I'm not an expert by any stretch, but i think you isolate the issue in your own post.  Since there are so many  "press fans" out there it would be silly for HD turnover numbers not to be significantly higher than in RL.  If the Wisconsin, N. Iowa etc. teams you cited faced the press 15+ games per year their totals would be higher.

I think it's also worthwhile to note that 3 of the 5 teams you isolate play in the big 10, which is notorious for playing a slower, less press oriented style of play than the rest of the nation.  I think the evidence you cite maybe makes the point that the press is the cause of the discrepancy, not the reason the difference needs to be corrected.

I think you'll find HD turnovers occur at somewhere around 3-4% higher than real life.  On a 60-70 possession game that's about 2-3 more per game.

Wisconsin is just incredible at protecting the ball.  They also rank #345, and last in the NCAA,  by pomeroy in offensive tempo.

Very important to only compare the top teams in both rl and hd. In hd the bad teams are and should be worse than the bad teams in rl due to multiple walk ons and dormant humans who abandon teams.

I've noticed fouls are lower in hd as well.

Posted by oldwarrior on 2/4/2011 10:30:00 PM (view original):
I think you'll find HD turnovers occur at somewhere around 3-4% higher than real life.  On a 60-70 possession game that's about 2-3 more per game.

Wisconsin is just incredible at protecting the ball.  They also rank #345, and last in the NCAA,  by pomeroy in offensive tempo.

One of the reasons we're so good at not turning it over is because (unless the shot clock is winding down and Taylor has to create something) we have approximately zero aggressiveness. I think it's analagous to a qb very rarely throwing an int because he throws almost all very short, safe passes. Makes the int ratio look good, but probably not the most effective offense.