If you are wondering just what Simpson's Paradox is, the column I wrote for the Daily Kent Stater will step you through one example in detail.

All data comes from the Kent State Athletics' web pages. The season box scores list the data for total field goals and three-pointers. Subtract to find the numbers for two-pointers. Instances of Simpson's Paradox in the field goal shooting percentages appear to be rather common. I have been able to find at least one in each data set I've checked. I've included just a few examples here. The interested reader should pull out her calculator and look for more for herself!

1. Here is the example from the Stater column:

   Kent State Men's Basketball: 2000-2001 Conference Games Only (18 games)
   	Trevor Huffman			Bryan Bedford
   	Made	Attempted	Average	Made	Attempted	Average
   Two-pointers	57	127	0.449	13	30	0.433
   Three-pointers	35	100	0.350	0	1	0.000
   All field goals	92	227	0.405	13	31	0.419

   The Lurking Variable: The more difficult 3-pointers made up a much higher percentage of Huffman's attempts than Bedford's. Thus, when the two categories are combined for the field-goal shooting percentage, the harder shots are weighted more in Huffman's total than in Bedford's.

   	Trevor Huffman	Bryan Bedford
   Percentage of FG Attempts which are 3-Pointers	44%	3%

2. Here is an example from 2000-2001 women's statistics:

   Kent State Women's Basketball: 2000-2001 All Games
   	Morgan O'Hara			Lisa Wube
   	Made	Attempted	Average	Made	Attempted	Average
   Two-pointers	20	40	0.500	44	95	0.463
   Three-pointers	8	32	0.250	3	19	0.158
   All field goals	28	72	0.389	47	114	0.412

   Here again, O'Hara attempted a higher percentage of three-pointers than did Wube.

   	Morgan O'Hara	Lisa Wube
   Percentage of FG Attempts which are 3-Pointers	29%	6%

3. Here is an intriguing example from 2001-2002 men's statistics through the MAC tournament (so not including the NCAA tournament games). Note how close their all-field-goal percentages are! Not surprisingly, this paradox didn't last through even the the first round of the NCAA tourney.

   Kent State Men's Basketball: 2001-2002 games through the MAC tournament
   	Andrew Mitchell			Demetric Shaw
   	Made	Attempted	Average	Made	Attempted	Average
   Two-pointers	109	230	0.4739	63	134	0.4701
   Three-pointers	61	159	0.3836	17	49	0.3469
   All field goals	170	389	0.4370	80	183	0.4372

   	Andrew Mitchell	Demetric Shaw
   Percentage of FG Attempts which are 3-Pointers	41%	27%

4. This example is from the women's 2002-2003 season.

   Kent State Women's Basketball 2002-2003 All Games
   	Jamie Rubis			Lindsay Shearer
   	Made	Attempts	Average	Made	Attempts	Average
   Two-pointers	119	234	0.509	86	170	0.506
   Three-pointers	36	97	0.371	5	21	0.238
   All field goals	155	331	0.468	91	191	0.476

   	Jamie Rubis	Lindsay Shearer
   Percentage of FG Attempts which are 3-Pointers	29%	11%

5. And here is one from the men's 2002-2003 season. Note that Wilkins shot from beyond the three-point arc 75% of the time!

   Kent State Men's Basketball: 2002-2003 Conference Games Only
   	Anthony Wilkins			Antonio Gates
   	Made	Attempts	Average	Made	Attempts	Average
   Two-pointers	31	56	0.554	216	440	0.491
   Three-pointers	67	171	0.392	15	43	0.349
   All field goals	98	227	0.432	231	483	0.478

   	Anthony Wilkins	Antonio Gates
   Percentage of FG Attempts which are 3-Pointers	75%	9%