LA Dodgers Win NL Statis-Pro Title with 19 Runs in 3 Games

 The LA Dodgers fielding and bullpen are not strong in this year's 2022 Projected Statis-Pro Cards, but when a team can average more than 6 runs a game even against the best pitching team in the NL it's enough for a title.

We wrote in the standings on the decisive Game 3 Scoresheet below. Every batter in both line-ups had between 1 and 3 hits during the 3-game series, except for the Dodgers two leadoff batters Trea Turner (5 for 13, 2 steals and a homer) and Mookie Betts (4 for 13, 2 doubles). There cards are pictured by the scoresheet.

While they won with their bats, the pitching star was Urias, who pitched a lights out gem in Game 1 with 7 innings, 3 hits allowed, 10 strikeouts and 1 walk. The only run allowed was very unearned. Urias bobbled a grounder by the Brewers player by the same name (Urias), and later catch Will Smith allowed a passed ball for him to score the only Brewers run in what would be an 8-1 Dodgers win.

Just like in the semifinals, the Dodgers lost Game 2 to allow the Brewers to have their ace on the mound for the deciding Game 3. 

However, Turner walked and stole second and Betts singled to start the first inning and later both scored against Burns to make it 2-0. With the Brewers bullpen stretched in the Game 2 win, even a tired PB2-7 Burnes (down from PB2-9) was the best option to start the 7th with a 2-2 tied game and try to get to the best reliever in the game, Hader, but Turner blasted a 2-run homer to make it 4-2. In the 8th, they likewise got to a tiring Hader as Bellinger doubled, Taylor doubled him home, Turner singled him home and then Betts hit a deep sac fly that just missed a home run (DEEP drive of 27 held in by the Dodgers ballpark range of 11-26 for home runs.

The Brewers did rally for two in the 9th to cut it to 7-5, and had runners on 1st and 3rd. Renfroe came to the plate as the winning run - having homered the previous at bat, but he lined out to the Dodgers last reliever Vesla to wrap up the Dodgers title.

We are actually playing the AL season this year, but our NL commissioner has a crazy busy work year and wanted to at least get an NL tournament in to see the teams. The playoff bracket is listed below and now we will return to the AL season.

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) are needed to play the Statis-Pro baseball Game, but we did catch one adjustment to the PB rating of pitchers based on the team on which they played. You can either use this link which has the correct numbers for all the pitcher cards or print out the cards from the link above and then adjust all the pitchers on certain teams by referencing this blog.

Will Smith Grand Slam Off Jansen Sends Dodgers to Title Series

A wild back-and-forth Game 3 deciding game included a 53 minute rain delay dropped Price's PB to 2-6 and Fried's to 2-7, included the Dodgers batting around twice and the Braves sending 10 men to the plate once.

The Dodgers started the game at a huge disadvantage with Walker Buhler's PB 2-8 card not used because he was on 60-day DL. The seemed at an even bigger disadvantage trailing 9-7 after 6 innings with.Dodgers PB 2-7s Graterol and Kimbrel going up against the Braves trio of PB 2-8 relievers Minter, Matzek and former Dodger Jansen.

The trio retired the first 5 in a row but then Trea Turner singled and Matzek walked Muncy and Taylor to bring Will Smith to the plate with bases loaded. His former battery mate Jansen was forced.to come in to get the last out of the 8th, but Smith hit a grandslam homer to give the Dodgers their final 11-9 margin.

The Dodgers win the 3-game series in our NL Statis-Pro tournament and will now face the Brewers in a 3-game series for the title.

Dodgers, Braves Crush Each Other to Force Game 3

 Freddie Freeman had hits his first three at bats against his old teammates to back 6 shutout innings by Clayton Kershaw in a Dodgers 8-0 blow out of the Braves that happened to coincide with the Dodgers beating the Braves on TV.

Jansen then turned the tables with a 4-out save against his old Dodgers team, which could be a disaster for the Dodgers since we had to take the card of would-be Game 3 Starter Walker Buhler die to him landing on 60-day DL, which means David Price (PB 4-7, average) against Braves ace Max Fried.

The Braves as actually dominated starting with the first three batters, as Acuna was hit by a pitch, Olson doubled him home and Ozuna homered to make it 3-0. It was 6-0 heading into the 8th but Metzek allowed 2 runs and runners on 2nd and 3rd to force Jansen in for a 4-out save. It was a save situation because at 6-2 with 2 runners in, the tying run was on deck.

Jansen retired all four Dodgers, which was key, because our league rules are that if a reliever pitches to at least 5 batters (or in 2 straight games) then he must sit out the next game. Jansen will be available for game 3 to see who plays Milwaukee.

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) is the only other thing needed to play the game, though more detailed instructions appear in this Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules.

Click for the free Statis-Pro Master Baseball Game. Click here for 60 of the all-time great MLB teams, or on teams of many of the all-time great players on teams by nation or state with one sheet for each team. Or click on the 2023 pitchers and 2023 batters in card form. You simply print two teams cards and then either print the master link above and fast action cards in master link or buy the dice to start playing.

Braves vs. Dodgers Statis-Pro Semifinal - Reminder on adding cards for missing players

As we set up NL Statis-Pro semifinal, we saw some players were added to the roster since the Braves and Dodgers last played in our game a month ago. If you do not see a player you need to add, you go to this link for pitchers, and this link for batters to find the numbers to put on the card. If you can't find a batter on that sheet, you can look at the all batters sheet (including those who started the year inactive). This is only if you do NOT see the player on the main projected cards produced for the season on the links on the paragraph below.

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) is the only other thing needed to play the game, though more detailed instructions appear in this Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules.

We also take players off the Statis-Pro team if they are on 60-day DL. For the Dodgers they lost only one player - but it was a huge one in Walker Buhler due to his surgery for bone spurs. The only additional pitchers they picked up were Tyler Anderson (a below average PB 2-6) and a PB 2-5 Yency Almonte.

While the printed cards look nice, I just write out the missing cards based on the extra card sheets as shown below.

The Braves had the most roster changes we had to update from when we played them earlier. Four players we were able to add were Ronald Acuna (no longer on 60-day DL though he actually has a new injurty), Michael Harris II, and pitchers who had cards but did not have them with the stack I used for the Mets series - Jackson Stephens and Will Smith. 

The Braves did however lose four players.

With those in place, we set out to play the best-of-3 to determine who would face the Brewers for our NL title.

4 of 5 top NL teams in Statis-Pro NL semifinals

As we prep for our second Statis-Pro NL semifinal, we pulled up the standings and noted our four finalists are currently in the Top 5 in the actual MLB standings.

Brewers' relievers and late inning HRs Advance to play Braves-LA Winner for Title

 The Brewers used late 2-run homers to rally from behind twice against the Padres. The consecutive 1-run wins advance the Brewers to face the Dodgers-Braves winner for the NL Statis-Pro baseball game title.

Blake Snell was brilliant for the Padres in Game 1, yielding only a 6th inning solo shot from Adames to leave with a 3-1 lead.

However the bullpen could not hold it as Rowdy Tellez hit a 2-run homer on a DEEP drive in the 8th and Kolten Wong had the game winning double in the 10th for the 4-3 win. The Brewers hit 2 other DEEP drives earlier in the game - which in Milwaukee are a Homer on 11-48 or sac fly out on a 51-88, but both were caught against the wall on a "51" and "57." However, Tellez drive was a "17" for a no doubter, and Adames was an HR on his card.

Sean Manaea was even better for the Padres with 6 scoreless innings, but in the 7th it was Wong with the game-winner again, a 2-run holer for the 2-1 win in Game 2 for the sweep of the best-of-3. Burns allowed a double and rbi-single to start the game behind 1-0, but finished 7 innings without allowing any other runs.

It was an almost unheard of game in which the Padres faces a PB 2-9 pitcher (best control, keeps on pitcher's card 83% of the time) for all 9 innings. In addition to Burnes being a PB 2-9, ace relievers Williams and the best pitching card in the game Hader are PB 2-9 and pitched scoreless innings in both games.

Brewers Urias Card and Padres Clevinger Card Added for Clash

The reason we like to play the current Statis-Pro seasons is to keep up with major moves and get a feel for how good players,. line-ups and rotation for together.

In setting up for our NL semifinal tournament we noted two players for whom we had not had cards were the Padres Mike Clevinger, listed as the No. 5 starter, and the Brewers Luis Urias, listed as the starting 2nd baseman.

We went back to the 2021 projected cards and will use them, except we lower the PB by on level (a 4-7 for Clevinger) and change the top homer number to a DEEP (Urias is an HR 27 and Deep is 28-32).

Back to Statis-Pro Baseball, NL Semifinals Renew

We plan our first Statis-Pro baseball games of June after the NL tournament semifinals were set at the end of May with the Braves vs. Dodgers and Padres vs. Brewers. We had to double check for roster changes, but it was a super hectic month of campaign work for my job and we decided to use the few hours available to finish up a couple of the Value Add Basketball Game series around the NBA Finals and NBA Draft.

Now back to baseball, we are actually playing the AL this season, but fit in a 10-team NL tournament to see the cards on their rosters. Here are the screen shots of how the 4 semifinalists won their last round.

Brewers survived the Phillies 2 games to 1.

LA Dodgers Swept the Cardinals

Padres pitching dominated the Giants

The Braves battled past the Mets with deGrom out for 60-day DL.

"Are you Grayson?" Chance Meeting with With Best Value Add 2018

 At baggage claim in an airport today, the day of the NBA Draft coincidentally, I looked up and saw a familiar face. Not wanting to invade personal space, I waited, but luckily he saw his bag passing by, came over to scoop it up - giving me the chance to say, "Are you Grayson?"

A little surprised he gave a big smile and answered politely that it was in fact Grayson Allen.

I told him I was just a big college basketball fan with two brothers who went to Duke, and ran a fun site www.valueaddbasketball.com that ranks college basketball players and that it calculated he was one of the best ever. 

And so it is, Value Add goes by the numbers not whether or not fans like a player or not, and here is his history.

Grayson was credited for being the spark off the bench as a freshman to win the 2015 title, and clearly a sharp kid as he was named All-Academic, All-American.

His sophomore year he was named 2nd team All-American as one of the 10 best players of 4,000 in the country by The Sporting News, and Value Add agreed calculating him as the 10th most valuable in the country. 

Junior year was down, but Senior season he finished as the most valuable player per game in the country - but let me explain after viewing his year by year:

You see his No. 10 ranking in 2016, and even the 208th ranking is top 5% of all players and freshman 792nd is top 20%. But focus on the 38th place ranking, already top 1% of all players, but in fact the notes show he only played in 26 of 37 games that year. Since players get a 0 for any game they can't play, you use this simple formula - team games ÷ players games played x value add ranking = value add per game.

Running the formula you see Grayson actually improved Duke 10.60 points per game, which actually made him the most valuable player in the country per game - edging out West Virginia's Jevon Carter and Villanova's Mikal Bridges as MVP.

Pierce's Kansas blows out Michigan State 85-61 for title

 Paul Pierce's Kansas teams finished 4th, 1st and 2nd in the final rankings, but none of the three made the Final 4. This 1997 was the most dominant, but was beaten by the eventual surprise champs from Arizona. 

However, the Jayhawks won our 4th Value Add Basketball Game tournament going away, with an 85-61 win against the Michigan State 2000 squad of Mateen Cleaves.

Ryan Robertson hit three 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the 1st half, the Pierce scored three times in the first four possessions of the second half and the Jayhawks pulled away, outscoring MSU 30-13 in the final 9 minutes for the 85-61 final.

Pierce, 6'11 Twin Towers Pummel Duke

 In a battle between two of the top 6 rated teams of all time, Kansas Paul Pierce and the twin towers of 6-foot-11 Raef LaFrentz and Scot Pollard helped Kansas 1997 out rebound Duke 2001 on the boards 36-27.

The back court was just as dominant with both Jacque Vaughn and Jerod Haase had four of the teams 12 steals, and all five scored in double figures for a 77-66 win in our second semifinal.

Shane Battier responded with 26 points, and Jay Williams had 16 points and opened the game with one of his three steals, but it was not enough.

We had hoped the NBA could have a Game 7 today, so we could have our Final Four the same day, but Kansas 1997 will face Michigan State 2000 for our tournament title.

Both of these teams and Duke were left out of the original 96 the tournament because we only allowed each school to have one team per century in that batch, and we used Kansas Wilt Chamberlain team and Michigan State's Magic Johnson team from the 20th century. We probably should have used this Duke team in the original 96, but the 2001 season was a bit lost between the 20th century and the start of the www.kenpom.com era and we went with Jon Scheyer's team from 10 years later.

RESULT ADDED - DePaul 1980 Leads Most Surprising Team List going into Semi vs. Michigan State 2000

The stunning DePaul Blue Demons of 1980 now tip off in our latest Value Add Basketball Game Final 4. Based on the player cards in the game, we only ranked DePaul as the 108th of 135 great all-time teams, but when Terry Cummings drew a 5th foul on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 15 minutes to go in their game, DePaul went onto a huge come from behind upset and improved to the 18th ranked team in the game with a 3-0 mark.

They play Michigan State 2000, which on the most improved team list below comes in 20th, we pegged them based on their cards as a +4 (original ranking) and they have played four points better at a +7.8 ranking - however that is only the difference between being picked 22nd and moving up six spots to No. 16.

We will paste the results and scoresheets of this game once completed. The other semifinal games features two teams we expected to be there - 3rd ranked Duke 2001 and 6th ranked Kansas 1997. 

DePaul's Cinderella run ended at the hands of Michigan State's Morris Peterson (23 points) and Mateen Cleaves (2 of 5 steals in closing 4 minutes) - as the Spartans won 72-66 and now wait the winner of Duke vs. Kansas.

 

Original Rnk	Rnk	Team Playing the highest above expectation	Original	Current	Improve	Wins	Losses
101	18	DePaul - 1980 - Mark Aguirre	-6	7.5	14	3	0
14	1	Kansas - 2008 - Mario Chalmers	6	16	10	5	1
49	20	North Carolina - 1982 - Michael Jordan	0	7	7	5	1
70	24	Auburn - 2019 - Chuma Okeke	-2	5	7	8	1
116	61	UTEP (Texas Western) - 1966 - Bobby Joe Hill	-7	-0.5	7	2	1
31	12	Virginia - 2019 - Kyle Guy	3	9	6	4	1
36	15	Baylor - 2021 - Jared Butler	2	8	6	2	1
37	17	Connecticut - 2004 - Ben Gordon	2	7.6	6	4	2
71	35	Michigan - 1965 - Cazzie Russell	-2	3	5	1	1
72	38	Loyola Marymount - 1990 - Bo Kimble	-2	3	5	1	1
21	9	Houston - 1968 - Elvin Hayes	4	9	5	3	1
43	22	Purdue - 2018 - Carsen Edwards	1	6	5	4	1
50	27	Wake Forest - 1996 - Tim Duncan	0	5	5	2	1
73	42	Oklahoma - 1985 - Wayman Tisdale	-2	2	4	3	1
60	37	Iowa - 2021 - Luka Garza	-1	3	4	1	0
83	49	Michigan St. - 2009 - Draymond Green	-3	1.3	4	6	3
91	55	Colorado - 2021 - McKinley Wright	-4	0	4	1	0
74	44	Missouri - 1982 - Steve Stipanovich	-2	2.2	4	2	0
15	7	Indiana - 1976 - Scott May	6	10	4	3	1
22	16	Michigan St. - 2000 - Mateen Cleaves	4	7.8	4	3	0
61	40	Syracuse - 2003 - Carmelo Anthony	-1	2.8	4	2	1
23	19	Louisville - 2013 - Russ Smith	4	8	4	2	1
102	75	Maryland - 1984 - Len Bias	-6	-3	3	1	1
84	57	Syracuse - 1987 - Rony Seikaly	-3	0	3	2	1
17	14	Duke - 2010 - Jon Scheyer	5	8	3	5	2
8	5	Villanova - 2018 - Mikal Bridges	8	11	3	7	2
51	39	Oregon - 2017 - Dillon Brooks	0	3	3	4	3
75	50	Georgetown - 1984 - Patrick Ewing	-2	1	3	2	1
92	68	Marquette - 1971 - Jim Chones	-4	-1.4	3	1	1
9	6	Kansas - 1997 - Paul Pierce	8	11	3	3	0
38	25	Houston - 1983 - Hakeem Olajuwon	2	4.5	3	2	1
39	26	Michigan St. - 1979 - Magic Johnson	2	5	3	2	1
76	53	USC - 2021 - Evan Mobley	-2	1	3	1	0
134	129	LSU - 1970 - Pete Maravich	-15	-13	3	0	1
12	10	Gonzaga - 2017 - Nigel Williams-Goss	7	9	2	3	2
95	77	Kansas St. - 2008 - Michael Beasley	-5	-3	2	1	1
93	73	Marquette - 2003 - Dwyane Wade	-4	-2	2	2	2
10	8	North Carolina - 2005 - Sean May	8	10	2	3	2
85	65	Dayton - 2020 - Obi Toppin	-3	-1	2	1	0
94	74	Marquette - 1977 - Butch Lee	-4	-3	1	1	1
5	3	Duke - 2001 - Shane Battier	12	13	1	2	0
32	30	Memphis - 2008 - Derrick Rose	3	4	1	4	2
103	84	DePaul - 1945 - George Mikan	-6	-5	1	0	1
104	85	Holy Cross - 1950 - Bob Cousy	-6	-5	1	1	1
128	107	South Carolina - 1973 - Mike Dunleavy	-9	-8	1	0	1
62	58	Jacksonville - 1970 - Artis Gilmore	-1	-0.2	1	1	1
105	90	Iowa - 2002 - Reggie Evans	-6	-5.2	1	1	2
52	52	Seton Hall - 1989 - John Morton	0	1	1	1	1
135	135	Niagara - 1970 - Calvin Murphy	-17	-16.5	1	0	1
24	28	Illinois - 2005 - Deron Williams	4	4	0	3	2
106	93	Tennessee - 1977 - Bernard King	-6	-6	0	1	1
129	119	Georgia - 1982 - Dominique Wilkins	-10	-9.6	0	1	1
53	54	Texas Tech - 2019 - Jarrett Culver	0	0	0	3	2
44	48	Indiana - 1981 - Isaiah Thomas	1	1.4	0	1	1
86	76	San Diego St. - 2011 - Kawhi Leonard	-3	-3	0	2	2
18	23	NC State - 1974 - David Thompson	5	5.1	0	2	1
117	103	Davidson - 2008 - Stephen Curry	-7	-7	0	1	5
25	29	Illinois - 1989 - Nick Anderson	4	4	0	1	0
118	105	Notre Dame - 1989 - Orlando Woodridge	-7	-7	0	0	1
122	108	Notre Dame - 1970 - Austin Carr	-8	-8	0	1	2
26	32	Kentucky - 2012 - Anthony Davis	4	3.7	0	4	2
107	99	Seattle - 1958 - Elgin Baylor	-6	-6.3	0	0	1
123	111	Auburn - 1984 - Charles Barkley	-8	-8.4	0	1	1
63	69	Georgetown - 2007 - Roy Hibbert	-1	-1.5	-1	1	2
87	79	South Carolina - 2017 - Sindarius Thornwell	-3	-3.5	-1	1	2
108	101	Wichita St. - 2013 - Fred VanVleet	-6	-7	-1	1	2
54	63	Florida - 2006 - Joakim Noah	0	-1	-1	5	3
27	36	Wisconsin - 2015 - Frank Kaminsky	4	3	-1	2	2
109	102	Alabama - 1977 - Reggie King	-6	-7	-1	0	1
45	56	Michigan - 2013 - Trey Burke	1	0	-1	1	2
6	11	Duke - 1992 - Christian Laettner	10	9	-1	1	1
77	78	St. John's - 1985 - Chris Mullin	-2	-3	-1	0	1
96	96	California - 1959 - Jack Grout	-5	-6	-1	0	1
110	106	Marquette - 2011 - Jimmy Butler	-6	-7	-1	0	1
55	66	Georgia Tech - 2004 - Jarrett Jack	0	-1	-1	2	3
124	118	Villanova - 1985 - Ed Pinckney	-8	-9.5	-2	0	1
132	130	VCU - 2011 - Bradford Burgess	-12	-14	-2	0	3
7	13	Cincinnati - 1960 - Oscar Robertson	10	8	-2	1	1
28	41	Arizona - 2015 - Stanley Johnson	4	2.4	-2	3	1
46	62	Ohio St. - 2007 - Greg Oden	1	-1	-2	2	3
2	2	UCLA - 1972 - Bill Walton	17	15	-2	6	0
56	71	Kansas - 1957 - Wilt Chamberlain	0	-2	-2	1	1
119	113	West Virginia - 1959 - Jerry West	-7	-9	-2	0	1
47	64	Pittsburgh - 2009 - DeJuan Blair	1	-1	-2	1	3
120	115	Brigham Young - 1981 - Danny Ainge	-7	-9	-2	0	1
125	121	George Mason - 2006 - Jai Lewis	-8	-10	-2	0	3
78	81	Kentucky - 1948 - Alex Groza	-2	-4	-2	1	1
33	51	Arizona - 1997 - Mike Bibby	3	1	-2	2	1
48	67	Purdue - 1969 - Rick Mount	1	-1.3	-2	0	1
111	109	Indiana St. - 1979 - Larry Bird	-6	-8.3	-2	0	1
29	46	Cincinnati - 2002 - Jason Maxiell	4	2	-2	2	2
16	34	Connecticut - 1999 - Richard Hamilton	6	4	-3	0	1
40	60	San Francisco - 1956 - Bill Russell	2	-1	-3	0	1
88	91	UCLA - 2006 - Jordan Farmar	-3	-6	-3	2	3
121	117	Navy - 1986 - David Robinson	-7	-9.5	-3	0	1
126	122	Arizona St. - 1980 - Byron Scott	-8	-11	-3	0	1
19	43	Arkansas - 1994 - Corliss Williamson	5	2	-3	0	1
112	112	La Salle - 1954 - Tom Gola	-6	-9	-3	0	1
113	114	Wyoming - 1943 - Ken Sailors	-6	-9	-3	0	1
13	31	Michigan - 1989 - Glen Rice	7	4	-3	0	1
64	82	Indiana - 2002 - Jared Jeffries	-1	-4	-3	1	3
97	110	Kansas - 1988 - Danny Manning	-5	-8.3	-3	0	1
114	116	North Carolina - 1957 - Lennie Rosenbluth	-6	-9	-3	0	1
133	134	Miami FL - 1965 - Rick Berry	-12	-15	-3	0	1
20	47	Ohio St. - 1960 - Jerry Lucas	5	2	-4	0	1
57	80	Oklahoma St. - 2004 - John Lucas	0	-3.6	-4	1	3
41	70	Duke - 1986 - Johnny Dawkins	2	-2	-4	0	1
79	94	Oklahoma St. - 1946 - Bob Kurland	-2	-6	-4	0	1
80	95	Texas - 2003 - T.J. Ford	-2	-5.8	-4	1	2
127	127	Dayton - 1967 - Don May	-8	-11.8	-4	0	1
130	131	Princeton - 1965 - Bill Bradley	-10	-14	-4	0	1
65	83	Oklahoma - 2016 - Buddy Hield	-1	-4.9	-4	1	3
42	72	LSU - 1992 - Shaquille O'Neal	2	-2	-4	0	1
89	104	LSU - 2006 - Glen Davis	-3	-7	-4	1	2
66	89	West Virginia - 2010 - Kevin Jones	-1	-5	-4	1	3
30	59	Loyola-Chicago - 1963 - Jerry Harkness	4	0	-4	0	1
81	100	Virginia - 1981 - Ralph Sampson	-2	-6	-4	0	1
67	92	Utah - 1998 - Andre Miller	-1	-6	-5	0	1
131	133	Loyola-Chicago - 2018 - Cameron Krutwig	-10	-15	-5	0	3
58	87	St. Joe's - 2004 - Jameer Nelson	0	-5	-5	1	2
68	97	St. Bonaventure - 1970 - Bob Lanier	-1	-6	-5	0	1
69	98	Georgia Tech - 1990 - Dennis Scott	-1	-6.3	-5	0	1
98	123	Arkansas - 1978 - Sidney Moncrief	-5	-10.8	-6	0	1
11	45	North Carolina - 1998 - Vince Carter	8	2	-6	2	1
99	126	Creighton - 2020 - Ty-Shon Alexander	-5	-12	-7	0	1
3	21	UNLV - 1991 - Larry Johnson	13	6	-7	1	1
100	128	Louisville - 1980 - Darrell Griffith	-5	-12	-7	0	1
1	4	Kentucky - 1996 - Antoine Walker	18	11	-7	0	1
90	120	Kentucky - 1970 - Dan Issel	-3	-10	-7	0	1
34	86	Maryland - 2002 - Juan Dixon	3	-5	-8	1	3
35	88	UNLV - 1987 - Armen Gilliam	3	-5	-8	0	1
115	132	Butler - 2010 - Gordon Hayward	-6	-14.2	-8	0	3
82	125	Creighton - 2014 - Doug McDermott	-2	-11	-9	0	3
4	33	UCLA - 1967 - Lew Alcindor	13	4	-9	1	1
59	124	Wake Forest - 2005 - Chris Paul	0	-10.8	-11	0	3

MSU & DePaul shoot up in rankings; Other Final 4 Features Duke vs. Kansas

The Final 4 of our new tournament features on expected game and one surprise game.

In one semifinal Duke 2001 stayed at No. 3 in our all-time rankings, and now faces Kansas, who moved up one spot to No. 6. The only teams ahead of Duke are UCLA 1972 and Kansas 2008.

Kansas now has 2 of the top 6 ranked teams in our game, while Duke has 3 of the top 14 teams - so this truly will be the blue blood of all time.

The other semifinal is the two surprise teams, both of whom moved up 28 spots after two upset wins to make the Final Four. DePaul 1980 shot up all the way to No. 18 after Terry Cummings drew five fouls on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose 1967 UCLA team dropped 29 spots to No. 33.

Michigan State 2000 is now No. 16, after easily defeating North Carolina 1998, which dropped to No. 45 in our all-time ratings.

As for the drops of the teams losing in the last 2 rounds, Houston dropped just 2 spots to No. 25 with their heartbreaking Elite 8 loss. Baylor dropped 7 spots to No. 15 after the loss to Duke. Holy Cross dropped 8 spots to #85. Maryland dropped 9 spots to #75. 

For stats people who want to know - Our rankings work similarly to the modern www.kenpom.com. Each team starts with a + or - based on how many points better or worse they appear than the average great team in the game. They then get a game score for each game - which basically means if a team is a +10 to start, and then they win by 3 points against a +2 opponent, the initial game score adds their margin of victory or defeat to the opponents plus or minus which in that case is a total +5 (3+2) so in pomeroy that would lower their tati g slightly from +10. However we give a bonus 5 points for winning the game so in that game the team would be a +10 game score so the rating would stay the same. The losing team gets a -5 beyond the initial game score.

One other team that moved up one spot was Niagara - from 136th to 135th. This happened because we realized we've been listing NC State twice which made it look like 136 teams instead of 135.

All game scores are tracked here.

Rnk	Team - Year - Star Player	Rating	Wins	Losses	Ave Pt	Ave Allow	SoS	Change
1	Kansas - 2008 - Mario Chalmers	16.2	5	1	74.7	56.0	-0.7	0
2	UCLA - 1972 - Bill Walton	15.3	6	0	72.0	62.0	-0.5	0
3	Duke - 2001 - Shane Battier	13.0	2	0	84.5	74.0	-1.0	0
4	Kentucky - 1996 - Antoine Walker	11.0	0	1	64.0	67.0	-2.0	1
5	Villanova - 2018 - Mikal Bridges	11.0	7	2	79.4	70.3	0.1	1
6	Kansas - 1997 - Paul Pierce	10.5	3	0	75.3	60.3	-7.0	1
7	Indiana - 1976 - Scott May	10.1	3	1	71.3	59.8	-0.8	2
8	North Carolina - 2005 - Sean May	9.8	3	2	72.2	64.4	2.0	2
9	Houston - 1968 - Elvin Hayes	9.1	3	1	73.0	63.8	1.3	2
10	Gonzaga - 2017 - Nigel Williams-Goss	9.1	3	2	68.8	59.4	0.0	2
11	Duke - 1992 - Christian Laettner	9.0	1	1	71.5	64.5	0.5	2
12	Virginia - 2019 - Kyle Guy	9.0	4	1	72.6	65.4	2.4	2
13	Cincinnati - 1960 - Oscar Robertson	8.4	1	1	69.5	73.5	10.0	2
14	Duke - 2010 - Jon Scheyer	8.2	5	2	74.0	66.7	0.1	3
15	Baylor - 2021 - Jared Butler	8.0	2	1	84.0	73.7	2.0	-7
16	Michigan St. - 2000 - Mateen Cleaves	7.8	3	0	88.3	78.3	-3.3	28
17	Connecticut - 2004 - Ben Gordon	7.6	4	2	73.5	64.0	-0.8	1
18	DePaul - 1980 - Mark Aguirre	7.5	3	0	80.3	67.7	3.3	28
19	Louisville - 2013 - Russ Smith	7.5	2	1	74.0	66.3	1.7	0
20	North Carolina - 1982 - Michael Jordan	7.4	5	1	68.8	65.0	4.0	0
21	UNLV - 1991 - Larry Johnson	6.2	1	1	76.5	75.5	-5.0	0
22	Purdue - 2018 - Carsen Edwards	5.5	4	1	71.2	68.8	2.8	2
23	NC State - 1974 - David Thompson	5.1	2	1	72.0	72.7	4.3	2
24	Auburn - 2019 - Chuma Okeke	4.8	8	1	71.0	65.3	-2.6	2
25	Houston - 1983 - Hakeem Olajuwon	4.5	2	1	70.7	65.0	-0.3	-3
26	Michigan St. - 1979 - Magic Johnson	4.5	2	1	70.3	62.7	-2.3	1
27	Wake Forest - 1996 - Tim Duncan	4.5	2	1	66.0	64.7	6.0	1
28	Illinois - 2005 - Deron Williams	4.4	3	2	72.0	69.6	1.2	1
29	Illinois - 1989 - Nick Anderson	4.0	1	0	74.0	68.0	6.0	35
30	Memphis - 2008 - Derrick Rose	4.0	4	2	68.7	65.8	0.0	0
31	Michigan - 1989 - Glen Rice	4.0	0	1	69.0	70.0	1.0	0
32	Kentucky - 2012 - Anthony Davis	3.7	4	2	72.2	65.7	-4.7	0
33	UCLA - 1967 - Lew Alcindor	3.6	1	1	78.0	84.5	-4.0	-30
34	Connecticut - 1999 - Richard Hamilton	3.5	0	1	60.0	64.0	5.0	-1
35	Michigan - 1965 - Cazzie Russell	3.4	1	1	81.0	71.5	2.0	-1
36	Wisconsin - 2015 - Frank Kaminsky	3.3	2	2	65.0	63.3	1.0	-1
37	Iowa - 2021 - Luka Garza	3.3	1	0	88.0	69.0	-8.0	-1
38	Loyola Marymount - 1990 - Bo Kimble	3.2	1	1	119.5	110.0	1.5	-1
39	Oregon - 2017 - Dillon Brooks	3.0	4	3	71.9	69.9	1.6	-1
40	Syracuse - 2003 - Carmelo Anthony	2.8	2	1	76.0	74.0	3.0	-1
41	Arizona - 2015 - Stanley Johnson	2.4	3	1	75.3	70.5	-6.0	-1
42	Oklahoma - 1985 - Wayman Tisdale	2.4	3	1	75.3	73.8	1.8	-1
43	Arkansas - 1994 - Corliss Williamson	2.3	0	1	78.0	79.0	0.0	-1
44	Missouri - 1982 - Steve Stipanovich	2.2	2	0	69.5	65.5	-0.5	0
45	North Carolina - 1998 - Vince Carter	1.8	2	1	80.7	83.7	-3.0	-24
46	Cincinnati - 2002 - Jason Maxiell	1.6	2	2	72.8	71.5	-1.5	0
47	Ohio St. - 1960 - Jerry Lucas	1.5	0	1	78.0	79.0	-3.0	0
48	Indiana - 1981 - Isaiah Thomas	1.4	1	1	73.0	73.0	2.0	0
49	Michigan St. - 2009 - Draymond Green	1.3	6	3	71.3	71.9	1.6	0
50	Georgetown - 1984 - Patrick Ewing	0.8	2	1	67.3	65.3	0.0	0
51	Arizona - 1997 - Mike Bibby	0.7	2	1	68.7	71.0	-1.0	0
52	Seton Hall - 1989 - John Morton	0.6	1	1	78.0	78.0	1.5	0
53	USC - 2021 - Evan Mobley	0.5	1	0	77.0	67.0	-7.0	0
54	Texas Tech - 2019 - Jarrett Culver	0.4	3	2	65.6	67.2	1.2	0
55	Colorado - 2021 - McKinley Wright	0.3	1	0	86.0	82.0	4.0	0
56	Michigan - 2013 - Trey Burke	0.2	1	2	70.3	69.7	0.3	0
57	Syracuse - 1987 - Rony Seikaly	0.2	2	1	72.3	68.7	-2.0	0
58	Jacksonville - 1970 - Artis Gilmore	-0.2	1	1	78.0	75.0	-2.0	0
59	Loyola-Chicago - 1963 - Jerry Harkness	-0.3	0	1	62.0	68.0	-2.0	0
60	San Francisco - 1956 - Bill Russell	-0.5	0	1	67.0	74.0	4.0	0
61	UTEP (Texas Western) - 1966 - Bobby Joe Hill	-0.5	2	1	63.7	66.0	6.7	0
62	Ohio St. - 2007 - Greg Oden	-0.6	2	3	70.2	71.4	0.6	0
63	Florida - 2006 - Joakim Noah	-0.7	5	3	74.4	72.0	-4.6	0
64	Pittsburgh - 2009 - DeJuan Blair	-1.0	1	3	60.0	62.3	2.3	2
65	Dayton - 2020 - Obi Toppin	-1.3	1	0	87.0	82.0	-6.0	2
66	Georgia Tech - 2004 - Jarrett Jack	-1.3	2	3	62.6	67.4	3.8	2
67	Purdue - 1969 - Rick Mount	-1.3	0	1	86.0	87.0	-2.0	2
68	Marquette - 1971 - Jim Chones	-1.4	1	1	68.0	69.0	3.5	2
69	Georgetown - 2007 - Roy Hibbert	-1.5	1	2	76.7	75.3	-1.7	2
70	Duke - 1986 - Johnny Dawkins	-1.8	0	1	106.0	108.0	-6.0	2
71	Kansas - 1957 - Wilt Chamberlain	-1.8	1	1	67.5	74.0	2.0	2
72	LSU - 1992 - Shaquille O'Neal	-2.0	0	1	85.0	88.0	-6.0	2
73	Marquette - 2003 - Dwyane Wade	-2.1	2	2	73.3	74.0	0.0	2
74	Marquette - 1977 - Butch Lee	-2.6	1	1	66.0	61.5	-5.0	3
75	Maryland - 1984 - Len Bias	-2.6	1	1	69.5	68.5	1.5	-10
76	San Diego St. - 2011 - Kawhi Leonard	-2.9	2	2	69.3	71.8	-0.3	2
77	Kansas St. - 2008 - Michael Beasley	-3.0	1	1	75.0	75.5	0.5	2
78	St. John's - 1985 - Chris Mullin	-3.0	0	1	75.0	76.0	0.0	2
79	South Carolina - 2017 - Sindarius Thornwell	-3.5	1	2	65.3	65.7	-2.0	2
80	Oklahoma St. - 2004 - John Lucas	-3.6	1	3	68.8	71.0	-1.5	2
81	Kentucky - 1948 - Alex Groza	-4.2	1	1	71.0	81.5	3.0	2
82	Indiana - 2002 - Jared Jeffries	-4.3	1	3	67.3	72.8	1.3	2
83	Oklahoma - 2016 - Buddy Hield	-4.9	1	3	60.3	67.3	1.8	2
84	DePaul - 1945 - George Mikan	-5.0	0	1	51.0	55.0	7.0	2
85	Holy Cross - 1950 - Bob Cousy	-5.0	1	1	88.0	89.5	-2.0	-9
86	Maryland - 2002 - Juan Dixon	-5.0	1	3	67.0	76.3	0.8	1
87	St. Joe's - 2004 - Jameer Nelson	-5.0	1	2	68.3	75.7	-1.0	1
88	UNLV - 1987 - Armen Gilliam	-5.0	0	1	64.0	82.0	-6.0	1
89	West Virginia - 2010 - Kevin Jones	-5.1	1	3	70.3	76.0	0.0	1
90	Iowa - 2002 - Reggie Evans	-5.2	1	2	71.0	75.3	1.7	1
91	UCLA - 2006 - Jordan Farmar	-5.5	2	3	66.0	72.4	0.4	1
92	Utah - 1998 - Andre Miller	-5.5	0	1	69.0	79.0	-4.0	1
93	Tennessee - 1977 - Bernard King	-5.6	1	1	76.0	83.0	2.0	1
94	Oklahoma St. - 1946 - Bob Kurland	-5.8	0	1	80.0	82.0	-10.0	1
95	Texas - 2003 - T.J. Ford	-5.8	1	2	68.7	76.3	-0.3	1
96	California - 1959 - Jack Grout	-6.0	0	1	69.0	71.0	-2.0	1
97	St. Bonaventure - 1970 - Bob Lanier	-6.0	0	1	64.0	74.0	-6.0	1
98	Georgia Tech - 1990 - Dennis Scott	-6.3	0	1	64.0	82.0	1.0	1
99	Seattle - 1958 - Elgin Baylor	-6.3	0	1	62.0	64.0	0.0	1
100	Virginia - 1981 - Ralph Sampson	-6.3	0	1	61.0	72.0	-3.0	1
101	Wichita St. - 2013 - Fred VanVleet	-6.5	1	2	64.3	71.3	1.7	1
102	Alabama - 1977 - Reggie King	-6.8	0	1	70.0	71.0	-3.0	1
103	Davidson - 2008 - Stephen Curry	-6.9	1	5	66.7	70.8	0.7	1
104	LSU - 2006 - Glen Davis	-7.0	1	2	66.3	75.0	-0.7	1
105	Notre Dame - 1989 - Orlando Woodridge	-7.0	0	1	68.0	74.0	-6.0	0
106	Marquette - 2011 - Jimmy Butler	-7.3	0	1	82.0	87.0	-1.0	0
107	South Carolina - 1973 - Mike Dunleavy	-8.0	0	1	66.0	72.0	6.0	0
108	Notre Dame - 1970 - Austin Carr	-8.2	1	2	67.0	77.5	-10.5	17
109	Indiana St. - 1979 - Larry Bird	-8.3	0	1	69.0	76.0	-3.0	-1
110	Kansas - 1988 - Danny Manning	-8.3	0	1	58.0	67.0	-4.0	-1
111	Auburn - 1984 - Charles Barkley	-8.4	1	1	71.5	77.0	-3.5	-1
112	La Salle - 1954 - Tom Gola	-8.8	0	1	67.0	76.0	-3.0	-1
113	West Virginia - 1959 - Jerry West	-8.8	0	1	68.0	69.0	-8.0	-1
114	Wyoming - 1943 - Ken Sailors	-8.8	0	1	60.0	73.0	1.0	-1
115	Brigham Young - 1981 - Danny Ainge	-9.0	0	1	67.0	77.0	0.0	-1
116	North Carolina - 1957 - Lennie Rosenbluth	-9.3	0	1	76.0	89.0	-1.0	-1
117	Navy - 1986 - David Robinson	-9.5	0	1	61.0	77.0	4.0	-1
118	Villanova - 1985 - Ed Pinckney	-9.5	0	1	65.0	72.0	-2.0	-1
119	Georgia - 1982 - Dominique Wilkins	-9.6	1	1	70.0	78.0	-1.0	-1
120	Kentucky - 1970 - Dan Issel	-10.0	0	1	116.0	138.0	-4.0	-1
121	George Mason - 2006 - Jai Lewis	-10.2	0	3	59.3	67.0	0.3	-1
122	Arizona St. - 1980 - Byron Scott	-10.5	0	1	64.0	79.0	2.0	-1
123	Arkansas - 1978 - Sidney Moncrief	-10.8	0	1	58.0	79.0	-2.0	-1
124	Wake Forest - 2005 - Chris Paul	-10.8	0	3	64.3	85.3	4.3	-1
125	Creighton - 2014 - Doug McDermott	-11.0	0	3	66.3	80.0	-1.3	-1
126	Creighton - 2020 - Ty-Shon Alexander	-11.5	0	1	72.0	106.0	8.0	0
127	Dayton - 1967 - Don May	-11.8	0	1	69.0	88.0	1.0	0
128	Louisville - 1980 - Darrell Griffith	-11.8	0	1	52.0	82.0	3.0	0
129	LSU - 1970 - Pete Maravich	-12.5	0	1	66.0	67.0	1.0	0
130	VCU - 2011 - Bradford Burgess	-13.5	0	3	60.3	71.3	1.0	0
131	Princeton - 1965 - Bill Bradley	-13.8	0	1	62.0	79.0	-3.0	0
132	Butler - 2010 - Gordon Hayward	-14.2	0	3	54.7	76.3	4.3	0
133	Loyola-Chicago - 2018 - Cameron Krutwig	-14.5	0	3	59.3	75.0	1.7	0
134	Miami FL - 1965 - Rick Berry	-15.3	0	1	104.0	108.0	-16.0	0
135	Niagara - 1970 - Calvin Murphy	-16.5	0	1	68.0	84.0	6.0	0

Kansas Overcomes Olajuwan's 9 blocks, 18 rebounds

 Hakeem Olajuwon set a game record with 9 blocked shots and added 18 rebounds in the greatest defensive performance we've had in the Value Add Basketball Game.

However, Paul Pierce's 1997 Kansas squad played defense of their own with 13 steals to win the turnover battle 22-10 and defeated the Houston 1983 Phi Slamma Jamma squad 64-59 to advance to our Final Four.

The key moment occured with 4:58 (7 possessions) left when Clyde Drexler hit a 3-pointer to pull Houston within 57-58, but then fouled out guarding Pierce at the other end.

Twice after that Kansas scored on plays with a 31 die roll on the two 6-sided dice which would have led to a steal by Drexler and fast break due to his highest possible 11-20 steal range, but his replacement Benny Anders' worst steal range (11-10) meant the best steal ranges in the game were Michael Young and Larry Micheaux (11-15) allowed Kansas to score.

Normally steals only occur on a roll of 11-16 in the defenders range, but a roll of 31 is only a steal if any defender is an 11-20 steal.

Houston did cut it to 60-59, and with 1:30 (3 possessions) to play and Olajuwan had his record 9th rejection on a roll of 32 (which like the 31 for steals is the universal block number for any block 11-30 on the court which Olajuwon is). However Pierce grabbed the offensive rebound and scored to make it 62-59 en route.to the 64-59 win that sent Kansas to our Final Four.

Developing - KS 97 vs Houston for last Final 4 spot vs. Duke 2001; DePaul 1980 vs MSU 2000 in other game

Developing - Kansas 1997 will face Phi Slama Jama Houston 1983 for last Final 4 spot vs. Duke 2001. We will add results when the game is played.

DePaul 1980 vs MSU 2000 will face off in the other game.

Michigan State's 2000 Big Ten MVP Peterson Destroys UNC

 Michigan State won all 2000 nine tournament games (Big Ten and NCAA) by at least 9 points, and they also blew out UNC's squad from two years earlier 84-66.

The last Big Ten national title winner featured conference MVP Morris Peterson, who even Vince Carter couldn't handle as he put up 30 points. On defense one of the best steals guys ever, Mateen Cleaves (steal 11-20) had four steals including 2 in a row with 10 minutes left.

We played the game right after Golden State won the NBA title.

Jay Williams, Battier and Boozer cool off Baylor 89-79

 After the tournament top seed UCLA 1967 was upset, the 2-seed Duke 2001 had to face the Baylor 2021 team that had destroyed their first two opponents.

Baylor's victims were both from 1981, as they ran over Notre Dame 91-68 and Indiana 82-64

 However Duke's Jay Williams handled Baylor's pressure and with 2:30 to go in the first half had the perfect play with a steal and 4-point play at the other end after being fouled and hitting a 3-pointer. That made it 35-29 Duke, and by halftime it was 42-31. Duke would lead by double digits the entire second half until a few baskets in the final two minutes.

Shane Battier matched Williams 23 points, while Carlos Boozer added 17 in the win.

246th game biggest shocker as Jabbar fouls out guarding Cummings

 The 246th Value Add Basketball Game we've played since inventing the game was the biggest upset.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 1967 UCLA team led 45-40 with 15:01 (25 possessions) left to play against 1980 DePaul when Terry Cummings drew a 5th foul on Jabbar (Lew Alcindor at the time).

With Jabbar out, rolls of 7 or 8 on the 8-sided die no longer goes to anyone, forcing a second die roll. By game rolls, in this case if the second roll is 6-8 the possession ends in a shot clock turnover.

DePaul's defense was already forcing turnovers and preventing UCLA from getting the ball inside - becoming the first great team we recall to have a double digit edge in turnovers forced (23-11).

DePaul scored on fast breaks on most of their 9 steals and Cummings had 3 traditional 3-point plays (he is an 85% free throw shooter as 1-17 is good and only 18-20 is a miss.

With Jabbar out DePaul won the last 15 minutes of the game 46-26 to advance to our Final 4 with an 86-71 shocker.

Like in real basketball results can be completely different from game to game such as this Big East triangle:

UConn 2004 dominated Villanova 2018 on the boards in a 73-56 blowout.

Louisville 2013 speed killed UConn 74-61.

Add those up and it would appear UConn was 31 points better than Nova, however when they played Nova won 77-73 and then in our first 96-team tournament Nova went much further than the other two and all the way to the Final 4.

Pictures of Player Cards for all Elite 8 Teams

The following are the Elite 8 teams of our third Value Add Basketball Game Tournament.

The first tournament was between our initial 96-teams, at which time we only allowed a maximum of one team per school per century. The All-Time Elite 8 of those 96 initial teams were Houston 1968, Indiana 1976, Michigan State 2009, North Carolina 1982, Texas Western (later UTEP) 1966, UCLA 1972, Villanova 2018 and Virginia 2019. In the final, Bill Walton's UCLA defeated Michael Jordan's UNC.

The second tournament we played was a 68-team tournament between the 2020 teams after Covid cancelled March Madness. The 2020 Elite 8 teams looked very realistic, with Baylor, Creighton, Dayton, Duke, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Oregon - though a couple of upsets in the Elite 8 led a hot shooting Creighton team past Duke for the title.

This third tournament is between 30 new teams we created last to add to the set to make 136 total all-time great teams (this does not include the 2020 teams, except we added Creighton for winning the 2020 tournament. However, it did include the 2021 Baylor national champions. For these eight we show the match-up, and then the cards of the two teams.

UCLA 1967 vs. DePaul 1980 - Because we only included one school team from one century in the first batch, we included Bill Walton's team  but did not include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - at the time Lew Alcindor - in the first set. They went into this 30-team tournament as the top seed but struggled a bit in their first game. They are now heavily favored against DePaul. 

Update: see details of the biggest shocker of our first 246 games as Terry Cummings drew a 5th foul on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 15 minutes to play to spark a 86-71 stunner.

North Carolina 1998 vs. Michigan State 2000 - Likewise you could not include the incredible UNC 1998 team in the first batch because we had to include Michael Jordan's 1982 team - which was runner up in the first tournament to Walton's UCLA. We could have another UNC vs. UCLA in the Final Four of this tournament if both win, but the 2000 Michigan State team was one of the most dominant in tournament history - winning all three Big Ten tournament games and all six March Madness games by at least 9 points. They were kept out of the first batch because Magic Johnson's Spartans had to be included, and technically 2000 is the last year of the past century, not part of the current century.

Update: Michigan State dominated 84-66 behind Big Ten MVP Morris Peterson. Click for details.

Duke 2001 vs. Baylor 2021 - This Duke should have been in the first batch but we honestly kind of lost 2001 and 2002 between the last century teams and the teams of the www.kennpom.com era. However, they are loaded. Baylor was the last team created, and they simply destroyed their first two opponents but we are waiting to see if they are really that good.

Update: click here for details on Duke blitzing Baylor 89-79.

Kansas 1997 vs. Houston 1983 - Another blue blood in our Elite 8 is Kansas, but they have no easy path as they match up against Phi Slamma Jamma from Houston, which is one of the teams that very likely would have won the tournament with the current double bonus rules. Back then you could foul forever to give a team like Houston one-and-ones instead of letting them run up and down the court and score - which is what Jimmy Valvano did to beat them in the national title.

Click here for details on Kansas overcoming Houston despite Hakeem Olajuwon's incredible 18 round, 9 blocked shot performance.

Flying Illini 1989 cards - fixed typo on star player

 A reader pointed out my sheet of teams had accidentally listed Orlando Woolridge with the Flying Illini 1989 squad. Thank you for the catch!

Woolridge's player card was in the correct spot with Notre Dame, it was just a typo in our game log and standings.

That great team alley-ooped their way to fast breaks all the way to the national semifinal, where they lost 83-81 to a Michigan team they had beaten twice. We changed the reference to Nick Anderson on the scoresheet, but it could have been any player on one of the most talented teams ever. Here are the starting 5.

Elite 8 Set: Michigan State 2000 Dominates (as always) Len Bias

People are more familiar with the Michigan State teams of Magic Johnson and Draymond Green, but the 2000 Spartans were not only the last Big Ten team to win the NCAA title - but very few teams in history have so dominated their tournament runs. In their last 9 games of the year to run through the Big Ten and NCAA - their closest win was by 9 points against Wisconsin.

In our tournament going up against one of the greatest front courts of all time - Adrian Branch, Len Bias and Ben Coleman or Maryland 1984 - they cruised to a 73-65 win to advance and play the 1998 UNC team in the Elite 8 - which is now set.

Morris Peterson led the way with 23 points, most importantly drawing Branch's fifth foul with 8:54 to go in the game on a 3-point shot, and then hitting all three free throws to make it 58-52 Spartans. With 2:07 to play Peterson hit another 3-pointer and then came up with a steal and scored at the other end to make it 73-64 - en route to the 73-65 win. Double digit scoring by the backcourt with Mateen Cleaves (12 points, 2 steals) and Charlie Bell (16,3) offset the combined domination around the basket by Bias and Coleman (combined 34 points and 21 rebounds to only 17,11 for the Spartans counterparts).

Here is the complete scoresheet for the game.

The log of all games is here.