Inside/Outside According to Pelton

Kevin Pelton originally developed the Inside stat to determine the tendency of any NBA player to play on the wing as opposed to the paint. As Pelton himself described the stat "... It's really amazingly simple - (FTA-3PA)/MIN...(but)...is not exact...". Applying Pelton's metric to Big East players who logged 32% or more time at their respective positions produced this Top 10 List of Inside players:

Player	Coll	MIN	Min%	FGA	3FGA	FTA	Inside
Kentrell Gransberry	USF	656	54.2	239	0	149	22.71
Paul Harris	Cuse	758	54.3	217	20	166	19.26
Luke Harangody	NDU	658	51.4	290	1	114	17.17
Adrian Hill	RU	726	61.8	169	1	120	16.39
Aaron Gray	Pitt	1016	67.7	361	0	166	16.34
Roy Hibbert	Gtown	975	65.7	277	0	153	15.69
Jeff Adrien	UConn	1027	82.5	314	1	162	15.68
Lamont Hamilton	St. John's	886	71.2	281	37	175	15.58
Hasheem Thabeet	UConn	762	61.2	121	0	115	15.09
Rob Kurz	NDU	868	67.8	226	49	179	14.98

This list contains those old familiar faces -- and in roughly the order I would have expected. But there are, for me anyway, three surprises -- Rob Kurz, Adrien Hill and Paul Harris. These three show up on Pomeroy's list (see my previous inside/outside post, "Inside/Outside According to Pomeroy") too:

• If Notre Dame produced one name for this list, Rob Kurz is not the one I expected. And for Notre Dame, a program which under Mike Brey's stewardship has not developed a reputation for strong inside play, to produce 2 players for the Inside list is very surprising.
• Paul Harris not only shows up twice, but he appears prominently on both lists. The multiple listing (Pelton & Pomeroy) re-enforces the preconception that Harris' strongest play is inside the paint.
• Like Kurz and Harris, Rutger's senior center Adrien Hill appeared on both lists. Of the three Hill was the least publicized. In fact Hill may have been the least publicized big man on either list.

Pelton's top 10 Outside List also contains a few surprises:

Player	Coll	MIN	Min%	FGA	3FGA	FTA	Inside
Andy Rautins	Cuse	741	53.1	226	188	24	-22.13
Avery Patterson	St. John's	904	72.6	308	220	42	-19.69
Frank Young	WVU	1130	95.0	415	263	77	-16.46
Jamar Nutter	The Hall	911	77.2	352	218	71	-16.14
Brian McKenzie	PC	421	33.7	104	78	12	-15.68
Colin Falls	NDU	1027	80.2	314	250	102	-14.41
Melvin Buckley	USF	1070	88.4	391	228	83	-13.55
Deonta Vaughn	Cin	989	81.7	407	216	89	-12.84
Mike Nardi	Nova	961	75.1	305	187	76	-11.55
Dan Fitzgerald	MU	719	75.3	172	122	42	-11.13

This list contains 6 common names with Pomeroy's top 10 Outside players. The four newcomers, Melvin Buckley (USF), Deonta Vaughn (Cincinnati), Mike Nardi (Nova) and Dan Fitzgerald (Marquette), all contributed more than occasionally to their respective teams last season. Coming from teams that struggled throughout the year, Buckley and Vaughn may have be lesser known players outside their respective fan bases. A few of the surprises (at least to me):

• Rautins & Patterson appeared in the top 3 of both lists, with Rautins again taking top honors. Neither will play this season. Rautins, who tore an ACL playing for Team Canada, will redshirt as he rehabs post surgery, while Patterson transferred to a DII school in May. I have to think Syracuse and St. John's will miss these guys...
• Brian McKenzie appears on both Pelton's and Pomeroy's top 10 Outside List. The Friars are touring Italy now and again McKenzie is taking a relatively high proportion of his shots as 3s (8/18 as of Aug. 30).
• The Hall's Jamar Nutter appeared on both lists as well. The slam on Nutter over the years has been consistency. He is in his fifth year of eligibility and putting together a good run would really help the Hall.
• Notre Dame contributed two names to Pelton's Inside list but only one name (not surprising that it is Colin Falls) to his Outside List. Brey has cast Notre Dame as a perimeter oriented team, so the sudden prolific inside players is extremely surprising.

Dante was "Mr. Inside" for the Wildcats. The balance of the ranking remained the same, which means Dwayne Anderson remains "Mr. Outside".

Player	MIN	Min%	FGA	3FGA	FTA	Inside
Dante Cunningham	879	68.7	189	1	113	12.74
Bilal Benn	246	19.2	28	2	29	10.98
Casiem Drummond	130	10.2	25	0	12	9.23
Will Sheridan	829	64.8	129	5	62	6.88
Curtis Sumpter	955	74.6	400	141	166	2.62
Scottie Reynolds	962	75.2	353	169	175	0.62
Reggie Redding	429	33.5	82	38	25	-3.03
Shane Clark	776	60.6	187	100	52	-6.19
Mike Nardi	961	75.1	305	187	76	-11.55
Dwayne Anderson	189	14.8	58	45	18	-14.29

Given what I know of Villanova's roster and play in 2006-07, the ranking order and values relative to each player "feel" pretty accurate.