It's waaay too early in the season to making statistical comparisons but, I will do it anyway to gin up some discussion.
I like to compare team's 4-Factors from KenPom (see table below). Top half (yellow) is offense. Bottom half (light green) is defensive data. The green checks under each team indicate which team is better for the given stat.
Like I indicated, its a little too early to compare teams like this straight-up with any accuracy since most have played different strenghts of schedule but, Kentucky, on paper does look stronger.
Also, if you look at how well each team has done vs their expected outcome in recent games (as shown on KenPom), Kentucky has performed better than expected in every game so far this year (won their games by more than expected). Clemson has done so in only 4 out of 8 games. This is not an ATS comparison since ATS is impacted by public opinion, it is a statistical comparison of how well they've done. The "so what" of this is that Kentucky is playing better than expected while Clemson is not.
After saying all that.... KenPom does predict Clemson to win by 1 so........
For those of you unfamiliar with KenPom...
AdjOE = Adjusted Offensive Efficientcy
AdjDE = Adjusted Def Effic.
eFG% = Effective Field Goal %
TO% = Turn over%
OR% = Offensive Rebound %
FTRate = Free throw rate
3P% = 3 pt %
