Top Small Forwards in College Basketball This Year

Note: While www.kenpom.com and www.valueaddbasketball.com analytics flagging Chattanooga's Malachi Smith as the 2nd best small forward in the country, we have been informed that in fact he plays point guard - where he would also rank as the 2nd best player at the country barely behind Villanova's Collin Gillespie. We will update for his next post, but we would still consider Smith a 2nd Team All-American at this point - just at a different position. (The analytics are thrown off because he grabs so many defensive rebounds that he appears to be a small forward rather than a point guard statistically).

 In Value Add Basketball we consider the team's "small forward" the player who has some combination of more defensive rebounds, blocked shots and height than two guards on the team, and typically more assists and steals then the two players on the team we consider the center and power forward. In many cases in modern basketball this is really a third guard, but either way it is the "3" position on the court.  (for a summary of the top players at each position, click here).

Because www.valueaddbasketball.com calculates how many points per game a player improves his team compared to if a typical replacement player took his place, the raw value add is adjusted by position since the replacement player would be at the same position. Therefore, once the formulas are run, and other positions are adjusted, but the average Small Forward actually is right about the average overall player, so their calculations are not adjusted before being entered at  at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

In general, freshmen make so many mistakes (turnovers, bad shots etc.) the first half of the season that they do not rank nearly as high as more experienced players. However, they tend to improve more at the end of the season, so we watch for breakout freshmen first when looking at brackets. Therefore we start with the 10 most valuable freshmen small forwards in college basketball, starting with one of three Arizona players we would put on the Freshman All-American team - Bennedict Mathurin - who improves his team by 7.32 points per game. This means Arizona would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than seven points if he had not played..

In his case, he improves the Arizona's offense by 5.55 points per game, while his defensive rating of -1.77 indicates he takes one to two points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement small forward. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen small forwards through games of February 15.

Rnk	Top Freshmen Small Forwards	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
9	Bennedict Mathurin #0	Arizona	7.32	P12	6'6"	Fr
17	Kendall Brown #2	Baylor	6.07	B12	6'8"	Fr
38	Ricky Council #4	Wichita St.	4.97	Amer	6'6"	Fr
53	Alijah Martin #15	Florida Atlantic	4.41	CUSA	6'2"	Fr
56	Jadon Jones #12	Long Beach St.	4.4	BW	6'5"	Fr
90	Zeke Mayo #2	South Dakota St.	3.44	Sum	6'3"	Fr
93	Houston Mallette #0	Pepperdine	3.41	WCC	6'5"	Fr
100	Caleb Houstan #22	Michigan	3.28	B10	6'8"	Fr
101	Bryce McGowens #5	Nebraska	3.27	B10	6'7"	Fr
105	Ra'Heim Moss #0	Toledo	3.21	MAC	6'4"	Fr

If you were picking an All-American team based by position, the Small Forward or "3" spot would be the toughest choice. Mathurin certainly is close enough to the top players to be considered due to freshmen surging at the end of the year. However, Wisconsin's Johnny Davis, San Diego State's Matt Bradley, Chattanooga's Malachi Smith, Loyola's Lucas Williamson and Iowa State's Izaiah Brockingham could all be serious considered as the most valuable small forward in college basketball.

 

Rnk	Top Overall Small Forwards (3)	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Matt Bradley #3	San Diego St.	9.3	MWC	6'4"	Sr
2	Malachi Smith #13	Chattanooga	8.84	SC	6'4"	So
3	Ochai Agbaji #30	Kansas	8.6	B12	6'5"	Sr
4	Lucas Williamson #1	Loyola Chicago	8.28	MVC	6'4"	Sr
5	Johnny Davis #1	Wisconsin	7.9	B10	6'5"	So
6	Izaiah Brockington #1	Iowa St.	7.79	B12	6'4"	Sr
7	Keon Ellis #14	Alabama	7.48	SEC	6'6"	Sr
8	Wendell Moore #0	Duke	7.34	ACC	6'5"	Jr
9	Bennedict Mathurin #0	Arizona	7.32	P12	6'6"	Fr
10	Darryl Morsell #32	Marquette	7.04	BE	6'5"	Sr
11	George Papas #5	Monmouth	7.04	MAAC	6'5"	Sr
12	Tevin Brown #10	Murray St.	6.92	OVC	6'5"	Jr
13	Isiaih Mosley #1	Missouri St.	6.58	MVC	6'5"	Jr
14	Julian Strawther #0	Gonzaga	6.49	WCC	6'7"	So
15	Kameron McGusty #23	Miami FL	6.4	ACC	6'5"	Sr
16	Davonte Gaines #3	George Mason	6.08	A10	6'7"	Jr
17	Kendall Brown #2	Baylor	6.07	B12	6'8"	Fr
18	Colby Jones #3	Xavier	6.04	BE	6'6"	So
19	Mark Smith #13	Kansas St.	6.04	B12	6'4"	Sr
20	Jules Bernard #1	UCLA	5.94	P12	6'7"	Sr
21	Kyler Edwards #11	Houston	5.91	Amer	6'4"	Sr
22	Taz Sherman #12	West Virginia	5.88	B12	6'4"	Sr
23	Teddy Allen #0	New Mexico St.	5.85	WAC	6'6"	Jr
24	Johnny Juzang #3	UCLA	5.78	P12	6'7"	Jr
25	Cam Spencer #12	Loyola MD	5.78	Pat	6'4"	Jr
26	Aaron Estrada #4	Hofstra	5.74	CAA	6'3"	Jr
27	Daylen Kountz #1	Northern Colorado	5.7	BSky	6'4"	Sr
28	Hakim Hart #13	Maryland	5.66	B10	6'8"	Jr
29	Tyler Burton #3	Richmond	5.59	A10	6'7"	Jr
30	De'Monte Buckingham #10	UNC Greensboro	5.49	SC	6'4"	Sr
31	Brandon Slater #3	Villanova	5.45	BE	6'7"	Sr
32	Sasha Stefanovic #55	Purdue	5.37	B10	6'5"	Sr
33	Adrian Delph #20	Appalachian St.	5.3	SB	6'3"	Sr
34	Kellan Grady #31	Kentucky	5.13	SEC	6'5"	Sr
35	Drew Peterson #13	USC	5.07	P12	6'9"	Jr
36	Tanner Holden #2	Wright St.	5.04	Horz	6'6"	Jr
37	Drake Jeffries #0	Wyoming	5.01	MWC	6'5"	Sr
38	Ricky Council #4	Wichita St.	4.97	Amer	6'6"	Fr
39	Charles Pride #5	Bryant	4.92	NEC	6'4"	Jr
40	Hyunjung Lee #1	Davidson	4.88	A10	6'7"	Jr
41	Andrew Jones #1	Texas	4.88	B12	6'4"	Sr
42	Chuck O'Bannon #5	TCU	4.87	B12	6'6"	Sr
43	Taze Moore #4	Houston	4.84	Amer	6'5"	Sr
44	Gabe Brown #44	Michigan St.	4.77	B10	6'8"	Sr
45	Jared Rhoden #14	Seton Hall	4.76	BE	6'6"	Sr
46	Ethan Wright #14	Princeton	4.61	Ivy	6'4"	Sr
47	Erik Stevenson #10	South Carolina	4.6	SEC	6'4"	Sr
48	David Jones #32	DePaul	4.59	BE	6'6"	So
49	Alex O'Connell #5	Creighton	4.53	BE	6'6"	Sr
50	Kane Williams #12	Georgia St.	4.52	SB	6'4"	Sr