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

Whittenburg 3-pt Leads 1983 NC State Over Cooper Flagg's 23-pts and into Final 4

 Dereck Whittenburg is famous from the clip in ESPN's 30 at 30 Survive and Advance for his long  attempt that was a foot short - but grabbed and put in by Lorenzo Charles to give NC State the 1983 title after being a 7-point underdog against Houston.

In our Value Add Basketball Game Elite 8 tournament of newly created teams, Whittenburg nailed NC State's only 3-pointer of the game with 53 seconds (2 possessions) to play to give NC State an 84-81 lead over the 2025 Duke team favored by 4. Until then Duke had eight 3-point possessions to none for NC State, as Tyrese Proctor hit four 3-pointers, and Cooper Flagg had two 3-pointers and two traditional 3-point plays en route to fouling Charles out with 7 possessions to play.

However, Duke could only get a 2-pointer by Sion James to cut it to 84-83, but then Duke forced a turnover to get one more shot. 

However, Ernie Myers (who also had a big game tying Thurl Bailey with a team-high 16 points) came up with NC State's eighth steal of the game to ceil the game.  Five of the steals were by Sidney Lowe.

In an Elite 8 in which all four games were either within two points or went to overtime, NC State closes to the Final 4 of all new teams created this year.

If you click on the semifinal teams and look at the rating on the team sheet you will see who the favorites are in each game.

NC State has a rating of +0, which means they are about our "average" great team - which would be a team that was in the top 8 overall for the season (using a combo of AP rankings, SRS or beginning in 2002 www.kenpom.com) AND was an Elite 8 team in the tournament. In the case of NC State, they were only about 16th for the season as a whole BUT they went beyond Elite 8 to win the national title, so that averages out to roughly an "average" GREAT TEAM. So -

NC State (rating +0) is a 9-point favorite against Ball State (rating -9) in one semifinal game. (NC State was 

City College of New York (rating +3) and Long Island University (rating +3) in the other semifinal has no favorite because their ratings are exactly the same.

If NC State wins, they will be a 3-point underdog against whoever wins the CCNY vs LIU semifinal, but they were already a 4-point underdog against Duke. So far teams in our game who are 1- to 5-point underdogs have won 38% of  the time (see chart).

If Ball State wins, they will be a 12-point underdog in the final. So far in our game, teams that are 11- to 15-point underdogs have won 17% of the time.

In the other Elite 8 games,, CCNY was a 6-point favorite over Long Beach State and won 69-67. Long Island University was a 1-point favorite over Auburn and won. Iona was a 1-point favorite over Ball State and lost 64-66.

Iona Loses 1st Game of Valvano Doubleheader to Ball State

 Our three Elite 8 games have all been thrillers - an overtime game and two 2-point games.

Jim Valvano's 1980 Iona team fell just short 64-66 to the 1990 Ball State team, but this was just the first half of a Valvano double header as his miracle 1983 NC State team from three years later faces Cooper Flagg and last year's Duke team.

Ball State figured out the one way to stop Iona's future NBA great big man Jeff Ruland - an incredible 17 steals to keep the ball from getting inside to him. The teams were almost as even as could be, with Ball State's -9 making them a 1-point underdog against Iona's -9.

However Ball State will be a big underdog against the Duke-NC State winner.

Ded

Battle of Tragic Teams: 1950 CCNY Blows Double-Digit Lead, but Hits Buzzer Beater to Down 1972 Long Beach State

This was truly a game between two tragic programs—facing each other with teams from the highest of high moments, right before devastating falls—setting up the Final Four of new teams in our Value Add Basketball Game.

https://www.pudnersports.com/2019/02/value-add-basketball-board-game-debuts.html

The slight underdog was the 1972 Long Beach State team, which accomplished the unmatched feat of reaching the Sweet 16 in each of its first four years as a Division I program. This was the third straight season in which it ran into the greatest dynasty in the history of sports—the UCLA Bruins—who won their 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th straight national titles during Long Beach State’s first four years of existence. In that era, teams were placed strictly by region, meaning Long Beach State could only have reached the Final Four by beating UCLA.

Then came the tragedy. Despite featuring Ed Ratleff and four other future NBA players, Jerry Tarkanian left after those four seasons to coach at UNLV, and Long Beach State has won a total of just one NCAA tournament game in the half-century since his departure.

In the other corner was the 1950 City College of New York team, at the absolute height of college basketball. CCNY became the only program ever to win both the NIT and the NCAA Tournament in the same year—at a time when the two tournaments were considered equals. Then came its tragedy: players were caught shaving points—not throwing games, but allowing margins to shrink so gamblers would lose money. The fallout was severe, and CCNY’s Division I basketball program folded just three years after its historic double-title run.

In this matchup, CCNY led by roughly 10 points for most of the game. The only reason it stayed close was CCNY’s historically poor free-throw shooting in our simulation—just 9 of 28—despite setting a strong mark by committing only five turnovers.

CCNY led 67–63 with one minute remaining. Chuck Terry scored and drew a foul with 53 seconds left to cut the margin to 67–65, and although he missed the free throw, the clock stoppage created an extra possession. After a stop on the other end, Ed Ratleff stole the ball and scored to tie the game at 67–67.

Both teams then came up with defensive stops, leaving CCNY with one final possession to avoid a second straight overtime. The winner would advance to face the 1939 Long Island University team, which needed double overtime to defeat the 2025 Auburn squad in this thriller:
https://www.pudnersports.com/2026/01/elite-8-battle-of-ages-1939-champs-vs.html

It looked like another overtime Elite Eight game when Ed Warner missed the potential winner—however, Ed Roman grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back in at the buzzer for the 69–67 victory. The result sets up a Final Four matchup between the 1950 CCNY team and the 1939 Long Island University squad.

Pos	Long Beach St 1972	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht, Pts, NBA
1-PG	Ed Ratleff	14	2	3	2	2	1	1	0	1	6'6, 21.4 Pts, NBA
2-SG	Glenn McDonald	8	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'6, 5.6 Pts, NBA
3-SG	Chuck Terry	19	1	6	4	4	2	0	0	1	6'6, 15.1 Pts, NBA
4-PF	Eric McWilliams	6	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	1	6'8, 10.0 Pts, NBA
5-C	Nate Stephens	5	0	2	1	2	2	0	0	1	6'11, 11.9 Pts
Pos		Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Lamont King	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2, 8.9 Pts
2-SG	Roy Miller	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2, 1.9 Pts
3-SG	John Roth	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6, 2.3 Pts
4-PF	Leonard Gray	5	0	2	1	2	1	0	0	1	6'8, 10.8 Pts,NBA
5-C	Bob Lynn	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9, 6.2 Pts
	10 Turnovers	67	5	21	10	12	13	2	0	10
Pos	CCNY 1950	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height, Summary
1-PG	Alvin Roth	3	0	1	1	2	1	1	0	1	6'3, 6.4 Pts
2-SG	Floyd Layne	4	0	1	2	7	1	1	0	1	6'3, 6.9 Pts
3-SG	Ed Warner	20	1	7	3	6	2	0	0	1	6'2, 14.8 Pts
4-PF	Irwin Dambrot	9	0	4	1	4	2	0	0	1	6'4, 10.2 Pts, NBA
5-C	Ed Roman	16	0	8	0	4	8	0	1	1	6'6, 16.4 Pts
Pos		Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Meyer Wittlin	3	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	5'10, 1.7 Pts
2-SG	Ronnie Nadell	3	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	5'11, 2.5 Pts
3-SG	Herb Cohen	7	1	2	0	1	2	0	0	1	6'1, 5.4 Pts
4-PF	Joe Galiber	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'4, 1.4 Pts
5-C	Norman Mager	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'5, 3.6 Pts, NBA
	5 Turnovers	69	2	27	9	28	20	2	1	10

Battle of the Ages - 1939 LIU Champs 96-91 Elite 8 Double OT Win Over 2025 Auburn

 You can click on these basketball reference links to see what our two featured stars really looked like LOL, but here is our banner on the first of our four Elite 8 games in the tournament of newly created teams. Johni Broome was on one of the 2025 teams whose player cards were calculated after the season ended, and we finally pulled together enough stats to make our oldest team in the game, as Irving Torgoff led Long Island to their second straight NCAA title in 1939.

Our 376th all-time Value Add Basketball Game was our best. Two players for each team had fouled out by the end of regulation when Auburn's Denver Jones hit both free throws for a 72-70 lead, only to have Irving Torgoff (31 points) score at the buzzer to send it to overtime 72-72.  At the end of the 1st overtime Auburn's Johni Broome (29 points) grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Oscar Shechtman who hit a shot to make it 87-87, then Broome blocked a would be game-winner and grabbed the defensive rebound as well to send it to a 2nd overtime at 87-87. The first college basketball dynasty, Long Island, finally got breathing room when the started the second overtime with an 8-0 run and held on for a 96-91 win to be our first Final Four team from the newly created teams. It truly was a game for the ages. The entire box score is at the bottom of the blog.

In 1939 style, Long Island drew 27 fouls but then only hit 20 of the 35 free throws to almost fall short. The game also had the most blocked shots and rebounds we have ever recorded in a Value Add Basketball game, with Long Island having the edge 17-15 in blocked shots and 56-44 in rebounds.

As the bracket further down shows, the 1939 Long Island team will advance to the semifinal to race the winner of the game between the 1950 City College of New York (CCNY) - the only team to ever win the NIT and NCAA the same season, and Jerry Tarkanian's 1972 Long Beach State.

Here are the actual scoresheet and player cards, with pennies and diamonds marking the players after two players from each team fouled out.

Pos	2025 Auburn	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Denver Jones	18	3	2	5	5	4	1	2	3
2-SG	Miles Kelly	5	0	1	3	4	6	4	1	2
3-SG	Chad Baker-Mazara	4	0	1	2	2	5	0	0	5
4-PF	Chaney Johnson	5	0	2	1	2	6	0	2	5
5-C	Johni Broome	29	1	11	4	7	17	0	6	1
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Tahaad Pettiford	12	2	2	2	2	1	1	0	4
2-SG	JP Pegues	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
3-SG	Chris Moore	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
4-PF	Ja'Heim Hudson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
5-C	Dylan Cardwell	12	0	6	0	0	2	0	4	4
	21 Turnovers	91	6	28	17	22	44	6	15	27
Pos	Long Island 1939		3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Oscar Shechtman	10	2	1	2	3	2	3	1	5
2-SG	Dan Kaplowitz	13	0	5	3	4	4	2	3	3
3-SG	Irving Torgoff	31	4	7	5	5	9	6	6	3
4-PF	John Bromberg	17	0	7	3	7	13	2	0	2
5-C	Arthur Hillhouse	2	0	1	0	0	12	1	5	5
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl
1-PG	Si Lobello	9	0	3	3	6	1	0	1	1
2-SG	Myron Sewitch	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1
3-SG	Irving Zeitlin	4	0	1	2	6	6	0	0	1
4-PF	Joe Shelly	6	0	2	2	4	7	1	1	1
5-C	Butch Schwartz	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2
	14 Turnovers	96	6	29	20	35	56	16	17	24

Kareem and Big Ten Top Ranking of all 32 Conferences All-Time

 

Correction on last dot - should say 16-point or more favorites have gone 31-4 for 89% wins

Before continuing our Value Add Basketball Game tournaments we ran numbers on our 375 games so far to measure two things.

First, we periodically check to see what percent of our games are ending in upsets. As you can see from the chart above when a team is favored by just 1 point (the rating listed is 1 point better than their opponent) then they have won 51% of their games (22-21) whereas when they are favored by at least 16 points they are winning 89% of their games (31-4) and you can see the chances in between those figures.

The other thing we measured is the average rating for how well their conference teams have played, with a small bonus for the number of wins each conference team in our games against other great teams.  We then ranked the conferences and we list their top player in our game.

For example, the combined Big Ten is by far the top team now based on the UCLA dynasty and all of the great teams from the Pac-12 as well as Big Ten over the years. they rank first of 32 conferences, and they have the best college ever in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The greatest pro player all time is #4 all-time in college and the best ACC player in our game - of course - Michael Jordan. The list is below.

Most conferences just have a team or two so having one really good game will shoot them way up the rankings. For Example, Fred Sturdivant led Texas Southern to a stunning upset of Holy Cross, which shot the SWAC way up in our list even thought they normally are at the bottom of all conferences.

 

Difference in preseason rating	Favorite	Underdog	Games	Win%
1 to 5 pt favorite	99	61	160	62%
6 to 10 pt favorite	78	26	104	75%
11 to 15 pt favorite	45	9	54	83%
16 or more pt favorite	31	4	35	89%
Total Games with a Favorite	253	100	353	72%

 Best conferences so far in the Value Add Basketball Game.

Rnk	Conf	W	L	Pts	Allow	SoS	Rating	Plus 0.2/Win	Conference Player of All-Time
1	B10	85	58	73.6	70.8	0.4	3.7	20.7	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #1, UCLA
2	ACC	63	54	72.8	72.4	0.6	1.3	13.9	Michael Jordan #4,UNC
3	B12	49	43	73.1	71.2	0.5	2.6	12.4	Wilt Chamberlain #3, Kansas
4	SEC	52	45	73.0	73.2	-1.2	-1.2	9.2	Anthony Davis #7, Kentucky
5	BE	43	43	73.5	73.2	0.2	0.5	9.1	George Mikan #28, DePaul
6	CUSA	12	7	74.0	71.5	1.4	4.7	7.1	Karl Malone #23, Louisiana Tech
7	WCC	6	8	81.9	80.4	0.4	1.5	2.7	Bill Russell #6, San Francisco
8	Slnd	1	2	98.0	94.0	-2.3	0.7	0.9	Thomas Walkup, Stephen F Austin
9	Amer	9	10	71.0	70.6	-1.2	-1.0	0.8	Cedric Maxwell, Charlotte
10	SWAC	2	0	77.0	68.0	-7.7	0.3	0.7	Fred Sturdivant, TX Southern
11	NEC	2	1	78.3	68.3	-11.3	-0.3	0.1	Irv Targoff #29, Long Island
12	UAC (was WAC/ ASun)	2	3	69.4	71.0	0.6	-1.6	-1.2	Artis Gilmore, Jacksonville #46
13	p12	9	14	72.6	73.6	-2.4	-4.0	-2.2	John Stockton #66, Gonzaga
14	BW	3	2	75.4	72.8	-7.4	-4.2	-3.6	Ed Ratleff, Long Beach St
15	MVC	5	7	78.0	79.7	-2.8	-4.9	-3.9	Larry Bird #14, Indiana St
16	MAC	7	5	74.0	75.5	-4.6	-5.6	-4.2	Marcus Camby, Umass
17	BSth	1	0	87.0	66.0	-16.5	-4.5	-4.3	Craig Bradshaw, Winthrop
18	OVC	1	1	87.0	80.5	-11.0	-4.5	-4.3	Kenneth Faried, Morehead St
19	Horz	3	3	86.8	86.3	-7.1	-6.7	-6.1	Dave DeBusschere, Detroit Mercy
20	PL	1	3	77.0	82.0	-2.5	-9.0	-8.8	David Robinson #11, David Robinson
21	A10	6	29	66.0	74.3	0.3	-10.1	-8.9	Stephen Curry #16, Davidson
22	CAA	2	2	75.8	74.0	-12.8	-11.0	-10.6	Devontae Cacok, NC Wilmington
23	Old-timers	2	3	65.4	71.0	-4.8	-11.0	-10.6	Robert Parish #100, Centenary
24	MWC	2	10	71.3	80.4	0.0	-11.2	-10.8	Larry Johnson #65, UNLV
25	BSky	1	4	67.4	73.2	-5.7	-12.0	-11.8	Damian Lillard #60, Weber St
26	AE	0	1	55.0	62.0	-4.0	-14.0	-14	Anthony Lamb, Vermont
27	MAAC	2	4	68.7	79.7	-4.6	-14.9	-14.5	Calvin Murphy, Niagra
28	SB	1	4	69.8	75.2	-9.8	-17.0	-16.8	Hal Greer #64, Marshall
29	MEAC	0	1	60.0	62.0	-12.0	-17.0	-17	Kyle O'Quinn, Norfolk St
30	SC	1	2	70.0	78.3	-9.3	-18.7	-18.5	Fletcher Magee, Wofford
31	Ivy	1	4	61.4	80.0	0.0	-20.4	-20.2	Bill Bradley, Princeton
32	Sum	1	2	60.0	76.0	-7.3	-24.3	-24.1	Nate Wolters, South Dakota St
	Total	375	375	73.0	73.0	-0.7	-0.7	-4.3