Originally posted on 08/13/2020:

Very broadly speaking (at least for college basketball), pace and efficiency are the two most important stats in my opinion. (I say two stats, but it's really three: pace, offensive efficiency, and defensive efficiency.)

This article has a pretty decent introduction to the concept and has some references that you could use for further digging: https://www.vsin.com/using-efficienc...ge-basketball/