Calipari vs. Cornbread and Top Performances Through 250 Games

Our next game features Cedric Maxwell (Cornbread) and his 1977 Final Four Charlotte on page 20 from our List A of teams and John Calipari's  1996 Final Four Massachusetts team on Page 24 of our List D teams. We preview the cards and game below, and then list the top offenses, defenses and other rankings of teams through 250 Value Add Basketball Games below that.

While all 200 teams are set and tested after playing 250 games since inventing Value Add Basketball Game five years ago, we mentioned that while the scoresheets start with each player having 2 points out the outset and a 20-20 tie, you can slightly tweak before starting the game. Our suggestion is that if any of the reserves have fewer than a 2 point per game average, that you start them at zero and add a little to some of the starters. Below is an example starting box score, and then notes I've added on the cards, for how you might do this for both Charlotte and UMass.

The two are both similar in that they each have two bench players who averaged below 2 points per game, so we took away their beginning of game 2-pointer. That lowers the total points for the teams to 16 instead of 20, so we need to add 4 points to the starters totals. What makes most sense to us is added a second 2-point shot to each of the centers - since they were the most dominant player on each of their teams - so Cornbread Maxwell and Marcus Camby both get an extra buckets to start with four points. Then we take the two next scorers who might hit an occasional 3-pointers, and change their 2-pointer to a 3-pointer. As long as the total is 20 points you can make these common sense examples. Remember each players "Stamina" number is the number of possessions they would typically play MINUS 11 since we are assuming each player scored due to playing 11 out of 22 possessions before our first roll to play out the final 44 possessions of the game.

Below that, we show you the top 5 team through our first 250 games in points scored, wins, points allowed, toughest schedule, etc.

	Starting totals w/ 44 pos	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Season Stats
	Bottom must add up to	20	?	?	0	0	13	2	1	10
Pos	Charlotte 1977	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts
1-PG	Melvin Watkins	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'3, 9.6 ppg
2-SG	Chad Kinch	3	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'4, 15.4 ppg, NBA
3-SF	Kevin King	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'7, 11.1 ppg
4-PF	Lew Massey	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'6, 19.7 ppg
5-C	Cedric Maxwell	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	6'8, 22.3 ppg, NBA
1-PG	Jeff Gruber	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2, 5.6 ppg
2-SG	Lee Whitfield	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2, 0.6 ppg
3-SF	Mike Hester	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7, 3.1 ppg
4-PF	Ken Angel	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8, 1.1 ppg
5-C	Phil Scott	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8, 3.1 ppg
	3 turnovers	20	2	7	0	0	13	2	1	10
Pos	Massachusetts 1996	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts
1-PG	Edgar Padilla	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	8.9 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 6.7 Ast
2-SG	Carmelo Travieso	3	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	12.6 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast
3-SF	Donta Bright	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	14.5 Pts, 5.8 Reb, 1.7 Ast
4-PF	Dana Dingle	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	10.1 Pts, 7.4 Reb, 1.5 Ast
5-C	Marcus Camby	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	20.5 Pts, 8.2 Reb, 1.8 Ast-NBA
1-PG	Charlton Clarke	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.4 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.7 Ast
2-SG	Tyrone Weeks	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5.8 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 0.4 Ast
3-SF	Rigoberto Nunez	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.5 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.3 Ast
4-PF	Inus Norville	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.4 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 0.0 Ast
5-C	Ted Cottrell	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.9 Pts, 0.9 Reb, 0.0 Ast
	3 turnovers	20	2	7	0	0	13	2	1	10

Most Wins

We developed the 21st Century teams first and were playing teams within conferences at first before adding teams from the 1900s. Once we figured out how to develop the cards for teams before www.kenpom.com, UCLA went 6-0 to win the title. However, Auburn's 2019 team has already played several SEC games before Bill Walton's UCLA team was even invented - so they have the most wins at 8-1 even though they rank 31st and UCLA is No. 1 at 6-0.

 

Result #	Card#	Most Wins	Year	Star	W	L	Off	Def	SoS
31	92	Auburn	2019	Chuma Okeke	8	1	71.0	65.3	-2.6
13	26	Villanova	2018	Mikal Bridges	7	2	79.4	70.3	0.1
59	101	Michigan St.	2009	Draymond Green	6	3	71.3	71.9	1.6
1	1	UCLA	1972	Bill Walton	6	0	72.0	62.0	-0.5
15	50	Connecticut	2004	Ben Gordon	5	2	74.7	66.0	0.7
24	29	Duke	2010	Jon Scheyer	5	2	74.0	66.7	0.1
57	12	Florida	2006	Joakim Noah	5	3	74.4	72.0	-4.6
2	17	Kansas	1997	Paul Pierce	5	0	76.8	62.4	-1.0
8	53	Kansas	2008	Mario Chalmers	5	1	74.7	56.0	-0.7
7	13	North Carolina	1982	Michael Jordan	5	1	68.8	65.0	4.0

Best Offenses 

Loyola Marymount played by far at the fastest pace of any team in the game, with 26 extra possessions, meaning you need two scoresheets to play those possessions starting from 20-20 at that point. Loyola's all offense no defense resulted in a 138-116 win - but still leaving Kentucky with the No. 1 offensive average for one game. Loyola is No. 2 after playing again. The most impressive of course is Houston, which is 5th in average points and 1st in average points allowed. As you can see, Kentucky is last in defense having had to play Loyola. 

 

Result #	Card#	Best Offense	Year	Star	W	L	Off	Rnk	Def	Rnk
177	124	Kentucky	1970	Dan Issel	0	1	116.0	1	138.0	200
52	100	Loyola Marymount	1990	Bo Kimble	1	2	112.3	2	108.3	199
92	51	Duke	1986	Johnny Dawkins	0	1	106.0	3	108.0	197
186	175	Miami	1965	Rick Berry	0	1	104.0	4	108.0	198
49	65	Houston	2021	Quentin Grimes	1	0	102.0	5	50.0	1
132	133	Washington	2006	Brandon Roy	0	1	98.0	6	99.0	194
40	117	Charlotte	1977	Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell	1	0	95.0	7	68.0	43
187	193	Stephen f austin	2016	Thomas Walkup	0	1	94.0	8	95.0	192
35	74	Tulsa	2000	David Shelton	1	0	92.0	9	64.0	19
37	105	Rutgers	1976	Phil Sellers	2	0	90.5	10	75.5	110

Best Defense - fewest points allowed

UConn 2023 just had the best defensive performance in the game, holding St. Peter's 2022 in the 30s to pull their season average down to 58 points per game.
 

Result #	Card#	Not in Current Tour	Year	Star	W	L	Off	Rnk	Def	Rnk
49	65	Houston	2021	Quentin Grimes	1	0	102.0	5	50.0	1
29	83	New Mexico St.	1970	Jimmy Collins	1	0	77.0	59	54.0	2
122	157	DePaul	1945	George Mikan	0	1	51.0	198	55.0	3
8	53	Kansas	2008	Mario Chalmers	5	1	74.7	78	56.0	4
14	7	Connecticut	2023	Adama Sanogo	2	0	78.5	49	58.0	5
5	9	Indiana	1976	Scott May	3	1	71.3	110	59.8	6
34	71	Temple	1958	Guy Rodgers	1	0	72.0	105	60.0	7
86	81	Marquette	1977	Butch Lee	1	1	66.0	159	61.5	8
1	1	UCLA	1972	Bill Walton	6	0	72.0	106	62.0	9
84	59	Pittsburgh	2009	DeJuan Blair	1	3	60.0	187	62.3	10

Toughest schedule

The scoring averages are not adjusted for opponents' faced. Here are the 10 toughest schedules faced so far. Big Big O - Oscar Robertson, and his Cincinnati 1960 team has played only top 20 teams. They lost to the eventual champs UCLA 1972 and 4th ranked intra state foe Ohio State in close games, then beat 19th ranked Gonzaga 2017.

Meanwhile Arkansas lost two tight games against the great Kentucky 2006 and Auburn 2019 - then won their only out of conference foe in UConn 1999.

You can see why these teams rank 27th and 12th despite being 1-2 in our games.

 

Result #	Card#	Not in Current Tour	Year	Star	W	L	Off	Def	SoS
27	6	Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	1	2	72.3	78.0	8.3
12	20	Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	1	2	75.3	70.3	8.0
185	145	Creighton	2020	Ty-Shon Alexander	0	1	72.0	106.0	8.0
143	183	Virginia Tech	1986	Dell Curry	0	1	81.0	87.0	7.4
122	157	DePaul	1945	George Mikan	0	1	51.0	55.0	7.0
53	111	UTEP (Texas Western)	1966	Bobby Joe Hill	2	1	63.7	66.0	6.7
39	112	Wake Forest	1996	Tim Duncan	2	1	66.0	64.7	6.0
116	140	South Carolina	1973	Mike Dunleavy	0	1	66.0	72.0	6.0
196	198	Niagara	1970	Calvin Murphy	0	1	68.0	84.0	6.0
149	138	Mississippi	2001	Justin Reed	0	1	56.0	67.0	5.0
157	189	Mississippi St.	2005	Lawrence Roberts	0	1	69.0	71.0	5.0
100	28	Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	0	2	60.5	73.0	5.0

Top 2 Teams in Each Conference Based on 2024-25 Realignment

Finally we ranked teams by their 2025 conference. We grouped all the teams whose conference does not have at least 5 great teams in the game into "Other," with New Mexico State moving up to 29th with a big blow out in our current tournament and the historic Texas Western team that stunned Kentucky in the first battle of an all-black line-up to start a title game - fitting against an all-white Kentucky team under Adolph Rupp.

 

Result #	Card#	Not in Current Tour	Year	Star	W	L	SoS	Conf
76	35	Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	0	1	-2.0	A10
85	54	Massachusetts	1996	Marcus Camby	1	0	-15.0	A10
3	4	Duke	2001	Shane Battier	3	1	4.8	ACC
7	13	North Carolina	1982	Michael Jordan	5	1	4.0	ACC
34	71	Temple	1958	Guy Rodgers	1	0	-8.0	Amer
35	74	Tulsa	2000	David Shelton	1	0	-9.0	Amer
1	1	UCLA	1972	Bill Walton	6	0	-0.5	B10
4	10	Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	2	1	4.7	B10
2	17	Kansas	1997	Paul Pierce	5	0	-1.0	B12
6	14	Houston	1968	Elvin Hayes	3	1	1.3	B12
13	26	Villanova	2018	Mikal Bridges	7	2	0.1	BE
14	7	Connecticut	2023	Adama Sanogo	2	0	-11.0	BE
29	83	New Mexico St.	1970	Jimmy Collins	1	0	-11.0	Low
53	111	UTEP (Texas Western)	1966	Bobby Joe Hill	2	1	6.7	Low
43	11	UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	1	2	0.7	P12/MWC
44	56	Oregon St.	1982	A.C. Green	1	0	-12.0	P12/MWC
9	5	Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	2	1	3.3	SEC
12	20	Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	1	2	8.0	SEC
10	25	San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	3	1	1.0	WCC
19	21	Gonzaga	2017	Nigel Williams-Goss	3	3	3.0	WCC