At the beginning of March Madness we provided the numbers for 16 new All-Time Great college basketball games for the Value Add Basketball Game. We added some more teams as the tournament played out, and have now updated the instructions - and we also broke the teams into four documents because we found it made it easier to open and print. Here are the new links to team broken into alphabetical order - 42 teams in each link.
List A - Alabama 1977 to Georgia Tech 2004
Here are our final choices for teams to add in addition to those added a couple of weeks ago, mainly form this tournament but a few others to round out the teams.
Arkansas 2022 - back-to-back great teams, but went a little further last year so went with that roster.
Connecticut 2023 - dominant again, including destroying Arkansas in the Sweet 16 by 23 points.
Creighton 2023 - some great teams, but their first Elite 8.
Duke 2015 - we had not added teams the last two years, including Coach Ks retirement, but now that he was retired thought we should include his last national champs. Based on the player cards, this Duke team debuts as the 14th greatest team in the game in our all-time rankings.
Duke 2022 - Likewise, Coach K's final team did go Final Four - so one to remember him by. Plus we have UNC 2022 below that ended his career - so if you want a rematch.
Gonzaga 2023 - The 2017 National Runner-Up is already in the game, but with such a huge win over UCLA we are giving them another team.
Kansas 2022 - We added another national champion team from Kansas, as two other Kansas champs ranked as the 2nd and 3rd place team all-time behind only Bill Walton's UCLA.
Kansas State 2023 - The dramatic win against Michigan State to finally make the Elite 8, in a year Kansas did not make it, gives us their first team since Michael Beasley in 2008.
Marquette 1955 - Yes, I'm a Marquette grad so have a couple of extra MU teams, and thought we should remember the Elite 8 before Al McGuire's tenure.
Marquette 1994 - For Marquette this was an island in a very dry spell of the 1980s and 1990s - except for this season when shock blocker phenom Jim McIlvaine let a Sweet 16 run as an island of success.
Miami FL 2023 - Had just added their great 2013 team, when they stunned Houston this year to go Final 8.
San Diego State 2023 - We were already considering the team but the upset of Alabama locked it up.
SMU 2017 -
Tennessee 2023 - This team was 3-0 against eventual Sweet 16 teams during the season (only Marquette was better at 4-1) before losing in the Sweet 16 themselves, but considering a tough injury this may have been the best team in the SEC at full-strength and the conferences best shot at a title.
Texas 2023 - Entering the Elite 8, this has been the best team in the tournament.
Xavier 2023 - Actually went back and forth on adding this team or the Xavier 2008, which did go one step further to the Elite 8. However, the fact that they went this far with perhaps their best player in Freemantle out the last month tipped me to them. Particularly since both teams finished 15th in kenpom, so at full strength they were better.
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