After watching Ohio the last half of the season, I was wondering about Ohio's lack of passing the basketball. In terms of Assists to Field Goals Made Percentage, there has been a noticeable drop-off in that metric under Saul.

However, looking into it further it turns out that Saul's offenses can be very effective without a high assists/field goals made percentage. In 2009 and 2014, his team's offenses were in the Top 25 in offensive efficiency (points/100 possessions) but very low in assists/field goals made percentage.

It should noted that there was a huge drop-off in assists/field goals made percentage after Tony Campbell went down with injury.

Here are the raw numbers. KenPom adjusts based on quality of defense faced. That was too much work for me but I think this is a pretty good proxy. No drop-off in efficiency without Tony.

Again, on a raw basis, there was a drop in defense. About 1/10th of a point per possession is significant (when multiplied by a normal 70 possession game). However, some of that could be adjusted away given some of the high-powered MAC offenses that Ohio faced. Still, it looks like it was the defense that probably accounted for the 9-8 finish after the 11-3 start.