The center position has been a major topic of controversy amongst Spartan fans and media alike. A member of that group is Carson Cooper, and the sophomore is sneakily having an elite season defensively.
Shared by Justin Spiro, with the stats courtesy of Evan Miya analytics, showed that Cooper is one of the best defenders in the Big Ten this season.
Bayesian Performance Rating quantifies how effective a team or player is, using advanced box-score metrics, play-by-play data and historical information.
Cooper ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten for overall defense, No. 16 overall combining offense and defensive and is No. 5 in how well the team plays when he is on the court.
Carson Cooper has been the #1 defender in the @bigten this season, via @EvanMiya.
Bayesian Performance Rating (BPR) is the gold standard among basketball analytics.
Cooper also ranks highly in overall BPR (16th) and in Adj.TEM (5th). pic.twitter.com/qcCsGB1SwU
— Justin Spiro (@DarkoStateNews) February 29, 2024
Needless to say, maybe it is time for Cooper to shoulder the load at center.
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