You guys know Lindsey Hunter? Point Guard? Won a couple NBA titles?
He’s the head coach at Mississippi Valley State now, and he’s got the Delta Devils cooking.
In Hunter’s first year at the program’s helm, MVSU is 0-4, losing by as many as 94 points. Times aren’t easy in Itta Bena, as they often aren’t—the last time the men’s basketball team finished a season ranked higher than 339th in the country by KenPom was 2012. It’s a tough job, as most jobs at Division I Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) are. Funding is scarce: according to a 2018 USA Today study, MVSU’s athletic department generates about four million dollars in revenue a year, roughly two percent of Texas’ haul.
At schools with smaller budgets for things like training, recruiting, and facilities, it’s not unusual to see unconventional play. The reason behind this is similar to why service academies run the option—sometimes you have to adjust your approach to match your personnel’s strengths, and sometimes it’s advantageous to swim against the current strategically.
Whatever the cause in this case—funding or ideology or something different or some combination—unconventional play is happening at Mississippi Valley State. It’s happening in a big way.
The national average for possessions in a game is expected (by KenPom, pretty much anything I don’t cite comes from KenPom because KenPom is the greatest website out there having anything to do with sports and if you like college basketball and numbers you’d love a subscription to it) to be somewhere around 71.5 this season. In MVSU’s first game, in Ames against Iowa State, there were 87 possessions. In their second, the 94-point defeat at the hands of Utah, there were 93 possessions. In their third, another wide loss, this time to Central Michigan, there were 95.
I haven’t watched any of MVSU’s play yet this year, so I don’t know exactly what Hunter is doing, but what I do know is that the Delta Devils’ average offensive possession isn’t the fastest in Division I. At least, not yet. That distinction comes to Central Michigan, because CMU’s only D-I game so far was against MVSU. No, MVSU’s only 22nd in fastest average offensive possession length, though they’re first in fastest average defensive possession length. This discrepancy is a point of curiosity, because it implies MVSU might not be provoking other teams to shoot quickly simply by shooting quickly themselves, as is often the case. They might be doing something specific on the defensive end that’s causing this, and if they are, it has to be something interesting. Another point of curiosity is that in MVSU’s fourth game, a ten-point loss to Western Michigan, there were only 73 possessions—roughly average.
It’s possible that Western Michigan slowed down MVSU’s offense somehow. It’s possible the sample sizes for average possession length are too small, and whatever Hunter’s team is doing will indeed become the fastest on both ends of the court soon. It’s also possible MVSU’s doing something defensively that immensely rewards quick shots, and lastly, it’s possible MVSU was doing something different in their first three games from what it did against Western Michigan.
We’ll find out more as the season goes on, but the whole thing’s a curiosity. Whatever Lindsey Hunter’s up to down there, it’s got our attention.
