The most effective five-man lineup in the ACC, and the fourth-most effective in all of college basketball, is Virginia’s starting lineup.
The one from November and December.
Not the one that’s the starting lineup right now.
This is according to numbers from the basketball metrics site EvanMiya.com.
The rankings from EvanMiya.com are based on a sample size of 150 or more possessions for teams’ five-man lineups in the 2022-2023 college basketball season.
EvanMiya.com has the Reece Beekman-Kihei Clark-Armaan Franklin-Jayden Gardner-Kadin Shedrick lineup measuring at an adjusted team efficiency margin of 42.9.
Translated, that means that over 100 possessions, that lineup is 42.9 points better than its opponents.
The lineup of Beekman-Clark-Franklin-Gardner-Ben Vander Plas provides an adjusted team efficiency margin of 22.9.
This is, doing the math, 22.9 points better than opponents over the course of 100 possessions.
The lineup with BVP at the five ranks ninth in the ACC.
The ACC Top 10 lineups list includes two from UVA, two from Pitt, one from Miami, UNC and Wake Forest, and three from NC State.
Watch out for the Wolfpack, would be good advice here.
Getting back to the UVA lineups, the group with Shedrick at the five rates #1 in the ACC and #2 nationally in adjusted team offensive efficiency, scoring 131.5 points per 100 possessions.
The lineup with Vander Plas at the five spot, meanwhile, ranks 18th of the 23 five-man lineups that have played at least 150 possessions together.
The Beekman-Clark-Franklin-Gardner-Vander Plas lineup scores 109.4 points per 100 possessions.
That’s 22.1 points per 100 possessions below the rate of the group with Shedrick at the five.
That lineup with BVP at the five is a slight bit better defensively – allowing 86.5 points per 100 possessions, compared to the 88.7 points per 100 possessions allowed by the lineup with Shedrick at the five spot.
Bottom line: well, it’s just numbers, but there’s gotta be something there.
Chris Graham
