I hope we don't up our pace next year.
More possession = less efficient offense. It's been a direct correlation.
Just depends on personnel. Had the #3 ranked offense in ‘24 with TJ that played with pretty good pace. #66 nationally in tempo (#308 last year).
I do see both sides to this.
Truth is, the likeliest scenario is that it increases from last year. Since December 1st, we only had 3 games above 68 poss per 40 (OSU, Oregon, USC). It’s just likelier than not that it increases.
However, would probably prefer it doesn’t go up too much. There’s only so much firepower a team can possess, to match whatever possession total with elite efficiency.
If you want to score 1.25ppp, you only need about 82pts to do it on 65.7 poss (which is what we averaged last year).
In contrast, you’d need to score 90 to reach that efficiency on 72 possessions (we were at 72.4 in 2025). It’s not impossible — you’ll often see a team like Alabama do it — but it’s just rare to see high level CBB games played in the 90s, especially against legit B10 defenses.
Plus, we’re an elite offensive rebounding unit, so you can have more prolonged/high-quality possessions despite having less in quantity (all while winning the possession battle against the opposition).
….
The “middling ground” for pace is generally around 68. Meaning, there’s 365 teams, if you look at 182nd, it’s usually somewhere around 68 per 40.
The fastest teams last year in terms of pace:
Slowest:
