Most Valuable 50 College Hoops Players & Top 20 Freshmen

Here is a preview of the top freshmen, and then the top 50 most valuable college basketball players from the soon-to-be-updated www.valueaddbasketball.com site. First, the most valuable freshmen, which as I have argued repeatedly are really not the most valuable players in the country due to the number of mistakes (turnovers, poor shot selection etc.) they make, but they are the most spectacular players and will likely mature to cut down on those mistakes and be the best players long-term.

Only the top three freshmen are truly already in the top 50 of the most valuable players in the country.

 

Rnk	Freshmen	Team	Pos	Yr	Offense	Defense	Value
1	Chet Holmgren #34	Gonzaga	C	Fr	5.91	-3.98	9.89
2	Bennedict Mathurin #0	Arizona	G	Fr	6.8	-1.74	8.54
3	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	F	Fr	5.72	-2.55	8.27
4	Norchad Omier #15	Arkansas St.	C	Fr	5.42	-2.71	8.13
5	Gibson Jimerson #24	Saint Louis	G	Fr	5.41	-1.96	7.37
6	Tyson Degenhart #2	Boise St.	F	Fr	5.39	-1.71	7.1
7	DaRon Holmes #15	Dayton	C	Fr	4.85	-2.25	7.1
8	Malaki Branham #22	Ohio St.	G	Fr	5.43	-1.66	7.09
9	Kendall Brown #2	Baylor	G	Fr	4.85	-1.92	6.77
10	TyTy Washington #3	Kentucky	G	Fr	5.04	-1.65	6.69
11	Kennedy Chandler #1	Tennessee	G	Fr	4.36	-2.29	6.65
12	Johni Broome #4	Morehead St.	C	Fr	3.83	-2.65	6.48
13	Azuolas Tubelis #10	Arizona	F	Fr	4.84	-1.61	6.45
14	Kenneth Lofton #2	Louisiana Tech	C	Fr	4.38	-2.04	6.42
15	Caleb Houstan #22	Michigan	G	Fr	2.98	-3.39	6.37
16	Jadon Jones #12	Long Beach St.	G	Fr	4.02	-2.28	6.3
17	Paolo Banchero #5	Duke	F	Fr	4.39	-1.8	6.19
18	Justin Lewis #10	Marquette	F	Fr	4.27	-1.73	6
19	Malachi Smith #11	Dayton	G	Fr	3.23	-2.69	5.92
20	Dalen Terry #4	Arizona	G	Fr	4.12	-1.71	5.83

Next we go to the actual 50 most valuable players of all. Note, we tweaked the positions. Until now, we have been categorizing players as 1-PG, 2-SG, 3-SF, 4-PF and 5-C based on analytics. However, we found in a number of cases the analytics were not distinguishing well between the first three and in fact that their did not seem to be much of a disadvantage to playing either of those three positions (PG is the hardest position, but the ratings reflect that with credit for assists). 

The real advantage in the rankings is to playing the Center spot or the Power Forward spot, where you often received the ball closer to the basket for easier shots and with a lower chance of turning it over. Therefore, the raw Value Add calculation for a center is multiplied by 0.9, for a power forward by 0.95 and for what we are now considering any of the three guards on the floor a 1.05. This is also more accurate for most line-ups, which do features about three guards due to more and more 3-pointers. With those notes, the most valuable players in college basketball to date in terms of the number of points they improve their team over a standard replacement player are the following:

 

Rnk	Player	Team	Pos	Yr	Offense	Defense	Value
1	Keegan Murray #15	Iowa	F	So	9.84	-2.65	12.49
2	Oscar Tshiebwe #34	Kentucky	C	Jr	7.72	-3.83	11.55
3	Ochai Agbaji #30	Kansas	G	Sr	9.01	-2.38	11.39
4	Alex Barcello #13	BYU	G	Sr	8.98	-2.1	11.08
5	EJ Liddell #32	Ohio St.	F	Jr	8.46	-2.13	10.59
6	Collin Gillespie #2	Villanova	G	Sr	8.74	-1.82	10.56
7	Iverson Molinar #1	Mississippi St.	G	Jr	8.77	-1.62	10.39
8	Tari Eason #13	LSU	F	So	6.78	-3.51	10.29
9	Hunter Dickinson #1	Michigan	C	So	6.98	-3.21	10.19
10	Justin Bean #34	Utah St.	F	Sr	7.82	-2.27	10.09
11	Nijel Pack #24	Kansas St.	G	So	8.44	-1.45	9.89
12	Chet Holmgren #34	Gonzaga	C	Fr	5.91	-3.98	9.89
13	David Roddy #21	Colorado St.	F	Jr	7.94	-1.9	9.84
14	RJ Cole #2	Connecticut	G	Sr	6.93	-2.86	9.79
15	Malachi Smith #13	Chattanooga	G	So	8.09	-1.65	9.74
16	Tylor Perry #5	North Texas	G	Jr	7.96	-1.77	9.73
17	Walker Kessler #13	Auburn	C	So	5.48	-4.25	9.73
18	Kendric Davis #3	SMU	G	Sr	8.06	-1.64	9.7
19	Posh Alexander #0	St. John's	G	So	5.66	-3.89	9.55
20	Jamaree Bouyea #1	San Francisco	G	Sr	6.57	-2.95	9.52
21	Eli Brooks #55	Michigan	G	Sr	5.73	-3.76	9.49
22	Hunter Maldonado #24	Wyoming	G	Sr	7.48	-1.96	9.44
23	Matt Bradley #3	San Diego St.	G	Sr	7.27	-2.12	9.39
24	Trayce Jackson-Davis #23	Indiana	C	So	6.94	-2.45	9.39
25	Teddy Allen #0	New Mexico St.	G	Jr	5.89	-3.42	9.31
26	Terrell Brown #23	Washington	G	Sr	8.36	-0.65	9.01
27	Johnny Davis #1	Wisconsin	G	So	6.27	-2.71	8.98
28	Armando Bacot #5	North Carolina	C	Jr	6.15	-2.83	8.98
29	Baylor Scheierman #3	South Dakota St.	G	So	7.22	-1.56	8.78
30	Lucas Williamson #1	Loyola Chicago	G	Sr	4.9	-3.86	8.76
31	Christian Braun #2	Kansas	F	Jr	6.38	-2.33	8.71
32	Izaiah Brockington #1	Iowa St.	G	Sr	6.92	-1.73	8.65
33	Trent Frazier #1	Illinois	G	Sr	4.82	-3.81	8.63
34	Bennedict Mathurin #0	Arizona	G	Fr	6.8	-1.74	8.54
35	Keon Ellis #14	Alabama	G	Sr	6.52	-1.95	8.47
36	Tevin Brown #10	Murray St.	G	Jr	6.09	-2.38	8.47
37	Brad Davison #34	Wisconsin	G	Sr	6.12	-2.34	8.46
38	Jalen Williams #24	Santa Clara	G	Jr	7.06	-1.36	8.42
39	Isiaih Mosley #1	Missouri St.	G	Jr	6.56	-1.82	8.38
40	Will Richardson #0	Oregon	G	Sr	7.46	-0.9	8.36
41	Santiago Vescovi #25	Tennessee	G	Jr	6.26	-2.1	8.36
42	Sincere Carry #3	Kent St.	G	Jr	6.61	-1.72	8.33
43	Wendell Moore #0	Duke	G	Jr	6.53	-1.77	8.3
44	Bryce Hamilton #13	UNLV	F	Sr	6.66	-1.63	8.29
45	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	F	Fr	5.72	-2.55	8.27
46	Garrett Sturtz #3	Drake	G	Sr	6	-2.26	8.26
47	Orlando Robinson #10	Fresno St.	C	Jr	5.86	-2.39	8.25
48	Drew Timme #2	Gonzaga	F	Jr	6.2	-2.03	8.23
49	Alondes Williams #31	Wake Forest	G	Sr	6.42	-1.78	8.2
50	Kellan Grady #31	Kentucky	G	Sr	6.14	-2.06	8.2