ACC All-Butterfingers

These guys have real trouble holding on to the ball

Committing turnovers is rarely encouraged and often met with disappointment, disapproval, a hidden shrug, a bold glare. Not only does a turnover switch possession to the defensive squad, it’s apt to produce one of those coveted open-court situations which a team can quickly turn into easy points.

Further reflecting a leery disregard for ballhandling errors, for years several ACC programs refused to report individual and group totals in team stats, a practice that has blessedly faded.

Now the story is a bit clearer. Despite lost opportunities reflected by turnovers, 7 of the ACC’s top 15 scorers were also leaders in mishandling the ball at mid-January. This is doubtless reflective in part of aggression pushing the boundaries of offensive control, in part of uptempo play, and in part of enhanced defensive attention focused on top scorers.

Striking the right balance between shepherding the ball and scoring it, particularly among point guards, takes many superior players a season or two to master.

Illustrative of the correlation between prolific scoring and frequent ball-handling miscues, the single-game high in turnovers so far this season is 7, notched by five players. Each of their teams lost those outings. Only Duke and Kyle Filipowski, its scoring leader, survived his 7 turnovers performance, against Hofstra.

Accumulating turnovers is a decided handicap. The Fighting Irish, paced in scoring by Markus Burton (16.3 average), trail the rest of the ACC in turnover margin, committing 3.39 more per game than opponents. Louisville with Clark and Johnson averaging 3.0 and 2.4 turnovers, respectively, was 12^th in turnover margin compared to rivals.

Both teams had losing records as February approached.

Note that six of the top 10 players in turnovers this year compensate with positive personal ratios of assists to turnovers, most prominently Wake’s Kevin Miller with a 1.73 edge in assists. Four players led by Burton and Louisville regulars Clark and Johnson committed a turnover every 10 minutes or less on the floor, a flaw exploitable with keen ball pressure or quick-shifting defensive alignments.