Kentucky is one of the best teams in the nation at the important stat.
There are a million stats that play a big role in a team making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but one of the most important stats is assist to turnover ratio. If a team has a solid assist to turnover ratio, that means they take care of the basketball and move the ball a lot, leading to quality shots.
The Kentucky Wildcats are currently tied for third best in college basketball in this metric with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.87. The team Kentucky is tied with and two above the Wildcats prove why this stat is so important. The Wildcats are tied with Auburn in assist to turnover ratio, and the two teams about the Wildcats and Tigers are Duke and Gonzaga.
These teams, alongside Kentucky, are four of the better teams in college basketball, and their success in passing and taking care of the ball is a big reason why. This is also why these teams are all near the top of college basketball when it comes to scoring offense.
The defensive end of the court needs some work, but the Wildcat offense is excellent. It will be difficult to make a run if Kentucky’s defense performs as it did against Alabama in March. Given the Wildcats’ exceptional assist to turnover ratio, Mark Pope’s squad has a chance to go far if their defense keeps improving throughout SEC play.
