Top 25 All-Time Men's and Women's Teams in Value Add Game

With the college basketball season in the rearview mirror, here is the update on the Top 25 men's and Top 25 women's teams in the Value Add Basketball Game through games we've played so far. If you click on the links above, you will see our record of every game we have played on one google sheet, and another google sheet ranking all 234 men's teams and 56 women's teams beyond just the top 25 listed below. 

The "pre" to the left of each men's and women's team indicates where we ranked the team based purely on how good their playing cards are.

The "rnk" to the left of that figure is the team's ranking updated based on games we play.

 

Rnk	Pre	Men's Top 25	Year		Rnk	Pre	Women's Top 25	Yr
1	1	UCLA	1972		1	1	Tennessee	1998
2	11	Ohio St.	1960		2	1	Connecticut	2002
3	5	Duke	2001		3	6	Louisiana Tech	1982
4	20	Kansas	1997		4	5	Tennessee	2007
5	10	Indiana	1976		5	1	Connecticut	2016
6	9	Connecticut	2023		6	7	Connecticut	1995
7	63	Kansas	2008		7	8	South Carolina	2024
8	16	Houston	1968		8	15	Notre Dame	2018
9	15	North Carolina	2005		9	4	Connecticut	2010
10	4	Kentucky	1996		10	13	USC	1983
11	29	Arkansas	1994		11	10	Stanford	2021
12	13	North Carolina	1982		12	11	Baylor	2012
13	28	San Francisco	1956		13	19	Iowa	2024
14	62	Baylor	2021		14	9	Baylor	2019
15	27	Villanova	2018		15	12	Texas A&M	2011
16	21	Connecticut	1996		16	20	Notre Dame	2001
17	26	Gonzaga	2017		17	21	Virginia	1991
18	61	Connecticut	2004		18	16	Oregon	2019
19	8	Duke	1992		19	17	Mississippi State	2018
20	41	Louisville	2013		20	22	Maryland	2006
21	7	Cincinnati	1960		21	23	Ohio State	1993
22	83	Houston	2021		22	24	LSU	2023
23	2	Kentucky	2012		23	18	Old Dominion	1980
24	40	Virginia	2019		24	14	South Carolina	2017
25	14	North Carolina St.	1974		25	30	Duke	2006
37	3	UCLA	1967		49	25	Long Beach State	1987
38	6	UNLV	1991
61	12	Florida	2006
72	17	North Carolina	1998
46	18	Michigan	1989
32	19	Michigan	1993
87	22	Kansas	1957
29	23	Purdue	2024
28	24	Michigan St.	1979
27	25	Houston	1983

Note UConn has 7 teams between the men and women - more than twice any other school - so Danny Hurley appears to be right about this being UConn's century.

The formula we use to update from our "pre" rating  formula is similar to the  www.kenpom.com except we give an extra 5 points for winning or subtract 5 points for losing.

Note we do not have this year's UConn national champs since we don't let a school have more than one team every five years or a

So, and their 2023 champs are No. 6 all-time using our ranking system. If we did not space out teams from one school, then the Tennessee and UConn women would have many more teams, as would the UCLA men.

The biggest women's upset to date was Notre Dame 2018 upsetting Maya Moore and UConn 2016. As you can see, that UConn team dropped from from a 3-way tie for No. 1 to 5th place, while Notre Dame improved from 15th place to 8th place. We track all games and list the ratings with additional information (such as conference rank) for all 56 women's teams here. Long Beach State is the 25th best team based on their player cards, but before UConn lost to Notre Dame they defeated Long Beach State 88-53, dropping Long Beach State from 25th to 49th.

The "Rnk' (Rank) number is where we ranked the team right now 

Women's Greatest 25 Teams in VABG (see men below)

 

Rnk	Pre	School	Yr	W	L	Score	Allow	Player(s)
1	1	Tennessee	1998	4	0	76.3	64.0	Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw
2	1	Connecticut	2002	1	0	75.0	46.0	Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi
3	6	Louisiana Tech	1982	3	1	76.0	67.5	Pam Kelly
4	5	Tennessee	2007	0	0			Candace Parker
5	1	Connecticut	2016	1	1	80.0	64.5	Maya Moore
6	7	Connecticut	1995	0	0			Nykesha Sales, Rebecca Lobo
7	8	South Carolina	2024	0	0			Kamilla Cardoso
8	15	Notre Dame	2018	3	1	76.3	72.8	Arike Ogunbowales
9	4	Connecticut	2010	2	1	73.3	73.3	Breanna Stewart
10	13	USC	1983	2	1	72.0	63.3	Cheryl Miller
11	10	Stanford	2021	1	1	79.0	72.5	Kiana Williams
12	11	Baylor	2012	1	1	73.5	77.0	Kalani Brown
13	19	Iowa	2024	1	0	84.0	64.0	Caitlin Clark
14	9	Baylor	2019	1	1	74.0	73.0	Brittney Griner
15	12	Texas A&M	2011	0	1	69.0	76.0	Danielle Adams
16	20	Notre Dame	2001	0	0			Ruth Riley
17	21	Virginia	1991	0	0			Dawn Staley
18	16	Oregon	2019	0	1	81.0	84.0	Sabrina Ionescu
19	17	Mississippi State	2018	0	1	58.0	74.0	Victoria Vivans
20	22	Maryland	2006	0	0			Crystal Langhorne
21	23	Ohio State	1993	0	0			Katie Smith
22	24	LSU	2023	0	0			Angel Reese
23	18	Old Dominion	1980	0	1	55.0	80.0	Nancy Lieberman
24	14	South Carolina	2017	1	1	69.0	73.5	A'ja Wilson
25	30	Duke	2006	0	1	66.0	75.0	Alison Bales
49	25	Long Beach State	1987	0	1	53.0	98.0	Cindy Brown

Men's Greatest 25 Teams in VABG

We have a lot more games in with the men, as the stats were available when we invented it in 2019, but the stats have just become available for many of the great women.

The biggest upset in this game was the 1980 DePaul team stunning Kareem and UCLA, which has dropped from No. 3 to No. 37 of the 234 teams. 

Rnk	Pre	School	Year	W	L	Score	Allow	Player(s)
1	1	UCLA	1972	6	0	72.0	62.0	Bill Walton #64
2	11	Ohio St.	1960	2	1	84.0	76.3	Jerry Lucas #72, John Havlicek #29
3	5	Duke	2001	3	1	78.3	72.5	Shane Battier
4	20	Kansas	1997	5	0	76.8	62.4	Paul Pierce #50
5	10	Indiana	1976	3	1	71.3	59.8	Scott May
6	9	Connecticut	2023	2	0	78.5	58.0	Adama Sanogo
7	63	Kansas	2008	5	1	74.7	56.0	Mario Chalmers
8	16	Houston	1968	3	1	73.0	63.8	Elvin Hayes #41
9	15	North Carolina	2005	3	2	72.2	64.4	Sean May
10	4	Kentucky	1996	2	1	72.0	69.3	Antoine Walker
11	29	Arkansas	1994	1	2	75.3	70.3	Corliss Williamson
12	13	North Carolina	1982	5	1	68.8	65.0	Michael Jordan #1, James Worthy #59
13	28	San Francisco	1956	3	1	73.0	63.5	Bill Russell #4
14	62	Baylor	2021	2	2	86.0	78.5	Jared Butler
15	27	Villanova	2018	7	2	79.4	70.3	Mikal Bridges
16	21	Connecticut	1996	1	0	90.0	68.0	Ray Allen #52
17	26	Gonzaga	2017	3	3	69.8	63.0	Nigel Williams-Goss
18	61	Connecticut	2004	5	2	74.7	66.0	Ben Gordon
19	8	Duke	1992	1	2	73.7	70.3	Christian Laettner
20	41	Louisville	2013	2	1	74.0	66.3	Russ Smith
21	7	Cincinnati	1960	1	2	72.3	78.0	Oscar Robertson #12
22	83	Houston	2021	1	0	102.0	50.0	Quentin Grimes
23	2	Kentucky	2012	4	2	72.2	65.7	Anthony Davis #53
24	40	Virginia	2019	4	1	72.6	65.4	Kyle Guy
25	14	North Carolina St.	1974	2	1	72.0	72.7	David Thompson
27	25	Houston	1983	2	1	70.7	65.0	Hakeem Olajuwon #11, Clyde Drexler #43
28	24	Michigan St.	1979	2	1	70.3	62.7	Magic Johnson #5
29	23	Purdue	2024	1	0	74.0	53.0	Zach Edey
32	19	Michigan	1993	1	0	62.0	55.0	Chris Webber #65
37	3	UCLA	1967	2	1	83.0	87.0	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3
38	6	UNLV	1991	1	2	72.7	76.3	Larry Johnson
46	18	Michigan	1989	0	2	70.5	78.5	Glen Rice
61	12	Florida	2006	5	3	74.4	72.0	Joakim Noah
72	17	North Carolina	1998	2	1	80.7	83.7	Vince Carter
87	22	Kansas	1957	3	2	67.8	71.4	Wilt Chamberlain #6