Vanderbilt fans who felt as though opposing teams bowled better when facing the Commodores last fall have been proven right, at least as far as the first three tournaments were concerned.
Among the mountain of figures unveiled when the Southland Bowling League recently released 2018-19 official statistics was this eye-catching one: Vanderbilt opponents averaged 210.2 pins per game in the dozen games the ‘Dores lost during the fall campaign. That’s 10 pins a game more than what opponents averaged against the Southland’s second highest team (Arkansas State) in that category.
However, in the 25 games Vandy won during the same stretch, the Commodores averaged a lofty 204.1, 13 pins more than their opposition and 16 pins more than the field average in a given tournament. Vanderbilt easily had the league’s best offense with that 204.1; Arkansas State was next best at 196.5.
It’s only been in the last couple of seasons that official, comprehensive NCAA bowling statistics have been kept. That may be surprising to some but getting all the bowling coaches on the same page with technology, deadlines and even identifying a central statistics expert took time. The statistics mark a big step forward in the evolution of collegiate bowling.
The stat release only included Southland Bowling League members so readers should be mindful they don’t include other programs. They confirm Vanderbilt had a dominating fall campaign, at least when compared to the rest of the league.
There were 10 major team categories measured and those were broken down into traditional, baker and overall formats – 30 different rankings. Vanderbilt was first in 27 of those 30! The Commodores were second to Tulane by scant margins in overall and Baker split leave percentage and second to Youngstown State in traditional split leave percentage.
Categories in which Vandy lead the SBL are:
- Team scoring average (20.44)
- Team fill percentage (86.00)
- Team strike percentage (50.41)
- Team spare percentage (71.77)
- Team makeable spare percentage (85.36)
- Team single pin spare percentage (93.23)
- Team first ball 9+ percentage (74.67)
- Team first ball average (9.067)
- Baker double percentage (50.27)
- 10th frame double percentage (32.50)
- Setup player strike percentage (60.00)
Individually, the Commodores were nearly as dominant. For example, Samantha Gainor had the fourth highest overall scoring average in the league and she ranked fourth on the Vanderbilt team! Kristin Quah, Bryanna Leyen and Maria Bulanova ranked 1-2-3 with Adel Wahner 14th and Jordan Newham 15th.
It didn’t take statistical analysis to know that Quah had a brilliant fall campaign but the stats illustrate just how good it actually was. The senior honors student led the SBL in all three scoring (overall, traditional and Baker) averages by wide margins; she led all three strike percentage categories (60.2% of her throws were strikes!), she led in all six first-ball categories, led in Baker double percentage and setup bowler 9th frame strike percentage and led in traditional format makeable spare conversion percentage. We won’t go into categories in which she was a bridesmaid.
Leyen led the league in four categories after exploding into the lineup in the second tournament. The statistics show the Maryland junior was the league’s best spare shooter, converting over 75% of her 103 attempts. One good reason for her success was her ability to avoid splits – she led the conference by only splitting 4.7% of the time.
Adel Wahner would be one of the few who could challenge Leyen in spare shooting. The Junior Team USA member led the SBL in makeable spare percentage (91.7) and Baker format makeable spares (89.6).
Bulanova was the league’s dominant anchor bowler, ranking first in 10th frame scoring average (21.267) and 10th frame double percentage.
Newham led the league in leadoff bowler’s first frame strike percentage (53.7), a whisker better than Leyen.
With such dominance on paper it would be tempting for those not familiar with college bowling to wonder about the quality of the Southland Bowling League. It is worth noting that the SBL is universally acknowledged as the premier conference in the NCAA, stacked deep with programs that have won national championships and that are prominently found in annual Top 10 rankings.
A word of restraint to Vandy fans: the mid-season stats are impressive but there is much more bowling to be played and there are excellent teams outside the league that are not included in this particular analysis.
In the memorable words of a long-forgotten economics teacher, “figures don’t lie but liars can figure.” So consume with a dose of caution, they are attached to this report.
