Mullins shot for UConn best ever

 Yes it was the greatest end of game ever.

After 3 Decades of my ACC Fans On Top; My Big East Has a Chance Again

 So these ACC comparisons have gotten me in trouble since as a grade schooler in the heart of ACC country and decided I liked the Marquette coach Al McGuire and was pulling for them against the ACC champ UNC for the 1977 title. That carried over when I went to Marquette and then they joined the Big East.

So I'm quick to point out when the Big East has the edge on the ACC, fully acknowledging that the ACC over history has been the greatest basketball conference. But the Big East has had the edge the last several years, as pointed out in my little graphic of tournament wins per conference team over the past several years. The ACC was back on top by far form 2015-2017, but has slipped behind since then. We will see what happens in the future but I have to grab my moments.

But since 90% of my classmates and friends are ACC fans I fully acknowledge they dominated for three decades and just happy to have a chance for my alma Marquette’s conference the Big East to have a chance again to be the best for the first time since the 1980s 😊. The best by decade:

1970s Pac--8

1980s Big East

1990s ACC

2000s ACC

2010s ACC

2020s Big East has a chance again :-)

Hottest 20 Teams in Last Week of Regular Season

 

See the rest of this article from this CBS 247 site, outlining details on the 20 best teams this past week.

 

Best Week	Team	Star for the Week
1	Duke	Carlos Boozer
2	UCLA	Donovan Dent
3	St. Mary's	Mikey Lewis
4	Arizona	Tobe Awaka
4	Florida	Thomas Haugh
4	Wisconsin	John Blackwell
7	Georgia	Kanon Catchings
8	Marquette	Nigel James Jr
8	Michigan	Yaxel Lendeborg
10	TCU	Xavier Edmonds
11	Arkansas	Darius Acuff
11	Oklahoma	Xzayvier Brown
13	Louisville	Ryan Conwell
13	Tennessee	Amari Evans
15	Houston	Chase McCarty
15	Texas A&M	Rashaun Agee
17	Villanova	Tyler Perkins
17	Boise State	Drew Fielder
19	Illinois	David Mirkovic
20	Alabama	Aden Holloway

4 Youngest Teams: Marquette, Penn State, Colorado, Arkansas

Read this piece on John Dodds' CBS247 Sports blog spelling out the youngest power conference teams in the country.

4 Youngest Power Conference Teams:

Penn State (18.85 years old)

Colorado (18.93)

Arkansas (19.07) 

Marquette (19.29)

As we get prepared to report from Madison Square Garden and the Big East Tournament Wednesday, the headline of this one was Pudner: Marquette's win over Providence was impressive/ analytics say MU could have beaten many teams on Wed.

Only Duke or Michigan Would Have Beaten Marquette on Wednesday. MU's average age in 19.29 yrs old, one of the youngest teams in The Big East.

Only Duke or Michigan Would Have Beaten Marquette on Wednesday.  A calculation of Marquette's Net rating if it were based only on Wednesday's incredible performance comes out to +38. That means their play that night would project to a 38-point win against an average Division I team.

Read the rest of the story at Dodds on sports, and another story on the monster outing in the game by two freshman guards.

Marquette's Fr. Guards James & Stevens combine for 41pts/11Rebs/6STs in 78 to 56 blowout win over Providence

All-Time NIT Final Four - Dartmouth '44 vs Detroit Mercy '60 and UNC Wilmington '03 vs N. Iowa 2015

Having settled our two big tournaments with 1976 Indiana claiming the all-time title and 1950 City College of New York claiming the title of newly created teams - we go the the Mid-Majors or a Final Four of Champions of the Non-Power Conferences.

The All-Time NIT Final Four features, and we did update the Dartmouth starting line-up of all future NBA players and also corrected the UNC Wilmington team to show it was actually the 2017 team rather than 2003 team - both of whom almost pulled off massive NCAA upsets against ACC teams.  All teams are now current in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Dartmouth '44 and friends is the one team that includes a compilation of players including two of the greatest coaches of all-time in Dick and Al McGuire - and Dick actually did play on the team but we added his brother and picked players we could find enough stats on from throughout a few season vs Detroit Mercy '60 and one of the greatest players of all time Dave DeBusschere.

While he is one of the 75 greatest players of all time, but one of the greatest cards in the game is Devontae Cacok - who hit 80% of his field goals that year and makes a shot on a 1-13, if fouled on 14-17, and only misses on 18-20.

UNC Wilmington '03 came one second away from stunning defending national champions Maryland despite only making seven 2-pointers and leading until a last second Maryland heave avoided upset will play, however we had mislabeled and actually choice UNC Wilmington '17 with fugure NBA player Devontae Cacok for the team - which led UVa by 15 points in the game but lost in the closing minutes - they will go up against against N. Iowa 2015 which featured Seth Tuttle - hailed by many analytics including our Value Add Basketball Rankings at the time as one of the top 10 players in the country.

Dartmouth '44	Detroit Mercy 1960	N. Iowa 2015	UNC Wilmington 2017
Dick McGuire nba	Ray Albee 14.4 ppg	Deon Mitchell	Denzel Ingram 14.6 ppg
George Munroe nba,AA,82% FT	Larry Hughes 11.7 ppg, 8.1 Reb	Matt Bohannon	Ambrose Mosley
Al McGuire nba St. Johns	George Heger	Jeremy Morgan	Chris Flemmings 15.8 ppg
Gus Broberg aa, 80% FT	Dave DeBusschere 25.6 ppg, 20.0 reb, nba	Marvin Singleton	C.J. Bryce 17.4 ppg
Audie Brindley nba	Charlie North 19.8 Pts, 14.2 Reb	Seth Tuttle AA,15.3 ppg, 6.9 reb	Devontae Cacok nba
Ed Leede	Tom Villemure	Wes Washpun	Jordon Talley
Lionel Baxter Marine	Frank Chickowski	Wyatt Lohaus	JaQuel Richmond
Thomas Killick Marine	Bob Wright	Paul Jesperson	Jaylen Fornes
Joseph Vancisin	John Parker	Nate Buss	Marcus Bryan
Bob Gale	Dick Dylus	Bennett Koch	Chuck Ogbodo

Here are the cards:

1950 CCNY Only Team to Ever Win NIT, NCAA AND Value Add Basketball Game Tournament

The 1950 team from City College of New York was already the only squad ever to win both the NIT and the NCAA Tournament in the same season. Now they’ve added another unique distinction: they are the only team to complete that historic double and win a Value Add Basketball Game Tournament — one of 32 new teams added to the game this season.

Their grind-it-out, 1950-style formula — suffocating defense and total rebounding control — carried them through a string of tight tournament games. Center Ed Roman led the title effort with 14 points and 15 rebounds, helping CCNY post a dominant 52–41 advantage on the glass in a 62–54 championship win.

With 2:44 remaining, it looked like another one-possession defensive nail-biter, with CCNY clinging to a 56–54 lead and on pace for a fourth straight one-basket victory. But they closed strong, scoring the final three baskets against Jim Valvano’s Cinderella 1983 NC State team to secure the 62–54 title win.

Simply put, this was the best defense of any of the 300 teams featured in the game so far. Their tournament path showed it at every stop:

• In their debut, they held Oral Roberts to just 45 points in an 80–45 rout.

• In Round 2, they held one of the tournament’s elite offenses — 1986 Cleveland State — 25 points below its average to escape with a 78–75 win.

• In the Elite Eight, they held Long Beach State 15 points under its average in another narrow 69–67 victory.

• The semifinal felt like the true title game between the top two pre-1960 teams. CCNY held Long Island University 30 points below its average to survive another defensive struggle, 57–55.

• Finally, in the championship, they held Valvano’s 1983 NC State team 21 points under its average in the 62–54 title game.

Title Roster

Starters
PG — Alvin Roth
SG — Floyd Layne
SG — Ed Warner
PF — Irwin Dambrot
C — Ed Roman

Bench
PG — Meyer Wittlin
SG — Ronnie Nadell
SG — Herb Cohen
PF — Joe Galiber
C — Norman Mager

Dambrot was selected as the No. 7 pick in the NBA draft, but chose dentistry over the NBA, and went to Columbia to complete his academic work. His nephew coached LeBron James in high school.

#28 CCNY 1950 Beats #15 LIU, 57-55, to Face Valvano's NC State For New Team Title

CCNY led for only the last 16 seconds of this Final Four game of our newly created teams this year in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Ed Warner hit a game-winning shot in the closing minutes to lead our all-time #28 great team the 1950 City College of New York past #15 great all-time 1939 Long Island University. The win puts the 1950 CCNY team that was the only in history to win both the NIT and NCAA- back when they were considered equal, into our title game of new teams against the 1983 NC State national champs.

Long Island built a double digit lead of 42-31 in a game of two of our oldest teams in the game, from an era when scores were much lower amid scrappy play that led to very tough defense and much lower shooting and free throw percentages.

But CCNY fought back behind 25 rebounds between their two big men Irwin Dambrot and Ed Roman to git them a strong 49-38 rebounding edge and helping them draw 22 fouls to only 14 drawn by Long Island. The first player to draw huge crowds to Madison Square Garden, Irv Torgoff - who led LIU to back-to-back titles, led the way but was one of three LIU players with four fouls each trying not to foul out.

CCNY finally tied the game 55-55 when Ed roman grabbed an offensive rebound with 1:30 to play and kicked it out to Warner who drained the shot to tie the game. Back in 1950 and before free throw shooting as well as shots were made at a much lower percentage, and despite all the fouls drawn CCNY hit only 13 of 26 free throws for 50% to still be in the tie. 

Warner's game-winner still allowed one last roll by Long Island and got the ball to their star Torgoff who led the game with 17 points, but a 53 was in the STOP range for the game, where LIU automatically misses and the rebound goes straight to his defender, in this case Warner, to end the game with the 57-55 win.
 

Pos	CCNY 1950	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Stats
1-PG	Alvin Roth	10	1	1	5	8	5	3	0	2	6'3, 6.4 Pts
2-SG	Floyd Layne	5	0	2	1	2	3	4	4	2	6'3, 6.9 Pts
3-SG	Ed Warner	12	1	3	3	6	9	2	1	2	6'2, 14.8 Pts
4-PF	Irwin Dambrot	5	0	2	1	2	12	1	0	1	6'4, 10.2 Pts
5-C	Ed Roman	9	0	4	1	2	13	1	1	1	6'6, 16.4 Pts
Pos		Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Stats
1-PG	Meyer Wittlin	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'10, 1.7 Pts
2-SG	Ronnie Nadell	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'11, 2.5 Pts
3-SG	Herb Cohen	6	0	2	2	6	1	0	0	1	6'1, 5.4 Pts
4-PF	Joe Galiber	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	1	2	6'4, 1.4 Pts
5-C	Norman Mager	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'5, 3.6 Pts
	11 Turnovers	57	2	19	13	26	49	11	7	14
Pos	Long Island 1939	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Stats
1-PG	Oscar Shechtman	5	1	1	0	2	2	1	1	4	11.0 ppg
2-SG	Dan Kaplowitz	3	0	1	1	2	3	2	1	2	4.0 ppg
3-SG	Irv Torgoff	17	1	6	2	2	8	2	0	4	6.0 ppg, 6'2
4-PF	John Bromberg	6	0	3	0	0	4	0	2	2	12.0 ppg
5-C	Arthur Hillhouse	4	0	2	0	0	12	3	4	2	6.0 ppg
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Stats
1-PG	Si Lobello	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	8.0 ppg
2-SG	Myron Sewitch	8	0	4	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.0 ppg
3-SG	Irving Zeitlin	4	0	2	0	0	4	0	0	4	2.0 ppg
4-PF	Joe Shelly	4	0	1	2	2	1	0	1	1	1.0 ppg
5-C	Butch Schwartz	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	1.0 ppg
	16 Turnovers	55	2	22	5	8	38	8	9	22

Valvano's NC State Champs Advance to Final 69-62 Over 1990 Ball State

In this blurry TV shot (see the actual video here), 12-seed Ball State in 1990 had the ball inside the foul line, about to throw up a lob for an alley-oop that would have sent them to overtime against eventual champion UNLV Runnin' Rebels. If that play had connected, perhaps Ball State would have gone on to become an even bigger Cinderella story—joining the level reached by NC State Wolfpack under Jim Valvano.

It’s been a week since we posted our all-time championship game, in which the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers dethroned the 1972 UCLA Bruins as our greatest team of all time—drawing a record 34,000 views in the seven days between posts.

Now we return to finish the Final Four of our newly created teams, along with the NIT Final Four of All-Time Small Conference teams. In our first Final Four matchup, Jim Valvano’s 1983 NC State squad defeated fellow Cinderella hopeful 1990 Ball State.

While Ball State reached only the Sweet 16—rather than winning a surprise national title like NC State—they were just one basket away from possibly joining that same historic tier, having lost by a single basket to eventual champion UNLV.

In our Value Add Basketball Game semifinal, Ball State battled hard. However, NC State pulled away early in the second half when Dereck Whittenburg hit a pair of three-pointers to break a tie and seize control.

That result sets up a championship game among the new teams we created this season. In a couple of cases, though, we were actually recreating older teams after finally compiling enough statistical data to produce realistic player cards. In fact, NC State will face one of the two oldest great teams in our project—the 1950 CCNY Beavers squad, the only team in history to win both the NIT and NCAA titles in the same season, or the 1939 Long Island University Blackbirds team, college basketball’s first repeat champion and an early dynasty.

NC State had climbed sharply in our rankings entering this matchup, but they will actually drop slightly after this game. Ball State’s card rating was -9, and NC State won by just seven points. In our KenPom-style rating system, that closer-than-expected margin—especially after a couple of dominant wins following the creation of these cards—will cause a slight dip despite the victory.

Pos	Ball State 1990	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ball State 1990 Stats
1-PG	Scott Nichols	5	0	2	1	2	1	1	0	1	6'1,1.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 2.8 Ast
2-SG	Billy Butts	2	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	3	6'3,8.8 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 2.1 Ast
3-SG	Chandler Thompson	12	0	5	2	2	5	0	0	4	6'4,11.7 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 1.8 Ast
4-PF	Paris McCurdy	9	0	3	3	6	9	5	1	1	6'7,11.8 Pts, 8.3 Reb, 0.9 Ast
5-C	Curtis Kidd	14	0	5	4	6	4	2	1	2	6'9,10.7 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Bench
1-PG	Mike Spicer	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'11,1.5 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 2.0 Ast
2-SG	Emanuel Cross	7	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	2	6'1,7.8 Pts, 1.6 Reb, 2.2 Ast
3-SG	Shawn Parrish	4	0	1	2	2	4	1	0	1	6'5,5.1 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 1.2 Ast
4-PF	Greg Miller	3	0	1	1	2	2	1	0	1	6'8,7.4 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.9 Ast
5-C	Roman Muller	4	0	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	7'1,3.5 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.1 Ast
	12 Turnovers	62	1	22	15	22	29	12	2	17
Pos	NC State 1983	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NC State 1983 Stats
1-PG	Sidney Lowe	9	1	2	2	2	2	2	0	2	nba,6'0,11.3 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 7.5 Ast
2-SG	Dereck Whittenburg	24	2	8	2	2	3	1	0	1	6'1,17.5 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 2.4 Ast
3-SG	Ernie Myers	11	0	4	3	4	4	1	0	3	6'5,11.2 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 1.3 Ast
4-PF	Lorenzo Charles	9	0	4	1	2	7	0	1	4	nba,6'7,8.1 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 0.5 Ast
5-C	Thurl Bailey	4	0	2	0	0	10	1	3	4	nba,6'11,16.7 Pts, 7.7 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Pos	Bench	0	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Bench
1-PG	Terry Gannon	2	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	6'1,7.3 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 1.2 Ast
2-SG	George McClain	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'0,2.7 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.8 Ast
3-SG	Alvin Battle	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'7,2.7 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 0.3 Ast
4-PF	Walter Dinky Proctor	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6'8,0.9 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 0.5 Ast
5-C	Cozell McQueen	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	nba,6'11,3.5 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 0.9 Ast
	19 Turnovers	69	3	26	8	10	33	7	4	21

Super Bowl of All-Time College Teams - POY May Leads #2 All-Time 1976 Indiana past #1 All-Time 1972 UCLA, 72-68

Bill Walton's UCLA team's 6-year undefeated Value Add Basketball Game winning streak is over. An incredible back-and-forth game for our all-time championship came down to the final 1:30 to play in the game of teams coached by John Wooden and Bobby Knight (Indiana 1976).

The loss drops 1972 UCLA to 8-1, while 1976 Indiana improves to 7-1 and will move into the No. 1 spot in our all-time ranking of 300 Value Add Basketball Game teams. UCLA drew 24 fouls to only 14 for Indiana, but left the game at the free throw line, as Henry Bibby (80% or 1-16 of 20 free throw made) hit only 3 of 6, Bill Walton (70%, 1-14) hit 4 of 7 and Andy Hill (also 70%, 1-14) went 2 of 5 - a combined 9 of 18. Those three would have been expected to hit 4 more of those free throws which would have meant a tie game.

With 1972 UCLA trailing 62-65, the Bruins Larry Farmer came through with a blocked shot, but the Hoosiers star Scott May (23 points) grabbed the offensive rebound, and put it back in while being fouled to make it 68-62 Indiana after his free throw. May was the AP Player of the Year that season.

Bill Walton (18 points, drew five fouls on Kent Benson) drew a foul with 53 seconds left and hit one of two to cut it to 70-68, but May scored again at the other end and Indiana missed a last shot to leave the final 72-68 Indiana.

The Hoosiers, the last undefeated team in NCAA history, were #3 before destroying the #2 ranked 1975 UCLA 74-51. This game was much closer, with our reigning champs 1972 UCLA leading 55-50 with 7 minutes to play, but Indiana closed on a 22-13 offensive explosion to take over as our new champ.

Back-up center Rich Valavicius was a key as he had 6 points and 4 rebounds to help the subs take a 30-28 lead before the starters came in, then came back in for the closing possessions after Kent Benson fouled out guarding Bill Walton.

But the true key was that for the first time in nine games Walton was outplayed in a game, he was held to a surprisingly low 5 rebounds, while the true star was Indiana's star Scott May outscored him 23-16 by having 10 buckets including Indiana's only 3-pointer of the game. We admit the one 3-pointer was a fluke as the 3-point line was put in during May's NBA career and he was 0 or 8 on attempts - but we allocated a couple of 3-pointers made for college players who did not have a 3-point line in order to make the play between eras competitive. Centers form that era including Walton cannot hit a 3-pointer, but a few great centers like Walton have that range replaced by a basket plus fouled for potential traditional 3-point plays.

Pos	#2 Indiana 1976	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA? Ht Actual Season
1-PG	Quinn Buckner	6	0	3	0	0	2	4	0	3	nba,6'3,8.9 Pts, 2.8 Reb
2-SG	Bob Wilkerson	6	0	3	0	0	4	2	0	4	nba,6'6,7.8 Pts, 4.9 Reb
3-SG	Tom Abernethy	6	0	3	0	0	10	0	0	1	nba,6'7,10.0 Pts, 5.3 Reb
4-PF	Scott May	23	1	9	2	3	6	1	0	3	nba,6'7,23.5 Pts, 7.7 Reb
5-C	Kent Benson	13	0	6	1	2	6	1	2	5	nba,6'10,17.3 Pts, 8.8 Reb
Pos	Indiana Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA? Ht Actual Season
1-PG	Jim Wisman	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	6'2,2.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SG	Jim Crews	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'5,3.3 Pts, 0.7 Reb
3-SG	Wayne Radford	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	nba,6'3,4.7 Pts, 2.1 Reb
4-PF	Mark Haymore	6	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8,1.8 Pts, 2.2 Reb
5-C	Rich Valavicius	6	0	2	2	2	4	0	1	2	6'5,2.4 Pts, 1.8 Reb
	20 Turnovers	72	1	32	5	7	37	9	3	24
Pos	#1 UCLA 1972	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA? Ht Actual Season
1-PG	Greg Lee	6	0	2	2	2	1	5	0	1	nba,6'4,8.7 Pts, 2.0 Reb
2-SG	Henry Bibby	10	1	2	3	6	6	1	0	1	nba,6'1,15.7 Pts, 3.5 Reb
3-SG	Larry Farmer	4	0	2	0	0	7	0	2	1	6'5,10.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb
4-PF	Jamaal Wilkes	14	2	3	2	2	4	1	0	3	nba,6'6,13.5 Pts, 8.2 Reb
5-C	Bill Walton	16	0	6	4	7	5	1	5	1	nba,6'11,21.1 Pts, 15.5 Reb
Pos	UCLA 1972	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA? Ht Actual Season
1-PG	Andy Hill	4	0	1	2	5	1	1	0	1	6'02.7 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SG	Jon Chapman	4	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'5,1.6 Pts, 1.6 Reb
3-SG	Tommy Curtis	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	5'11,4.1 Pts, 2.1 Reb
4-PF	Larry Hollyfield	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	1	2	6'4,7.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb
5-C	Swen Nater	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	nba,6'11,6.7 Pts, 4.8 Reb
	17 Turnovers	68	3	23	13	22	31	10	8	14

Game updates here:

The reserves battled for the first 7 possessions after the 20-20 stat of the game, and Indiana took a 30-28 lead by the time the starters came in for the rest of the game. Here is the sheet at that point, followed by the preview set up.

In the line-ups showed in the box score the all-time Championship game of the 300 Value Add Basketball Game teams, we did have one change in the line-ups - we had a card for Bob Bender as one of the 10 Indiana players, but we noticed above review that Wayne Radford should have been in that spot. Both were off the bench that year, but Radford actually did play a season in the NBA, and actually did average twice as many points as Bender. Since we can only keep 10 players per team in the game, we did replace Bender's card but it is a minor adjustment in the game. 

The following are the line-ups as the game started. As the scoresheet shows, each team starts the game with 20 points and some other stats in place based on position. The game is played as though 22 possessions were already played in the game, and in the game you are playing the final 44+ possessions, depending on how many extra possessions are played in the final 9 possessions due to fast break steals or fouls.

After Hundreds of Simulations, It Comes Down to UCLA 1972 vs Indiana 1976

UCLA 1972 — the only back-to-back undefeated team in college basketball history — improved to 8–0 against the greatest Value Add Basketball Game teams of all time and will now face the last remaining undefeated team, Indiana 1976, for our all-time title.

Duke 2001 was a worthy All-Time Final Four opponent. Our recent advanced calculations of the top 50 teams of all time show that Shane Battier is one of only three players to lead two top-10 all-time teams (along with Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Battier’s two free throws with five minutes remaining created an extra possession while pulling Duke within 64–59. Battier scored again with 1:30 to play to cut the lead to 69–63, but Duke could get no closer as UCLA pulled away for a 74–65 win to advance to the all-time championship.

In the end, Bill Walton’s nine blocked shots gave UCLA a decisive edge in the paint. UCLA finished with 28 two-point baskets compared to Duke’s 21, which proved to be the difference in the game. Walton led all scorers with 20 points. In nearly every other phase, Duke played UCLA even. Duke held a slight 5–4 edge in three-pointers, made two more free throws (8–9 shooting), and used strong team rebounding to match UCLA 32–32 on the boards. UCLA had one other very slight edge in forcing 15 turnovers while Duke force 14, and both teams committed 16 fouls, and both rosters featured five future NBA players.

The 1972 UCLA team improves to 8–0 and is now one game away from winning back-to-back titles, having won our original tournament of the first 96 teams created in the Value Add Basketball Game. They are now on the verge of winning the tournament to determine the best team among all 300 teams created to date, five years later.

The 2001 Duke team falls to 5–2 against elite competition, with their only other loss coming in an upset against Paul Pierce’s 1997 Kansas team, alongside five wins over other all-time great teams.

The 1976 Indiana team, which will face UCLA in the all-time title game, features the best defense of any team in our game. Indiana is 6–1, allowing just 54 points per game against the greatest teams in history, with their only loss coming in a 70–68 stunner against Draymond Green’s Michigan State team in the original 96-team tournament.

While Kareem’s UCLA team still ranks as having the best individual cards in the game, these are the top two teams based on the results of hundreds of Value Add Basketball Games played to date, making this a true No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup — with no Cinderella story involved. 

Pos	Duke 2001	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Jay Williams	12	2	3	0	0	2	1	0	2	nba,21.6 Pts, 3.3 reb,6'2
2-SG	Nate James	19	3	5	0	0	3	1	1	2	12.3 Pts, 5.2 reb,6'6
3-SG	Shane Battier	8	0	3	2	2	5	1	6	2	nba,19.9 Pts, 7.3 reb,6'8
4-PF	Mike Dunleavy	4	0	1	2	3	8	1	1	3	nba,12.6 Pts, 5.7 reb,6'9
5-C	Carlos Boozer	10	0	4	2	2	9	0	0	2	nba,13.3 Pts, 6.5 reb,6'9
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Chris Duhon	4	0	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	nba,7.2 Pts, 3.2 reb,6'1
2-SG	Matt Christensen	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.6 Pts, 2.3 reb,6'10
3-SG	Nick Horvath	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.8 Pts, 2.3 reb,6'10
4-PF	Casey Sanders	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.5 Pts, 1.8 reb,6'11
5-C	Andre Sweet	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.1 Pts, 2.6 reb,6'6
	15 Turnovers	65	5	21	8	9	32	4	8	16
Pos	UCLA 1972	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Greg Lee	9	0	4	1	2	1	2	0	1	nba,8.7 Pts, 2.0 Reb,6'4
2-SG	Henry Bibby	7	0	3	1	1	4	3	0	3	nba,15.7 Pts, 3.5 Reb,6'1
3-SG	Larry Farmer	10	1	3	1	2	3	0	0	2	10.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb,6'5
4-PF	Jamaal Wilkes	8	1	2	1	2	5	2	1	2	nba,13.5 Pts, 8.2 Reb,6'6
5-C	Bill Walton	20	0	9	2	3	11	0	9	2	nba,21.1 Pts, 15.5 Reb,6'11
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Andy Hill	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.7 Pts, 0.8 Reb,6'0
2-SG	Jon Chapman	5	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1.6 Pts, 1.6 Reb,6'5
3-SG	Tommy Curtis	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.1 Pts, 2.1 Reb,5'11
4-PF	Larry Hollyfield	4	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	7.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb,6'4
5-C	Swen Nater	7	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	nba,6.7 Pts, 4.8 Reb,6'11
	14 Turnovers	74	4	28	6	10	32	8	10	16

Unbeaten 1976 Indiana Destroys Tallest Team in History to Make All-Time Title Game

 

Pos	Indiana 1976	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season Stats,Ht
1-PG	Quinn Buckner	8	0	4	0	0	4	7	0	2	6'3,8.9 Pts, 2.8 Reb,nba
2-SG	Bob Wilkerson	6	0	3	0	2	3	2	0	2	6'6,7.8 Pts, 4.9 Reb,nba
3-SG	Tom Abernethy	6	0	3	0	0	3	1	0	3	6'7,10.0 Pts, 5.3 Reb,nba
4-PF	Scott May	16	0	7	2	2	6	1	1	3	6'7,23.5 Pts, 7.7 Reb,nba
5-C	Kent Benson	20	0	9	2	6	7	0	4	1	6'10,17.3 Pts, 8.8 Reb,nba
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season Stats,Ht
1-PG	Jim Wisman	6	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2,2.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SG	Jim Crews	6	0	3	0	1	1	0	0	1	6'5,3.3 Pts, 0.7 Reb
3-SG	Mark Haymore	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8,1.8 Pts, 2.2 Reb
4-PF	Rich Valavicius	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6'5,2.4 Pts, 1.8 Reb
5-C	Bob Bender	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2,2.1 Pts, 0.8 Reb
	16 Turnovers	74	0	35	4	11	28	11	5	17
Pos	UCLA 1975	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season Stats,Ht
1-PG	Pete Trgovich	7	1	1	2	3	2	1	2	1	6'4,10.2 Pts, 3.3 Reb
2-SG	Dave Meyers	5	0	2	1	3	1	2	1	2	6'8,18.3 Pts, 7.9 Reb,nba
3-SG	Marques Johnson	9	1	1	4	5	7	0	1	1	6'7,11.6 Pts, 7.1 Reb,nba
4-PF	Richard Washington	12	1	3	3	3	7	0	0	2	6'11,15.9 Pts, 7.8 Reb,nba
5-C	Ralph Drollinger	6	0	3	0	0	9	0	1	3	7'1,8.8 Pts, 7.4 Reb,nba
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season Stats,Ht
1-PG	Jim Spillane	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'11,4.5 Pts, 1.2 Reb
2-SG	Andre McCarter	4	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	2	6'3,7.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb,nba
3-SG	Casey Corliss	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6,3.1 Pts, 1.3 Reb
4-PF	Wilbert Olinde	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7,3.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb
5-C	Brett Vroman	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	7'0,3.5 Pts, 2.6 Reb,nba
	26 Turnovers	51	3	16	10	14	31	4	5	15

We’ve been meaning to play Indiana in our all-time NCAA Final Four ever since the football team won the title, but work wiped us out for a full week. Tonight, we finally snuck it in after midnight.

We did decide to reshuffle the All-Time Final Four seeds after the latest recalculations. New data showed that the 1972 UCLA team and the 1976 Indiana team really were the two best teams left in the tournament and shouldn’t meet in a semifinal. As a result, 2001 Duke will face 1972 UCLA in the other semifinal.

Bobby Knight’s 1976 Indiana team—still the last squad to go undefeated in actual play, but an upset victim of Draymond Green’s Michigan State team way back in the first 96-team Value Add Basketball tournament—left no doubt in this one. The 1975 UCLA squad, whose starting lineup averaged 6'9" to become the tallest in history, won the rebounding and free-throw battles but was otherwise no match. This UCLA team had won the title in the next 32-team tournament we created and shocked us by moving near the top of the all-time rankings, despite barely cracking our top 20 initially based on how strong we thought the cards were.

The game was tied 28–28 late in the first half, but the Hoosiers simply would not allow the ball to get into UCLA’s massive front line. This was the last title team of the John Wooden dynasty, but it was nowhere near as dominant as the multiple undefeated runs led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton earlier in the era. UCLA’s final nine games that season included a 103–81 blowout loss at Washington, a narrow home escape against a mediocre Cal team, and a close tournament win over Montana. In the Final Four, they beat Louisville by one point in overtime before defeating Kentucky.

We didn’t even notice this until after we played our Value Add Basketball game—where 1976 Indiana crushed 1975 UCLA 74–51—but the very next game for the players who remained on this UCLA roster the following year was a neutral-site No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Indiana to open the 1976 season. The result was nearly identical, with Indiana winning 84–64. That made Indiana 1–0, and when the teams met again in the Final Four, Indiana held UCLA to the same 51 points as in this Value Add Basketball Game in a 65–51 win, improving to 31–0 before beating Michigan to finish 32–0—the last undefeated season in college basketball.

In the actual Final Four game, Indiana held UCLA to 21-for-61 shooting from the floor (box score here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1976-03-27-indiana.html).

As usual, it was Indiana’s big men—Scott May and Kent Benson—who carried the day. The duo averaged more than 40 points per game that season and combined for 36 in this one to seal the title.

The 1976 Indiana team will now await the winner of Duke 2001 and UCLA 1972 to decide the all-time champion of our 300 Value Add Basketball Teams.

The True Greatest 50 College Basketball Teams of All-Time

 As I get ready to play the Final 4 who made it through our latest Value Add Basketball Game Tournament to the Final 4 - I wanted to step back and list who I believe the 50 greatest teams actually are based on actual results. 

In celebration of Indiana winning the actual football championship, I plan to next play the last undefeated team - Indiana 1976, against my current No. 1 of all time - the 1972 Bill Walton UCLA. The other semifinal game that has played out is Duke's 2001 team - which does come out 5th in the actual ratings below, against another UCLA dynasty team but not the one you would quite pick - in 1975.

However to get the true Top 50 of all time I used this method.

1. The SRS rating, except for teams from the early years who did not have one - in which case I took their current Value Add Basketball Game rating and multiplied it by 2.5 to get an estimate.

2. If there were more than 100 teams, I then subtracted the SRS of the 100th best team that season which really is needed to put teams on par since with more than 300 teams the best teams stretch further and further ahead of the middle team.

3. Almost all these teams won the title, but if they did not they lost 2 points for every game they fell short. So 1999 Duke would have been a 30.89 for 3rd greatest team ever, but they lost in the title game so they slipped to 6th.

No team who did not make the title game made the top 50, so I would give the honorable mention to four Final 4 teams - Houston in both 1968 and 2021, Auburn in 2019 and Kentucky in 2015 - all of whom would be on this list with one more win in their season.

In going through these new calculation and comparing it to the player cards we had for all 300 all-time great teams in the game, we calculated that we did need to downgrade the overall defensive team ratings of a few teams, and upgrading the rating for six teams. The AdjDunk rating on the card adjusts for level of competition and how well the team's overall defense prevented opponents from scoring. These nine teams have all been updated in the game, but here are the links to the nine who were adjusted so you can print them out to play, and then we tell you where the team ranks on their current player cards in the Value Add Basketball Game.

DePaul 1980 - Mark Aguirre - Rating -3 which lowers them to the 134th best of 300 all-time teams in the game.

Duke 1992 - Christian Laettner - Rating improved to +10, the 14th best in the game

Florida 2006 - Joakim Noah - Rating improved to +11, the 9th best in the game

Georgetown 1984 - Patrick Ewing - Rating improved to +7, the 24th best in the game

Kansas 1997 - Paul Pierce - Rating lowered to -2, the 110th best

Kansas 2008 - Mario Chalmers - Rating lowered to +2, the 60th best

Michigan 1989 - Glen Rice -- Rating improved to +9, the 17th best in the game

Ohio St. 1960 - Jerry Lucas - Rating- improved to +13, the 6th best in the game

UCLA 1967 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - +18 rating (best cards) - Rating improved to +18, the best cards in the game. UCLA_1975_-_Dave_Meyers_1769493325.pdf - Rating  The updating rankings and list of all games played are kept on this google sheet.

The most fascinating note is that I wondered about the miracle 1983 NC State team ranking so high in my game, since they were a 7.5 point underdog to Houston when they won the title. However, the SRS rating actually picked NC State as the better team than Houston that season, though Houston also makes the list.

Rnk	Team	Year		SRS>100th	Tourney	Adjusted
1	UCLA	1972	Bill Walton #44	32.56	Champion	32.56
2	UCLA	1968	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3	32.18	Champion	32.18
3	UCLA	1967	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3	29.04	Champion	29.04
4	Long Island University	1939	Irv Targoff	VABG * 2.5	Champion	27.5
5	Duke	2001	Shane Battier	26.94	Champion	26.94
6	Duke	1999	Shane Battier	28.89	Runner-up	26.89
7	UCLA	1969	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3	26.64	Champion	26.64
8	Indiana	1976	Scott May	25.88	Champion	25.88
9	UCLA	1973	Bill Walton #44	27.63	Runner-up	25.63
10	Ohio State	1960	Jerry Lucas #46, John Havlicek #29	25.46	Champion	25.46
11	NC State	1974	David Thompson	25.04	Champion	25.04
12	San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell #6	VABG * 2.5	Champion	25
13	UCLA	1970	Sidney Wicks	24.97	Champion	24.97
14	Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	24.79	Champion	24.79
15	North Carolina	1998	Vince Carter	24.52	Champion	24.52
16	UCLA	1975	Dave Meyers	24.3	Champion	24.3
17	Georgetown	1984	Patrick Ewing #40	23.5	Champion	23.5
18	North Carolina	2005	Sean May	22.68	Champion	22.68
19	North Carolina	1982	Michael Jordan #1, James Worthy #56	22.6	Champion	22.6
20	NC State	1983	Lorenzo Charles	22.2	Champion	22.2
21	Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	23.29	Runner-up	21.29
22	Kansas	2008	Mario Chalmers	21.09	Champion	21.09
23	Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	20.95	Champion	20.95
24	UNLV	1990	Larry Johnson	20.28	Champion	20.28
25	Villanova	2018	Mikal Bridges	20.23	Champion	20.23
26	Michigan State	2000	Mateen Cleaves	20.02	Champion	20.02
27	CCNY	1950	Floyd Lane	VABG * 2.5	Champion	20
28	Cincinnati	1962	Paul Hogue	VABG * 2.5	Champion	20
29	Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	19.83	Champion	19.83
30	North Carolina	2009	Tyler Hansbrough	19.81	Champion	19.81
31	Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	19.72	Champion	19.72
32	Connecticut	2023	Adama Sanogo	19.7	Champion	19.7
33	Duke	2010	Jon Scheyer	19.45	Champion	19.45
34	Duke	1991	Christian Laettner	21.44	Runner-up	19.44
35	Connecticut	2004	Ben Gordon	19.4	Champion	19.4
36	Virginia	2019	Kyle Guy	19.05	Champion	19.05
37	Kentucky	2012	Anthony Davis #71	18.98	Champion	18.98
38	Louisville	2013	Russ Smith	18.94	Champion	18.94
39	Duke	2015	Justise Winslow	18.9	Champion	18.9
40	Houston	1983	Hakeem Olajuwon #13, Clyde Drexler #53	20.7	Runner-up	18.7
41	Gonzaga	2017	Nigel Williams-Goss	20.7	Runner-up	18.7
42	North Carolina	2017	Justin Jackson	18.63	Champion	18.63
43	Baylor	2021	Jared Butler	18.61	Champion	18.61
44	Maryland	2002	Juan Dixon	18.4	Champion	18.4
45	Florida	2007	Walter Clayton Jr.	18.24	Champion	18.24
46	Michigan	1993	Chris Webber #76	18.2	Champion	18.2
47	Villanova	2016	Josh Hart	17.78	Champion	17.78
48	UCLA	1995	Ed O'Bannon	19.2	Runner-up	17.2
49	Kansas	1997	Paul Pierce #62	17.2	Runner-up	15.2
50	Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson #9	VABG * 2.5	Champion	15