55. | Notre Dame | 0:46.64 | 56. | Syracuse | 0:47.63 | ||
| 56. | Bryant | 0:43.90 | 57. | Presbyterian | 0:47.02 | ||
| 57. | Detroit | 0:43.58 | 58. | Albany | 0:46.41 | ||
| 58. | Virginia | 0:43.36 | 59. | Robert Morris | 0:43.11 | ||
| 59. | Presbyterian | 0:41.86 | 60. | Jacksonville | 0:40.72 | ||
| 2011 | 2012 | ||||||
| 1. | Princeton | 1:02.78 | 1. | Hofstra | 1:02.06 | ||
| 2. | Penn State | 1.00.82 | 2. | Drexel | 1:00.95 | ||
| 3. | Hofstra | 1:00.44 | 3. | Maryland | 1:00.85 | ||
| 4. | Towson | 1:00.39 | 4. | Notre Dame | 1:00.51 | ||
| 5. | Fairfield | 1:00.30 | 5. | Mount St. Mary's | 1:00.07 | ||
| 57. | Dartmouth | 0:48.19 | 57. | Hobart | 0:49.23 | ||
| 58. | Presbyterian | 0:46.92 | 58. | Robert Morris | 0:48.71 | ||
| 59. | VMI | 0:46.35 | 59. | Mercer | 0:48.00 | ||
| 60. | Sacred Heart | 0:45.37 | 60. | Detroit | 0:47.96 | ||
| 61. | Mercer | 0:42.45 | 61. | Georgetown | 0:47.74 |
Hofstra and Princeton made the list as one of the nation's most-patient teams three out of the last four seasons (the Pride were the 23rd most-patient team in 2010; Princeton was 20th on the same measure in 2012.) This . . . this isn't shaking my faith in humanity as neither team has a reputation for playing while riding a rocket. Jason Childs-led teams -- Presbyterian in 2009 and Mercer in 2011 and 2012 -- were among the quickest in terms of possessing the ball and getting rid of it as if it were icky poison. No other team made at least three appearances on the fastest possessions list, although Robert Morris has the heart to make the magic happen.
Also of important note: Notre Dame went from being one of the quickest-possession teams in the country to one of the most patient while possessing the bean. I want old Notre Dame back so we can party like race car drivers piloting alien spacecraft.
Do you have specific questions on specific teams? Make a stink in the comments and I'll help you out.