A few weeks ago, we looked at the excellent defense that Ben McCollum oversaw during his tenure at Drake. Today we're going to dive into the offense of some McCollum-coached teams.
READ MORE: A Deep Dive into Ben McCollum's Defensive Success at Drake
McCollum’s teams at Northwest Missouri State team were wildly successful on offense. During their zenith -- the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons -- the Bearcats scored a stunning 1.28, 1.29 and 1.27 points per possession, respectively, and consistently ranked at or near the top in offensive efficiency amongst all college teams -- not just Division II, but all college teams. That figure is even more impressive because in the games that were analyzed for this post, they did most of their damage in the half court and not in transition where the scoring opportunities are easier.
So let's examine Ben McCollum’s offenses at both Northwest Missouri State and Drake to understand how his teams were so good offensively, what we can expect to see from his offenses at Iowa and whether it can translate to success in the Big Ten. This analysis is mostly based on observations of recorded Northwest Missouri State games on YouTube.
