MAAC Monday: Turnover rates, forced turnovers, stat leaders, power rankings

MAAC Monday wraps up its in-depth look at the four factors as they relate to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball, profiling for its final lens the turnover rates and forced turnover rates for each MAAC team before refreshing stat leaders and power rankings. Once again and as always, any statistics reflected within MAAC Monday were gleaned from the individual stat pages of each school's website.

Turnover rates are calculated by dividing the number of turnovers by the number of possessions. For example, a team that commits ten turnovers in 40 possessions would have a 25 percent turnover rate. Conversely, a team that causes ten turnovers in 40 possessions by the opposing team would have a forced turnover rate of 25 percent. Ideally, a good ball handling team would have a turnover rate under 20 percent, generally regarded as the threshold separating disciplined teams from those that are more susceptible to giveaways.

One cannot figure out turnover rates without first determining the number of possessions per game, so we'll refresh the pace numbers for each team thus far this season, both for and against:

Possessions per game, from highest to lowest:
1) Manhattan (75.78)
2) Monmouth (75.22)
3) Fairfield (74.67)
4) Rider (74.44)
5) Quinnipiac (73.61)
6) Canisius (73.56)
7) Iona (72.78)
8) Niagara (72.22)
9) Siena (70.72)
10) Marist (70.33)
11) Saint Peter's (66.31)

Opposing possessions per game, from highest to lowest:
1) Manhattan (75.83)
2) Monmouth (75.11)
3) Rider (74.72)
4) Fairfield (74.6)
5) Quinnipiac (74.17)
6) Canisius (73.39)
7) Iona (72.94)
8) Niagara (72.17)
9) Siena (70.89)
10) Marist (69.56)
11) Saint Peter's (66.81)

Turnover rates, from lowest to highest:
1) Iona (16.2%)
2) Monmouth (16.4)
3) Saint Peter's (17.8)
4) Niagara (18.7)
5) Siena (18.9)
6) Canisius (19.0)
7) Rider (19.3)
8) Quinnipiac (19.62)
9) Marist (19.67)
10) Fairfield (19.73)
11) Manhattan (23.8)

Forced turnover rates, from highest to lowest:
1) Saint Peter's (21.1)
2) Monmouth (20.2)
3) Canisius (20.0)
4) Manhattan (19.8)
5) Rider (19.2)
6) Fairfield (18.2)
7) Siena (18.0)
8) Quinnipiac (17.6)
9) Iona (17.0)
10) Marist (15.4)
11) Niagara (14.9)

Analysis: Only four schools have positive turnover margins, and of those four, just two are greater than one percent. Both of those teams reside in the Garden State, as Monmouth (plus-3.8) and Saint Peter's (plus-3.3) lay claim to being the most adept at both taking care of the ball and getting it back on their end. Iona has the conference's best turnover rate at 16.2 percent, but the Gaels' 17 percent clip in causing miscues can be attributed to the openness of their floor spacing, making a spread offense on both sides more likely.

Back to Saint Peter's, if we may: Of the Peacocks' 121 steals, approximately half of them have been registered by either Trevis Wyche or Chazz Patterson, each of whom average nearly two thefts per game in Jersey City. Head coach John Dunne has been adamant about his support for Patterson as the MAAC's Defensive Player of the Year, an award that has traditionally been geared more toward forwards due to their shot blocking numbers. However, for as well as Patterson has locked down opposing players, his senior classmate is having just as good a season on the defensive end, and Wyche's offensive numbers to supplement to swarming defense he employs should be enough to earn him all-MAAC honors by the end of the season.

Manhattan, whose 23.8 percent turnover rate is the highest in the conference, makes up for it with a forced turnover rate of 19.8 percent, the fourth-best figure in the MAAC. Keep in mind, the Jaspers' own performance in taking care of the basketball is still inflated by the 40 turnovers against West Virginia in November, sort of like a relief pitcher who gives up six runs in an inning and has an earned run average over three even though he may have pitched lights-out since then.

Scoring Leaders
1) Tyler Nelson, Fairfield (19.5 PPG)
2) Jordan Washington, Iona (18.8)
3) Kassius Robertson, Canisius (18.0)
4) Justin Robinson, Monmouth (17.4)
5) Jermaine Crumpton, Canisius (17.2)
T-6) Matt Scott, Niagara (16.9)
T-6) Zavier Turner, Manhattan (16.9)
8) Khallid Hart, Marist (16.6)
9) Kahlil Dukes, Niagara (16.3)
10) Curtis Cobb, Fairfield (16.1)

Rebounding Leaders
1) Amadou Sidibe, Fairfield (10.5 RPG)
T-2) Brett Bisping, Siena (9.7)
T-2) Kahlil Thomas, Rider (9.7)
4) Quadir Welton, Saint Peter's (8.1)
5) Jordan Washington, Iona (7.6)
6) Zane Waterman, Manhattan (7.0)
7) Dominic Robb, Niagara (6.8)
8) Matt Scott, Niagara (6.5)
9) Brian Parker, Marist (6.4)
10) Norville Carey, Rider (6.3)

Assist Leaders
1) Stevie Jordan, Rider (5.4 APG)
2) Justin Robinson, Monmouth (5.3)
3) Rickey McGill, Iona (5.3)
4) Jerome Segura, Fairfield (4.5)
5) Marquis Wright, Siena (4.4)
6) Malik Johnson, Canisius (3.9)
T-7) Kahlil Dukes, Niagara (3.5)
T-7) Brian Parker, Marist (3.5)
T-7) Zavier Turner, Manhattan (3.5)
T-10) Sam Cassell Jr., Iona (3.3)
T-10) Kiefer Douse, Canisius (3.3)
T-10) Matt Scott, Niagara (3.3)

Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Amadou Sidibe, Fairfield (.605)
2) Jordan Washington, Iona (.586)
3) Chris Brady, Monmouth (.560)
4) Zane Waterman, Manhattan (.542)
5) Jermaine Crumpton, Canisius (.532)
6) Kahlil Thomas, Rider (.530)
7) Brett Bisping, Siena (.520)
8) Javion Ogunyemi, Siena (.505)
9) Lavon Long, Siena (.504)
10) Matija Milin, Fairfield (.496)

Free Throw Percentage Leaders
1) Kahlil Dukes, Niagara (.929)
2) Zavier Turner, Manhattan (.912)
3) Mikey Dixon, Quinnipiac (.887)
4) Tyler Nelson, Fairfield (.874)
5) Justin Robinson, Monmouth (.840)
6) Rickey McGill, Iona (.833)
7) Phil Valenti, Canisius (.808)
8) Kassius Robertson, Canisius (.800)
9) Khallid Hart, Marist (.778)
10) Micah Seaborn, Monmouth (.774)

Three-Point FIeld Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Je'lon Hornbeak, Monmouth (.473)
2) Kahlil Dukes, Niagara (.466)
3) Jermaine Crumpton, Canisius (.453)
4) Zavier Turner, Manhattan (.452)
5) Kassius Robertson, Canisius (.451)
6) Jon Severe, Iona (.436)
7) Nick Griffin, Saint Peter's (.422)
8) Ryan Funk, Marist (.407)
9) Schadrac Casimir, Iona (.404)
10) Mikey Dixon, Quinnipiac (.402)

Power Rankings
1) Monmouth (13-5, 5-2 MAAC)
Last Week: 1
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 at Niagara (W 90-83)
Next Game: Monday 1/16 at Canisius, 7 p.m.

2) Canisius (12-6, 5-2 MAAC)
Last Week: 5
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 vs. Marist (W 91-58)
Next Game: Monday 1/16 vs. Monmouth, 7 p.m.

3) Saint Peter's (8-8, 4-2 MAAC)
Last Week: 6
Last Game: Sunday 1/15 at Rider (W 71-65)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 at Fairfield, 7 p.m.

4) Rider (11-7, 4-3 MAAC)
Last Week: 2
Last Game: Sunday 1/15 vs. Saint Peter's (L 71-65)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 at Siena, 7 p.m.

5) Iona (10-8, 3-4 MAAC)
Last Week: 4
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 at Quinnipiac (L 97-91)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 at Manhattan, 7 p.m.

6) Siena (7-11, 4-3 MAAC)
Last Week: 9
Last Game: Sunday 1/15 at Fairfield (W 63-54)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 at Rider, 7 p.m.

7) Fairfield (8-7, 3-3 MAAC)
Last Week: 3
Last Game: Sunday 1/15 vs. Siena (L 63-54)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 vs. Saint Peter's, 7 p.m.

8) Quinnipiac (7-11, 4-4 MAAC)
Last Week: 7
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 vs. Iona (W 97-91)
Next Game: Friday 1/20 vs. Canisius, 7 p.m.

9) Manhattan (7-11, 2-5 MAAC)
Last Week: 11
Last Game: Friday 1/13 vs. Rider (W 76-73)
Next Game: Tuesday 1/17 vs. Iona, 7 p.m.

10) Niagara (5-13, 2-5 MAAC)
Last Week: 8
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 vs. Monmouth (L 90-83)
Next Game: Monday 1/16 vs. Marist, 7 p.m.

11) Marist (5-13, 2-5 MAAC)
Last Week: 10
Last Game: Saturday 1/14 at Canisius (L 91-58)
Next Game: Monday 1/16 at Niagara, 7 p.m.