Slow Day
Iowa doesn't play again until Friday, and I have a pretty busy week, so posting might be a little light for the next few days. Right now I'm thinking I'll run a few tables of the top returning players in the conference for various statistics. If that doesn't make you tremble with excitement, drop back at the end of the week for some talk about the season opener against Western Illinois.

A while back I posted some tables that listed the league's leading returners in points, rebounds, and assists. Today I want to take a closer look at points scoring and see who scored at the highest rate. Rather than just points per game, though, I want to rank players by their points per 40 minutes of playing time. This enables a more direct comparison by comparing what players score given equal amounts of playing time. Of course other factors will affect a player's scoring rate, like the tempo his team plays and the other players on the court, but this at least gives us a rough idea of how well guys can put up points.

Points per 40 minutes is simple to calculate. Divide points by minutes played, and multiply the result by 40.

In the interest of saving a little time, I'm not making the outlined tables like I did last time. Sorry if it gets a little sloppy.

2003-04 Big Ten Leaders (Among Returners), Pts/40 min
Rank, Player, Team, Minutes, Points, Pts/40 min

1. Paul Davis...............MSU....847...474...22.38
2. Bracey Wright...........Ind...1111...536...19.30
3. Pierre Pierce.......Iowa...1000...468...18.72
4. Lester Abram.........Mich....913...405...17.74
5. Roger Powell Jr.......... Ill...856...371...17.34
6. Chris Hill.................MSU...971...415...17.10
7. Deron Williams..........Ill...1017...420...16.52
8. Tony Stockman......OSU...972...393...16.17
9. Nick Smith...................Ill...552...223...16.16
10.Mike Wilkinson......Wisc..1042...419...16.08
11.Vedran Vukusic......NW...1019...400...15.70
12.Terence Dials.........OSU...803...313...15.59
13.Daniel Horton.........Mich..1074...415...15.46
14.David Teague.............Pur...922..356...15.44
15.Dee Brown.................Ill...1153...440...15.26
16.Greg Brunner.......Iowa...836...316...15.12
17.Maurice Ager..........MSU...676...254...15.03
18.J.J. Sullinger...........OSU...811...304...14.99
19.Kelvin Torbert.........MSU...863...321...14.88
20.Luther Head.................Ill...863...319...14.79

Notes
1. I'm looking for a good year from Ohio State's Terence Dials. He didn't rank very high on the points per game list because he only played 26.8 minutes a game last year, but he finished well on this list. OSU lost last year's starting center Velimir Radinovic, so Dials should see an increase in his minutes, and should therefore score more points. Dials is also the fifth-best Big Ten returner in rebounds per 40 min (check back for that tomorrow).

2. Illinois leads the list with five out of the 20 spots. Michigan State has four players listed, and Ohio State has three.

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