In Smith last night, CSUSB won the National Title in D2.  CSUSB was undefeated, had the #1 RPI, #1 SOS, and really couldn't have been more dominant.  A hearty congratulations.

I took a look at his team to see what he did right, and he did have the overall highest team rating in D2.  But what really got me was that his average REB score was 32 and BLK was 23!  That would be lowest in my D2 conference!  He only had one true C on his team who wasn't a starter and the PFs were not remarkable rebounders or blockers.  FYI - he ran a triangle/press.

He was tops in every other category, especially SPD and PER.

Just thought it was interesting and wanted to know if anyone else have tried punting REB and BLK.

You can when you generate nine more takeaways a game than you turn the ball over yourself.  

In Divisions 2 and 3, rebounding could be overrated.  If you're just that much faster and more athletic than your opponent then it gives you advantages that you can overcome elsewhere, especially when running a press.  If you have the speed and athleticism it's going to set up a lot of easy buckets.  Blocking might be overrated at any level.

In Division 1 though, I can't see a team with poor rebounding winning the championship.  There's just too many good teams at the top that someone would take advantage of the lack of rebounding, especially if a team has high offensive IQs and good passing which should beat the press.  That is definitely an interesting observation about that team though.

You can even do it on offense:  Really good ball handling - commit few turnovers yourself.  The main point is:  If you can shoot pretty decently to good and have the ball more often than your opponent, you are a pretty good bet to win your share of games.

I can't recall ever seeing a D3 or D2 team that led the world in all but 2 relevant team rating categories.  That kind of dominance can cover up a lot of holes.  He could pretty much have been lagging behind in any 2 skill categories and still been a champion, and then you'd be asking if those were overrated.  At the end of the day you can't be the best at everything at D2/D3, and if you're the best at that many things you're clearly the baddest team around by a wide margin.

I don't think it means reb is overrated at all. It just means he was so strong in other areas, that he could still dominate even without strong rebounding. He had nine upperclassmen running a hellacious press with high sta and sp, and a phenomenal perimeter game on offense. It's nice because it once again demonstrates that there are a lot of different ways to be successful.

Seeing how coaches chose to gameplan for him, it also really illustrates the difference between D2 and D3. toysboys did a nice job, the other teams he faced seemed fairly clueless.