Monday, November 29, 2021

Scherzer Strong for Nats After Trade News, But BoSox ...

After turning our focus to college basketball, news of Max Scherzer's trade to the Mets seemed a good reason to get Max Scherzer on the mound to see if the Dodgers could beat the Red Sox for the Statis-Pro Baseball World Series. Click here for photos of all Statis-Pro player cards being used in the series. 

It just so happened this year that the two things to make it through the 30-team Statis-Pro season to our simulated World Series were the two teams who fell one step short in real baseball. Therefore this season was a bit of a "what if" consolation series like the old days when a consolation game was played between the two losers of the Final 4 games.

In our World Series Game 1, Scherzer pitched six innings of 2-hit ball for a 5-0 lead, but then ...



Garrett Richards went 6 innings with only 1 earned run allowed in Game 2 to even the series heading back to Boston.

The hitting star of the first two games was former Tampa Bay Ray Renfroe, who has hits in six consecutive at bats culminating in a home run.

While Scherzer took a 5-0 lead into the top of the 7th, Santana (who entered the game on a double switch), Renfroe and the Vazquez chased him from the game with three straight singles. Vazquez was the one change we made from the AL Commissioners Red Sox line-up just to get his throwing arm (TA) in the game due to the speed of Trea Turner and Mookie Betts at the top of the line-up.

With bases loaded, set up man Kelly was brought in an inning earlier than we usually use him to quell the fire, but things simply got more dangerous.

Kelly induced a grounder to 1st, but Muncy misplayed it to keep the bases loaded and pull the Red Sox within 5-1. after catcher Smith made a great clutch defensive play for the first out, Verdugo doubled home two more runs, and then Bogaerts' infield single made it 5-4. Kelly then induced a 1-6-3 grounder to end the inning with a 5-4 lead, and Muncy later made up for his error with a grandslam homer to cap a 5-run bottom of the 8th and give the Dodgers a 10-4 win in Game 1.

Game 2

Richards six inning gem to outduel Buehler (4 innings, 4 earned runs allowed for the loss) was made even more amazing by the fact that he contributed at the plate as well. Like most AL starting pitchers, Richards only gets a hit on 2 of 64 possible numbers, a Random Number of 11 or 12 from the 11-88 possibilities.

The Red Sox jumped on Buhler early with a 2-run homer by Martinez in the first, and then singles by Renfroe, Hernandez and Bogaerts, with the help of a sacrifice bunt for Richards to amke it 4-2 after two innings.

In between the two 2-run innings, the Dodgers scored two in the bottom of the 1st. Richards did not look on the path to a gem when he walked Turner, who stole second, then gave up an infield single to Betts. Muncy then reached on an error to Renfroe, who was as bad in the field at 1st base as he was good at the plate. Smtih hit a sac fly,and Pollock doubled to give Richards two runs allowed with only one batter retired, but he would throw shutout ball the rest of the way to leave with a 5-2 lead after six innings.

Vazquez 3-run homer in the top of the 7th just about sealed the win at 8-2, through three of the 1st four Dodgers to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning reached off closer Barnes, who was back on the mound to regain confidence after being shelled in Game 1, and they did get one run across to make it an 8-3 final.

The Red Sox now have the pitching edge with Chris Sale (a PB2-9) slated to start Game 3 in Boston and therefore also slated for a deciding Game 7 if needed. The games in Boston will also include a DH, which lets the Red Sox put their normal line-up in place, but also lets the Dodgers bat Chris Taylor as DH rather than simply pinch hit.


Sunday, November 28, 2021

128 All-Time Great College Teams Now on 1 Easier to Read and Use Doc

You can now click this google doc or this pdf to open and print the improved cards for 128 all-time great college basketball teams for use with the free Value Add Basketball Game.   You can still use the original 98 teams still  just tried to make the cards easier to use as explained below. Yes, it took a long Thanksgiving weekend away from the office to get it all done :-) and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.



1. The time consuming part of the improvement to the cards was adding suggested playing time by position for all 10 players on all 128 teams. We already listed the Stamina, for how many of the 44 possessions a player could be used - but now we have the actual suggested possessions.

The teams are set up so that the five recommended starters are the top row for each team, so for the final part of the game you can just look at the top row unless someone fouls out or you make a strategic change. However, we circled the players who would actually be in for the 44th possession to begin the game if Kareem's UCLA played Jordan's UNC. Jordan is actually the only UNC starter would would rest one possession (the 44th) and then all 5 UNC starters would be on the court for the rest of the game. However, for UCLA Kareem is the only starter who would be in the game for all 44 possessions, with the other players beginning the game circled.

However, we start the game with reserves on the court. On the UCLA 1967 team I have circle the suggested playing time for each player when the game begins with "Possession 44" (counting down to the final "1" Possession).

You will note that Kareem is the only "starter" we have circle to begin the game because his Stamina rating is 44, meaning he can play the entire game (all 44 possessions). However, none of his teammates can, so we circled each player we suggest "starts" in the game with a "44-" some number.

For example, at the bottom of Don Saffer's cards, we inserted "PG 44-37" to note that we suggest using his 8 possessions (Stamina 8) to put him at point guard from the 44th to the 37th possession.

We added a light pencil mark to point to the mark at the bottom of Gene Sutherland's card, where our "PG 36-32" indicates we suggest he takes over at point guard for those 5 possessions.

Another pencil mark points to the actual starting point guard Mike Warren, where the "31-1" indicates we suggest he plays the final 31 possessions of a game at point guard. 

These are suggestions, and you can play any player whenever you want. Just keep in mind if a player plays more possessions than his stamina, then every die roll involving him his adjusted by 1 to hurt him. So if you used Warren the entire game, then he would run out of Stamina for the final 13 possessions of the game. During that time, he would only steal on 11-14, block a shot on 21, he would foul on 35 or 36, he would turn it over on 41-44, his dunk range would drop to 51-57 and adjustment to his opponent's dunk range would be only a -3. On rebound he would only get it on a 1-4, and then all 20-sided shots would be adjusted by 1 - so only a 1 would be a made 3-pointer, a 2-8 a made 2-pointer, a 1-14 a made free throw. If someone more than doubles their Stamina (if Heitz played his 40th possession despite his Stamina of 20) then all die rolls adjust by 2.

2. Another adjustment we made was to increase the font size from 6.5 to 8, which seems to make it easy to read even when I play a game while walking on the treadmill desk.

3. One final note is the top line under the green "20-sided" die line, where the best result is "made 3-pt shot," in most cases. In 1967 there was no 3-point line, so we have used various methods to estimate if a player likely put up jump shots that indicated he could have taken advantage of the 3-point line. You of course have the option of playing a game without a 3-point line and just counting all shots as 2-points - and all cards are accurate within 2% of a players actual field goal percentage except for a few cases where missed shots were not recorded. Players overall value comes out correctly because of an adjustment to the dunk range that is better if he has slightly fewer estimated 3-point shots or vice versa.

However, one thing we do know is that in earlier years centers like Kareem, Bob Lanier, Bill Walton and others in the game clearly did NOT take any 3-point shots and thus do not have any numbers there. However, note on Kareem's card that some of these great centers instead have a top line on which they make a 2-point shot and are fouled - meaning they will go to the line to try for a 3-point play.

These should be all the updates for a while as - like most of you - I head back to work in the morning. Enjoy!

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Bonnie's HoF Lanier Not Enough for Maryland's trio of Branch, Bias and Coleman

 With the Bonnie's off to a great start this season, we put their great 1970 squad on the court.

Bob Lanier did not disappoint with a 25 point, 11 rebound performance but no other Bonnie in double figures, but Maryland won with incredible balance. All 5 Maryland starters scored between 12 and 14 points. The Terps 1984 squad is one of the few on which all 5 starters can play all 44 possessions. (Keep in mind all 10 players are assumed to have played 11 possessions and scored 2 points to get to our 20-20 score for the starting point of the game.

In their real careers, Lanier would go onto be the No. 1 overall NBA pick and then have a Hall of Fame career. He took the Bonnie's to the Final 4, but did not play in it after he was injured in the Elite 8 game - leaving Bonnie's fans to wonder if this would have been a national championship team.

Maryland won the ACC title behind a front line all destined for the NBA, but Len Bias did not follow Ben Coleman and Adrian Branch to the league due to dying of a cocaine overdose 2 days after he was the No. 2 overall pick by the Celtics in the 1986 draft. 

His death rocked the Maryland program with Lefty Driesell resigning, and Congress passed the Len Bias law to require long mandatory sentences for dealing cocaine.




Reposting the 3 Key Posts to this Website - old hoops cards still valid

Even though this is the featured post at the bottom of the first page if you are in the website mode, it does not appear if you are on the phone. Therefore I periodically repost this short blog noting the three main posts references for this blog as a new post to get it to the top.

3 Key Posts - Hoops and Baseball Game and Player Ratings

The key three links for this blog site the links to two free games with player cards - Statis-Pro Baseball Game and the Value Add Basketball Game - and the database rating all the college basketball players of this century at www.valueadddbasketball.com.

One key note is that while we just made available the 30 new all-time great college basketball teams, the original 98 all-time great team cards will all continue to work fine.

We are touching them up slightly so that the format is the same as the new 30 teams (larger font is easier to read) and I am also going through each team to type in suggested possessions in the game for each player. It can be a little jigsaw puzzle to get each good player there maximum possessions played - but for the 10s of thousands of you who have printed out the other 98 teams you can keep using those even once I finish the link to the set of all 128 in the new format.

Friday, November 26, 2021

DePaul beats UNLV in battle of No.1s - WEST - 1-seed UCLA (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) BRACKET

 We set up four blogs to track the results of our tournament between these 30 new all-time great basketball teams in the Value Add Basketball Game.

DePaul's incredible 15 steals sink UNLV 82-64

The No. 1 teams from 1980 and 1987 clashed in our opening round. Perhaps fitting for a UNLV game, the first dice (opening tip) were rolled at 1:10 am and the game finished at 1:45 am - 35 minute play time. Some history first on the two teams No.1 ranked seasons without a title:

Both DePaul and UNLV went into their actual March Madness those years with only a single one point loss. UNLV finally lost in the Final 4 to Bobby Knight and Indiana.



DePaul had already beaten defending national champ Louisville but suffered one of many stunning tournament upsets with St. Joe's using tactics that would have not worked with modern rules (see account of game here). 

That season St. Joe's slowed it down with no shot clock in effect and used a late foul of Skip Dillard to force a 1 and 1 (there was no double bonus) and when he missed the front end St. Joe's beat the buzzer for a 49-48 stunner.

In this VABG game it was DePaul pulling the upset with Clyde Bradshaw completely disrupting the UNLV offense with 7 steals that led to transition baskets at the other end from one of the greatest duos to ever play the game - Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings - the player of the Year and future NBA Rookie of the Year respectively.

Aguirre scored 18 and Cummings 20 in a dominating 82-64 win to get DePaul that elusive first round win and get the winner of Duke 1986 vs Holy Cross 1950.

Here is Kareem's card for the No. 1 seed UCLA who is the team to beat in this bracket.

 

Here are 1st round results and match-ups from the MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas (Paul Pierce) BRACKET, and at the bottom of all 4 blogs you can click on links to the other three brackets.

  • No bracket games played yet.
Here are the links to all 4 brackets.

 WEST - 1-seed UCLA Bracket (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

  • Michigan 1965 vs. Arkansas 1978 (winner faces UCLA 1967)
  • UNLV 1987 vs. DePaul 1980
  • Duke 1986 vs. Holy Cross 1950
SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina Bracket (Vince Carter)
  • North Carolina 1998 vs. South Carolina 1973
  • Loyola Marymount 1990 beat Kentucky 1970,  142-116
  • Michigan State 2000 vs. Miami FO 1965
  • St. Bonaventure 1970 vs. Maryland 1984
EAST - 2-seed Duke Bracket (Jay Williams, Shane Battier)
  • Marquette 1971 beat Kansas 1988, 67-58 (Marquette plays Duke 2001 next)
  • Illinois 1989 vs. Notre Dame 1981
  • Indiana 1981 vs. Georgia Tech 1990
MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas Bracket (Paul Pierce)
  • Kansas 1997 vs. Niagara 1970
  • LSU 1992 vs. Kentucky 1948
  • Houston 1983 vs. Arizona State 1980
  • Jacksonville 1970 vs. North Carolina 1957

Pierce Kansas Pulling Away from Calvin Murphy - MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas (Paul Pierce) BRACKET

We set up four blogs to track the results of our tournament between these 30 new all-time great basketball teams in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Here are 1st round results and match-ups from the MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas (Paul Pierce) BRACKET, and at the bottom of all 4 blogs you can click on links to the other three brackets.




3-Kansas 1997 neat 30-Niagra 1970 84-68.

Final note: Calvin Murphy finished with 26 points in a losing effort, as Kansas won 84-68. Our note with 5 minutes left in the game:

The family pulled me away for a day trip drive before I could finish the game, but we are penciling Paul Pierce and the top seed in our Midwest onto the second round. Right before being called away Pierce had scored and was fouled, completing the traditional 3-point play to give the 1997 Kansas team an almost insurmountable 74-53 lead.

Pierce combined with his Frontline teammate twin towers, LaFrentz and Pollard both at 6-foot-11, to outscore the much smaller Niagra front line 35-17 so far. LaFrentz has a game-high 18 against a Niagra team with no player taller than 6-foot-6.

While the Kansas 1988 squad lost the day before to Marquette 1971, the Kansas 1997 team was the top seed which did not get a bye. Therefore they faced the worst seed, Niagra 1970, which had a strong team that year but was selected based on having one of the greatest college PLAYERS of all time, Calvin Murphy - who already scored 17 points.





Here are the links to all 4 brackets.

 WEST - 1-seed UCLA Bracket (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

  • Michigan 1965 vs. Arkansas 1978 (winner faces UCLA 1967)
  • UNLV 1987 vs. DePaul 1980
  • Duke 1986 vs. Holy Cross 1950
SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina Bracket (Vince Carter)
  • North Carolina 1998 vs. South Carolina 1973
  • Loyola Marymount 1990 beat Kentucky 1970,  142-116
  • Michigan State 2000 vs. Miami FO 1965
  • St. Bonaventure 1970 vs. Maryland 1984
EAST - 2-seed Duke Bracket (Jay Williams, Shane Battier)
  • Marquette 1971 beat Kansas 1988, 67-58 (Marquette plays Duke 2001 next)
  • Illinois 1989 vs. Notre Dame 1981
  • Indiana 1981 vs. Georgia Tech 1990
MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas Bracket (Paul Pierce)
  • Kansas 1997 vs. Niagara 1970
  • LSU 1992 vs. Kentucky 1948
  • Houston 1983 vs. Arizona State 1980
  • Jacksonville 1970 vs. North Carolina 1957

Results Tracker - SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina (Vince Carter) BRACKET

We set up four blogs to track the results of our tournament between these 30 new all-time great basketball teams in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Here are 1st round results and match-ups from the SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina (Vince Carter) BRACKET, and at the bottom of all 4 blogs you can click on links to the other three brackets.

  • Loyola Marymount 1990 beat Kentucky 1970,  142-116
  • Maryland 1984 beat St. Bonaventure 1970 by 74-64
Here are the links to all 4 brackets.

 WEST - 1-seed UCLA Bracket (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

  • Michigan 1965 vs. Arkansas 1978 (winner faces UCLA 1967)
  • UNLV 1987 vs. DePaul 1980
  • Duke 1986 vs. Holy Cross 1950
SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina Bracket (Vince Carter)
  • North Carolina 1998 vs. South Carolina 1973
  • Loyola Marymount 1990 beat Kentucky 1970,  142-116
  • Michigan State 2000 vs. Miami FO 1965
  • Maryland 1984 beat St. Bonaventure 1970 by 74-64
EAST - 2-seed Duke Bracket (Jay Williams, Shane Battier)
  • Marquette 1971 beat Kansas 1988, 67-58 (Marquette plays Duke 2001 next)
  • Illinois 1989 vs. Notre Dame 1981
  • Indiana 1981 vs. Georgia Tech 1990
MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas Bracket (Paul Pierce)
  • Kansas 1997 vs. Niagara 1970
  • LSU 1992 vs. Kentucky 1948
  • Houston 1983 vs. Arizona State 1980
  • Jacksonville 1970 vs. North Carolina 1957

Results Tracker - EAST - 2-seed Duke (Jay Williams, Shane Battier) BRACKET

We set up four blogs to track the results of our tournament between these 30 new all-time great basketball teams in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Here are 1st round results and match-ups from the EAST - 2-seed Duke Bracket (Jay Williams, Shane Battier) BRACKET, and at the bottom of all 4 blogs you can click on links to the other three brackets.

  • Marquette 1971 beat Kansas 1988, 67-58 (Marquette plays Duke 2001 next)



Here are the links to all 4 brackets.

 WEST - 1-seed UCLA Bracket (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

  • Michigan 1965 vs. Arkansas 1978 (winner faces UCLA 1967)
  • UNLV 1987 vs. DePaul 1980
  • Duke 1986 vs. Holy Cross 1950
SOUTH - 4-seed North Carolina Bracket (Vince Carter)
  • North Carolina 1998 vs. South Carolina 1973
  • Loyola Marymount 1990 beat Kentucky 1970,  142-116
  • Michigan State 2000 vs. Miami FO 1965
  • St. Bonaventure 1970 vs. Maryland 1984
EAST - 2-seed Duke Bracket (Jay Williams, Shane Battier)
  • Marquette 1971 beat Kansas 1988, 67-58 (Marquette plays Duke 2001 next)
  • Illinois 1989 vs. Notre Dame 1981
  • Indiana 1981 vs. Georgia Tech 1990
MIDWEST - 3-seed Kansas Bracket (Paul Pierce)
  • Kansas 1997 vs. Niagara 1970
  • LSU 1992 vs. Kentucky 1948
  • Houston 1983 vs. Arizona State 1980
  • Jacksonville 1970 vs. North Carolina 1957

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Kareem's 1967 UCLA and Battier's 2001 Duke Headline New VABG Cards

 The 30 new all-time great teams are now available for the Value Add Basketball Game. You can access the pdf of player cards via this google doc. The two best teams appear to be Kareem's 1967 UCLA team, and Duke's 2001 team, who certainly appear they could be close matches for the two championship teams from our original game and 98 teams

A couple of notes on the new cards, which can still be used against teams in the old cards:

1. We went to a larger point 8 font, to make them easier to read.

2. We added the height and points per game at the top of every card.

3. In addition the Stamina (how many of the 44 game possessions the player can play before getting tired) we went through and gave suggestions on which actual possessions you may choose to use the player. See notes on player rotations and when a player tires below the picture of team cards:




STAMINA CONTINUED:

a. Basic rest rules. To keep it simple, you can simply play the bottom five reserves the first seven possessions of the game - Possessions 44 to 38 - and then play the starters for the last 37 possessions.

b. You can follow the suggestions next to Stamina, in which case UCLA's point guards would include Don Saffer for possessions 44 to 37, Gene Sutherland on possessions 36 to 32, and then starter Mike Warren from possessions 31 to 1. Players with (None) listed by them might just come into a game if someone fouls out or a different mix is needed (a good 3-point shooter perhaps).

c. You are free to substitute players in any order you want for a more advanced game, just keep in mind the reduction in effectiveness if they play too many possessions. If a player is in the game for more possessions than his stamina, then every die roll is adjusted one against him. So if Duke's Matt Christiansen plays a 10th possession then a 13 when he is on defense is changed to a 14 and no longer a steal, or a 15 when trying to score is changed to a 16 and he misses the shot, and a rebound of 2 to him is changed to a 3 and he no longer gets the rebound, etc. If he plays at least twice as many possessions as his stamina (18th possession) then all numbers are adjusted by two.

d. For teams that played at a very high tempo, we also added a line at the bottom of the cards indicating you have the option of adding possessions at the start of the game. Duke 2001 is a +3, so if you use this option you use an extra scoresheet for the first three possessions before going to possession 44. We suggest using all reserves for one-third of extra possessions, which would only be one of three possessions if Duke 2001 was playing - but reserves all played an extra 10 possessions and starters an extra 31 possessions in the 138-116 win by Loyola Marymount 1990 (+26) against Kentucky 1970 (+5).


Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Kimble's 42 leads #20 Loyola Marymount to record 138-116 win vs. Issel's Kentucky

Bo Kimble's 42 point, 11 rebound, 4 steal performance burst open a 101-97 Loyola-Marymount lead to pull away for a 138-116 VABG win. (click for pdf of these and all 30 new teams)

Kimble is the all-time record holder in real basketball with 1,131 points in a season the year his team set the mark by averaging 129 points per game. 

It appeared Kentucky star Dan Issel (31 points, 12 rebounds on the card from the season where he averaged 33.9) might lead a rally when he drew a 5th foul on the other half of the dynamic duo - Hank Gathers. However, backup Chris Knight had a great game in Gathers position with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

The season in which the cards are based, Gathers scored the 6th most points of any player in history and might have given the team the two top single season scorers in the history of college basketball had he not tragically died of a heart condition near the end if the season.

Loyola will next face the winner of the game between the 1998 UNC team led by Antawn Jamison vs. the South Carolina 1973 team coached by Al McGuire's brother Frank McGuire and led by Kevin Joyce and the future NBA trio of Mike Dunleavy, Brian Winters and Alex English.



Statis-Pro Baseball World Series Rosters - Red Sox vs. Dodgers

While we've turned focus to college basketball season, we still need to finish up the 2021 Statis-Pro baseball World Series. It turns out after a long season, our World Series is also a "Consolation" World Series for the teams that lost the actual ALCS and NLCS - thus pitting the Dodgers against the Red Sox.

Here are our rosters with Statis-Pro Cards:

First, the Red Sox starting pitching rotation:

Next we go to the Dodgers Starting Rotation down the left column, then their bullpen in columns 2 and 3 below.


Then the Red Sox bullpen:


Next the Red Sox line-up, though Games 1 and 2 will be in LA so the DH will be dropped for those games:


Next the left two columns are the Dodgers' line-up, though once they go to Boston for Games 3-5 Chris Taylor will be added with the DH. The right two columns are the bench.


And finally the bench for the Red Sox.


Those are the cards we are using for the 2021 Statis-Pro Major League Baseball World Series, to start soon, we promise (LOL) - stupid jobs getting in the way.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

101-VABG Possessions Game - Kentucky 1970 vs Loyola Marymount 1990

In looking through the tournament for the new 30 all-time great teams we are creating, one match-up caught our eye that gave us a reason to add the new tempo variation to the Value Add Basketball Game as we debut easier to read cards (8-point font vs. the original 6.5-point font cards). Click here for the 30 new teams.

#13 Kentucky 1970 vs. #20 Loyola Marymount 1990

Paul Westhead convinced stars Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble to transfer from USC for his fanatic paced offense, and they made Loyola Marymount the highest scoring team in history. Kimble also set the mark for a player with 1,131 points that season, and amazingly Gathers might still hold the record for second most points scored in a season if he had not collapsed and tragically died of an irregular heart condition in the conference semifinals. Who knows if 11th ranked Loyola could have gone further in March Madness.

Twenty years earlier future NBA star Dan Issel did not play quite as many games, but he averaged 33.9 points per game to keep Kentucky ranked between 1st and 3rd all season. They scored 100 points in both NCAA tournament games, but were stunned in the second round 109-100 by another team we just added to the game, Artis Gilmore's Jacksonville.

Ultimate Fast-Paced Tempo Game -101 VABG Game Possessions

While tempo stats were not available until this century it appears they played about 85 possessions per game - one of the highest totals in history.


We estimate Loyola Marymount averaged 106 possessions per game, which is clearly the fastest pace in history.


All Value Add Basketball Games last 66 to 75 possessions, depending on how many of the last nine possessions include a foul or steal and fast break. Normally that works best for simplicity of play, and we don't really want to play fewer possessions for early teams. However, an optional adjustment we are adding to the game is that if a team averaged more than 80 possessions per game, they get a note on the bottom of the card - on the Kentucky cards above a +5 and on the Loyola cards a +26, and using an extra score sheet you add possessions totaling that number - and if both teams are high pace you add them together. 

In this case, we will need to play an extra 31 possessions on an extra scoresheet before going to the 66+ possessions that would normally be an entire game, to complete this tournament game.

We will add the results after playing the game, but in the meantime, here is a list of schools that would have the + possessions line on the bottom from the new teams and from the teams we know played more than 80 possessions since the stats were kept at www.kenpom.com.

Only two teams have done it this century - VMI and Savannah State - and they have both done it twice. The official high mark is VMI in 2007 at 90 possessions a game. Our estimate is that three new teams in our 30 team tournament matched or exceeded VMI's pace. In addition to Loyola, we estimate the Miami of Florida team in 1965 averaged 98 possessions per game and the Jacksonville 1970 team matched VMI at 90 possessions per game. Here is the complete list, and we will add the result of Kentucky vs. Loyola Marymount once done.

High Pace Team80+ Poss
Loyola Marymount 199026
Miami FL 196518
VMI 200710
Jacksonville 197010
St. Bonaventure 19707
Kentucky 19705
Niagara 19705
Michigan 19655
Illinois 19894
Savannah State 20183
VMI 20103
Duke 20013
Georgia Tech 19902
Savannah State 20171
DePaul 19801

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Duke 2001 and UCLA 1967 Most Impressive of 30 New VABG Teams

Sunday, November 21 we calculated the playing cards for 30 additional all-time great college basketball teams to be added to the Value Add Basketball Game to give players 128 teams total.

When we calculated the first 98 teams we only allowed each college to have one team per century, but we threw out that rule for the additional teams and it appears two of the new teams have the strongest cards for a tournament we will play with the new teams.

No surprise that Kareem's 1967 UCLA team appears to have the strongest cards, and will get one of the two buys in the game. What may be a surprise is how close to that UCLA team the 2001 Duke squad appears based on their cards, and they will get the other buy as the No. 2 seed.

We are close to finishing the cards up, and will make them available to the 50,000 who have already clicked on the game for the rules and first 98 teams.

With the real college basketball season ramping up during Feast Week, we look forward to shifting our attention there.


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Wednesday, November 17, 2021

CBS Sports Story: Could Morsell Make Marquette 3rd Program with 6 VA All-Americans This Century

I know, we are way overdue for a post. Both Commissioners have been swamped so we have not started our Statis-Pro Baseball World Series - which this year turned out to be a consolation World Series between the two runner-ups in the real season, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Meanwhile, we have yet to crank up either the www.valueaddbasketball.com rankings or start Value Add Basketball All-Time games, but for now take a look at my post by clicking here for this college basketball story.

Obviously three games is way too early to make predictions, but if Morsell keeps playing like this Marquette could join only Duke and Kansas with more than five top 10 players in our www.valueaddbasketball.com rankings. Below the photo we list the teams with at least four this century, and each player's name by team.


Duke (11), Grayson Allen 2016, Marvin Bagley 2018, Carlos Boozer 2002, Luke Kennard 2017, Mason Plumlee 2013, JJ Redick 2006, Jon Scheyer 2010, Kyle Singler 2010, Nolan Smith 2011, Shelden Williams 2006, Zion Williamson 2019

Kansas (7), Cole Aldrich 2009, Mario Chalmers 2008, Devon Dotson 2020, Devonte' Graham 2018, Dedric Lawson 2019, Frank Mason 2017, Thomas Robinson 2012

Marquette (5), Jimmy Butler 2010, Jae Crowder 2012, Travis Diener 2004, Markus Howard 2020, Dwyane Wade 2003

Oregon (5), Chris Duarte 2021, Luke Jackson 2004, Fred Jones 2002, Maarty Leunen 2008, Payton Pritchard 2020

West Virginia (5), Da'Sean Butler 2010, Jevon Carter 2018, Mike Gansey 2006, Kevin Jones 2012, Miles McBride 2021

Wisconsin (5), Ethan Happ 2017, Devin Harris 2004, Frank Kaminsky 2015, Jordan Taylor 2012, Mike Wilkinson 2004

Connecticut (4), Caron Butler 2002, Shabazz Napier 2014, Christian Vital 2020, Kemba Walker 2011

Gonzaga (4), Brandon Clarke 2019, Adam Morrison 2006, Drew Timme 2021, Nigel Williams-Goss 2017

Villanova (4), Mikal Bridges 2018, Jalen Brunson 2018, Randy Foye 2006, Josh Hart 2017




Sunday, November 7, 2021

36 New All-Time Great College Teams for Kick-off of New Season

Our Value Add Basketball Game is by far our most popular blog of all time. Our play-by-play of Bill Walton's UCLA team defeated Michael Jordan's UNC team for the title, also shows the semifinals with the recent Villanova champs and a surprise team in Draymond Greene's Michigan State team, but the 55,700 who downloaded the game and 98 all-time great teams likely had any combination of results.

With the real college basketball season kicking off Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, we are preparing 30 additional all-time great teams. While most great teams were included in the original set, we limited team game to one team per school from each century (the 20th and 21st) which led to including Bill Walton's undefeated UCLA team instead of Lew Alcindor's one loss UCLA team five years earlier and some great Duke teams and others being left out.

We decided to add 30 more teams to the all-time great teams in the game, allowing schools to have more than one team in a century if one of the following things was true; 1) an additional team from the same school was ranked as one of the top 50 schools in the country by this Bleacher Report story, a team featured one of the 50 greatest college players of all time according to this story, or a team had a great year last year that I wanted to add.

The following are the 36 new teams and what motivated us to add them to the game in the coming days.

TeamYear         Why Added
Arizona St.1980Bleacher's #43 team
Arkansas 1978Bleacher #46 team
Baylor2021title and replace 2020 team
Colorado 2021great last season
DePaul 1980#45 Mark Aguirre & #41 team
Duke 1986Bleacher's #31 team
Duke 2001#36 Shane Battier
Georgia Tech 1990Bleacher's #42 team
Gonzaga 2021great season, replaces 2017
Holy Cross 1950#39 Bob Cousy
Houston2021great last season
Houston1983#31 Hakeem Olajuwon
Illinois 1989Bleacher's #47 team
Indiana 1981Bleacher's #28 team
Iowa 2021great last season
Jacksonville 1970#30 Artis Gilmore
Kansas 1988#26 Danny Manning
Kansas 1997Bleacher's #39 team
Kentucky 1970#35 Dan Issel
Kentucky 1948Bleacher's #44 team
Loyola Marymount1990top offense all time 122 pts
LSU 1992#46 Shaquille O'Neal
Maryland 1984#25 Len Bias
Miami FL 1965#28 Rick Barry
Michigan 1965#32 Cazzie Russell
Michigan St. 2000Bleacher's#32 team
Niagara 1970#20 Calvin Murphy
North Carolina 1998Bleacher's #37 team
Notre Dame 1981Bleacher's #49 team
South Carolina 1973Bleacher #50 team
St. Bonaventure 1970#33 Bob Lanier
UCLA 2021great last season
UCLA 1967#1 Lew Alcindor
UNLV 1991#29 Larry Johnson
UNLV 1987Bleacher's #33 team
USC 2021great last season

Once we add those teams we will repost them with the existing all-time teams, resulting in these 132 teams. We created made up six to eight team conferences or divisions just for fun in case anyone wanted to play teams in the same basic time and conference or area. 

 
TeamYear        Top 50 players or note if added for team rankMade up Conference
Alabama 1977 SEC 1948-77
Arizona 1997 P12 20th Century
Arizona 2015 P12 21st Century
Arizona St.1980Bleacher's #43 teamP12 20th Century
Arkansas 1978Bleacher #46 teamSEC 1978-94
Arkansas 1994 SEC 1978-94
Auburn 1984 SEC 1978-94
Auburn 2019 SEC 1996-19
Baylor2021title and replace 2020 teamB12 2004-21
Butler 2010 BE 1999-18
California 1959 P12 20th Century
Cincinnati 1960 Amer
Cincinnati 2002#3 Oscar RobertsonAmer
Colorado 2021great last seasonP12 21st Century
Connecticut 1999 BE 1999-18
Connecticut 2004 BE 1999-18
Creighton 2014 BE 1999-18
Davidson 2008 A10
Dayton 1967 A10
DePaul 1945#24 George MikanBE 1945-89
DePaul 1980#45 Mark Aguirre & #41 teamBE 1945-89
Duke 1986Bleacher's #31 teamACC 1981-90
Duke 1992#19 Christian LaettnerACC 1992-04
Duke 2001#36 Shane BattierACC 1992-04
Duke 2010 ACC 2005-19
Florida 2006 SEC 1996-19
George Mason 2006 A10
Georgetown 1984#15 Patrick EwingBE 1945-89
Georgetown 2007 BE 1999-18
Georgia 1982 SEC 1978-94
Georgia Tech 1990Bleacher's #42 teamACC 1981-90
Georgia Tech 2004 ACC 1992-04
Gonzaga 2021great season, replaces 2017Western
Holy Cross 1950#39 Bob CousyEastern
Houston1968#14 Elvin HayesAmer
Houston1983#31 Hakeem OlajuwonAmer
Houston2021great last seasonAmer
Illinois 1989Bleacher's #47 teamB10 1989-02
Illinois 2005 B10 2005-21
Indiana 1976 B10 1960-81
Indiana 1981Bleacher's #28 teamB10 1960-81
Indiana 2002 B10 1989-02
Indiana St. 1979#10 Larry BirdEastern
Iowa 2001 B10 1989-02
Iowa 2021great last seasonB10 2005-21
Jacksonville 1970#30 Artis GilmoreEastern
Kansas 1957#6 Wilt ChamberlainB12 1946-03
Kansas 2008 B12 2004-21
Kansas 1988#26 Danny ManningB12 1946-03
Kansas 1997Bleacher's #39 teamB12 1946-03
Kansas St. 2008 B12 2004-21
Kentucky 1996 SEC 1996-19
Kentucky 2012 SEC 1996-19
Kentucky 1948Bleacher's #44 teamSEC 1948-77
Kentucky 1970#35 Dan IsselSEC 1948-77
La Salle 1954#38 Tom GolaA10
Louisville 1980#27 Darrell GriffithACC 1957-80
Louisville 2013 ACC 2005-19
Loyola Marymount1990top offense all time 122 ptsWestern
Loyola-Chicago 1963 ACC 1957-80
Loyola-Chicago 2018#2 Pete MaravichEastern
LSU 1970 SEC 1948-77
LSU 2006 SEC 1996-19
LSU 1992#46 Shaquille O'NealSEC 1978-94
Marquette 1977 BE 1945-89
Marquette 2003 BE 1999-18
Maryland 2002 B10 1989-02
Maryland 1984#25 Len BiasB10 1960-81
Memphis 2008 Amer
Miami FL 1965#28 Rick BarryACC 1957-80
Michigan 1989 B10 1989-02
Michigan 2013 B10 2005-21
Michigan 1965#32 Cazzie RussellB10 1960-81
Michigan St. 1979#11 Magic JohnsonB10 1960-81
Michigan St. 2000Bleacher's#32 teamB10 1989-02
Michigan St. 2009 B10 2005-21
Missouri 1982 SEC 1978-94
Navy 1986#22 David RobinsonEastern
Niagara 1970#20 Calvin MurphyEastern
North Carolina 1957 ACC 1957-80
North Carolina 1982#12 Michael JordanACC 1981-90
North Carolina 1998Bleacher's #37 teamACC 1992-04
North Carolina 2005 ACC 2005-19
North Carolina St. 1974#9 David ThompsonACC 1957-80
Notre Dame 1970#21 Austin CarrACC 1957-80
Notre Dame 1981Bleacher's #49 teamACC 1981-90
Ohio St. 1960#13 Jerry LucasB10 1960-81
Ohio St. 2007 B10 2005-21
Oklahoma 1985#47 Wayman TisdaleB12 1946-03
Oklahoma 2016 B12 2004-21
Oklahoma St. 2004 B12 2004-21
Oklahoma St. (A&M) 1946#23 Bob KurlandB12 1946-03
Oregon 2017 P12 21st Century
Pittsburgh 2009 ACC 2005-19
Princeton 1965#8 Bill BradleyEastern
Purdue 1969 B10 1960-81
Purdue 2018 B10 2005-21
San Diego St. 2011 Western
San Francisco 1956#5 Bill RussellWestern
Seattle 1958#16 Elgin BaylorWestern
Sen Hall 1989 BE 1945-89
South Carolina 1973Bleacher #50 teamSEC 1948-77
South Carolina 2017 SEC 1996-19
St. Bonaventure 1970#33 Bob LanierA10
St. Joe's 2004 A10
St. John's 1985#40 Chris MullinsBE 1945-89
Syracuse 1987 ACC 1981-90
Syracuse 2003 ACC 1992-04
Tennessee 1977 SEC 1948-77
Texas 2003 B12 1946-03
Texas Tech 2019 B12 2004-21
UCLA 1967#1 Lew AlcindorP12 20th Century
UCLA 1972#4 Bill WaltonP12 20th Century
UCLA 2006 P12 21st Century
UCLA 2021great last seasonP12 21st Century
UNLV 1987Bleacher's #33 teamWestern
UNLV 1991#29 Larry JohnsonWestern
USC 2021great last seasonP12 21st Century
Utah 1998 P12 20th Century
UTEP (Texas Western) 1966 Western
VCU 2011 A10
Villanova 1985 BE 1945-89
Villanova 2018 BE 1999-18
Virginia 1981#17 Ralph SampsonACC 1981-90
Virginia 2019 ACC 2005-19
Wake Forest 1996#18 Tim DuncanACC 1992-04
Wake Forest 2005 ACC 2005-19
West Virginia 1959#7 Jerry WestB12 1946-03
West Virginia 2010 B12 2004-21
Wichita St. 2013 Amer
Wisconsin 2015 B10 2005-21
Wyoming 1943 Western