After playing our 1957 Canisius vs. 1986 Cleveland State matchup to determine the final Sweet 16 spot, we decided to replace the one team that was not new—UCLA 2008—by playing off the two best remaining new teams from last year’s set of 10 new additions I made right after the season but we had forgotten to place. The winner of that play-in will take UCLA’s spot.
Below are the matchups for those games and several others, including each team’s star player, conference, and the expected spread (which is simply one team’s rating minus the other team’s rating). The Value ratings of the player cards add up to numbers similar to team rankings at www.kenpom.com, but a bit different with more credit for good post season showings and a few other factors.
Auburn 2025 — Johni Broome — SEC
by 7 over
Arizona 2025 — Caleb Love — Big 12
When that game is complete—along with Cleveland State vs. Canisius—we will have played 292 of our 300 all-time Value Add Basketball teams. That will leave only the other eight new teams we created at the end of last season. Those represent three SEC teams overdue for inclusion after perhaps the greatest season ever by a conference, plus a few schools and conferences we simply wanted represented in the game.
Mississippi 2025 — Sean Pedulla — SEC
by 36 over
Alabama State 2025 — Amarr Knox — SWAC
Arkansas 2025 — Adou Thiero — SEC
by 32 over
Montana 2025 — Joe Pridgen — Big Sky
Vanderbilt 2025 — Jason Edwards — SEC
by 18 over
Mount St. Mary’s 2025 — Dola Adebayo — MAAC
High Point 2025 — Kimani Hamilton — Big South
by 1 over
Robert Morris 2025 — Amarion Dickerson — Horizon League
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