SEC Rules! 1978 KY Survives 1996 KY to win All-Time SEC; As 2025 SEC Challenges for Best Ever

The Value Add Basketball Game all-time SEC championship game was a thriller, with the all-time great 1978 point guard Kyle Macy preventing one steal with a great pass with 3:58 to go to set up a 3-pointer that gave the 1978 Kentucky team a 79-73 lead over Rick Pitino's high pressure 1996 Kentucky team that sent 9 of 10 players to the NBA. A "12" roll would have been a steal for the 1978 squad, except that in the last five minutes the list of all-time great point guards including Macy nullify a steal or turnover on a roll of 12, 14, 16, 42, 44 or 46. Kentucky 1979 only allowed 9 turnovers the entire game.

(if you only need links to the scoresheet and teams, click here. If you do not know how to play the game and want the instructions as well, click on Value Add Basketball Game )

Macy later capped off his 22-point outing with a steal and dunk to make it 85-75 with 1:30 to play - and then we almost witnessed the greatest comeback in our games history. Tony Delk hit  a free throw in the final minute to cut it to 85-78, missed the second free throw. Antoine Walker grabbed the offensive rebound and fired back out to Delk, who drained a 3-pointer and was fouled again, hitting that free throw for a 5-point play to gut it to 85-82. The 1996 squad scored again to make it 85-84 after a steal, but could not get it back for one last shot to give the title to the 1978 quad despite the closing 9-0 run.

The 2012 Kentucky squad also made our 20-team all-time tournament, which is shown below.

We played the game after posting the story below on if the SEC in 2105 is the greatest conference in the history of college basketball. Click here for this story on CBS 247 Sports.

Kentucky 2012 will also make the all-time great tournament and face the 2008 champs from Kansas in their first round game. The best team to date in the 11 big conferences are in this tournament, while the 20 champs from smaller conferences are all in our NIT tournament.

Pos	Kentucky 1978	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht,nba?	Actual Season
1-PG	Kyle Macy	22	2	5	6	6	1	4	0	2	nba,6'3	12.7 Pts, 4.5 Reb
2-SG	Truman Claytor	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	6'1	15.5 Pts, 5.8 Reb
3-SF	Jack Givens	19	1	7	2	2	4	2	1	4	nba,6'5	6.1 Pts, 3.2 Reb
4-PF	James Lee	4	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'5	11.4 Pts, 5.9 Reb
5-C	Rick Robey	19	1	6	4	5	6	0	3	2	nba,6'11	29.0 Pts, 15.5 Reb
1-PG	Jay Shidler	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'1	2.9 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SG	Dwane Casey	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2	1.9 Pts, 0.8 Reb
3-SF	LaVon Williams	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7	4.7 Pts, 2.8 Reb
4-PF	Chuck Aleksinas	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	nba,6'11	4.6 Pts, 3.4 Reb
5-C	Mike Phillips	5	0	1	3	4	3	0	0	2	6'10	1.4 Pts, 1.9 Reb
	Turnovers 9	85	6	26	15	17	21	8	4	17
Pos	Kentucky 1996	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht,nba?	Actual Season
1-PG	Derek Anderson	5	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	4	nba,6'5	9.4 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 2.4 Ast
2-SG	Walter McCarty	22	2	7	2	2	2	2	0	1	nba,6'10	11.3 Pts, 5.7 Reb, 2.6 Ast
3-SF	Tony Delk	18	3	4	1	2	3	0	0	1	nba,6'1	17.8 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 1.8 Ast
4-PF	Antoine Walker	12	0	5	2	3	8	0	0	1	nba,6'8	15.2 Pts, 8.4 Reb, 2.9 Ast
5-C	Mark Pope	9	0	3	3	3	8	0	2	5	nba,6'10	7.6 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 1.0 Ast
1-PG	Anthony Epps	6	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	1	6'2	6.7 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 4.9 Ast
2-SG	Wayne Turner	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	3	nba,6'2	4.5 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 1.6 Ast
3-SF	Jeff Sheppard	4	0	2	0	0	3	1	0	1	nba,6'3	5.5 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 1.9 Ast
4-PF	Ron Mercer	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	nba,6'7	8.0 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 1.4 Ast
5-C	Nazr Mohammed	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	nba,6'10	2.3 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.2 Ast
	Turnovers 16	84	6	28	10	12	29	3	2	19

SEC and Return of Value Add Basketball All-American Ratings

All-Southeastern Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Brandon Miller	Alabama	10.23	117	88.2	1-seed, 31-6, nba 2 in 2023
Santiago Vescovi	Tennessee	9.52	114.2	87.5	4-seed, 25-11 (PG), Poss 18.8%
Oscar Tshiebwe	Kentucky	8.83	122.6	98.8	6-seed, 22-12, Poss 24.5%
Tolu Smith	Mississippi St.	8.28	108.7	91.4	11-seed, 21-13, Poss 30.5%
Olivier Nkamhoua	Tennessee	8.06	110.4	27-Mar	4-seed, 25-11, Poss 22.1%
2nd T-Southeastern Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Wade Taylor	Texas A&M	7.89	113.8	97	7-seed, 25-10, Poss 29.1%
Makhi Mitchell	Arkansas	7.88	124.7	94	8-seed, 22-14, Poss 15.9%
Charles Bediako	Alabama	7.83	121.3	88.2	1-seed, 31-6, Poss 14.6%
Kobe Brown	Missouri	7.75	125.5	105.3	7-seed, 25-10, nba 30 in 2023
Josiah-Jordan James	Tennessee	7.57	107.2	87.5	4-seed, 25-11, Poss 23.2%
HM-Southeastern Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Zakai Zeigler	Tennessee	7.55	107.1	87.5	4-seed, 25-11, Poss 23.2%
Will Richard	Florida	7.54	124.6	95.5	16-17, Poss 15.6%
Liam Robbins	Vanderbilt	7.27	117.2	103.7	22-15, Poss 31.6%
D'Moi Hodge	Missouri	6.90	124.6	105.3	7-seed, 25-10, Poss 20.2%
Wendell Green	Auburn	6.35	102.2	95.7	9-seed, 21-13 (PG), Poss 28.4%
KJ Williams	LSU	6.23	118.3	105.1	14-19, Poss 24.5%
Colin Castleton	Florida	5.63	104.8	95.5	16-17, Poss 28.3%
Noah Carter	Missouri	5.35	116.3	105.3	7-seed, 25-10, Poss 21.4%

Above is a very late All-SEC team from the 2022-23 season, and we will be updating these and the top 300 players at www.valueaddbasketball.com to go along with the rankings going back to the 2001-02 season. While this system received rave reviews from Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Fox Sports and many others, last season we skipped because we lost the ability to rank all 4000 players who take the court for D1 action.

Note also the the first three players listed were also All-Americans below, though of those only Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi returns this season.

With Texas and Oklahoma joining next year to a conference that is already ranked 2nd behind the Big 12, had eight teams in the NCAA tournament last year and always competes for most players in the NBA, no one tops the SEC in basketball talent. The only downside for the conference is they have more one-and-dones who don't stick around long enough to put together an NCAA title run as often as you would expect. Another case-in-point was Alabama last year who likely was the second best team during the season behind UConn, but was just pushed around by a physical, older team in the tournament to fall. 

Team	2023	2024	2025	Seed23	Rnk24
Alabama	SEC	SEC	SEC	1	5
Arkansas	SEC	SEC	SEC	8	38
Auburn	SEC	SEC	SEC	9	15
Florida	SEC	SEC	SEC		28
Georgia	SEC	SEC	SEC		85
Kentucky	SEC	SEC	SEC	6	21
LSU	SEC	SEC	SEC		65
Mississippi	SEC	SEC	SEC		126
Mississippi St.	SEC	SEC	SEC	11	18
Missouri	SEC	SEC	SEC	7	87
Oklahoma	B12	B12	SEC		24
South Carolina	SEC	SEC	SEC		62
Tennessee	SEC	SEC	SEC	4	10
Texas	B12	B12	SEC	2	32
Texas A&M	SEC	SEC	SEC	7	14
Vanderbilt	SEC	SEC	SEC		139

Better late than never - this is one of 32 lists of All-Conference teams based on the "resurrected" Value Add Basketball rankings at www.valueaddbasketball.com. The other 31 releases of Conference teams will all include this same explanation for the rest of the blog, including the 10 returning All-Americans and top 60 players from last season listed further down.

This paragraph is of interest to stat nerds only. The offensive ratings were easier to recreate, since the basis was to pull hundreds of players ranked as the most efficient last season (AdjO at www.kenpom.com) and adjusting their figures for their percent of possessions. A player who can produce about 1.2 points per time he has the ball who also gets the ball 25% of the time against tough competition and as part of a strong defense can be All-American level, but a player who doesn't get the ball nearly as often but produces even more at 1.3 points per possession can still be All-Conference even if fans feel other players handling and shooting the ball more are better due to higher points scored per game.

The new simplified system weighs their ability to produce points against the Adjusted Defense (AdjD) - that is how many points per 100 trips would their team allow against an average D1 team. This accounts both for defense and for level of competition. We also note if a player is a Point Guard, the most important position on the court.

The resulting "Value" listed in the third column is the Value Add of points the player would improve an average team over if he could not play if a decent replacement took his place. Zach Edey was by far the most valuable player in the country last year at 13.17 meaning typically he would turn a 65-70 loss for a team into a 72-64 win - a 13 point swing. The notes off to the first indicated the team's record, their seed if they made the tournament, and then if they went to the NBA in the 2023 draft or are projected to go in the 2024 or 2025 draft.

1st and 2nd Team Returning All-Americans; and Top 60 Players from Last Season

 

The table below is the list of the 30 most valuable players in college basketball for the 2022-23 season according to our simplified www.valueaddbasketball.com rankings. Obviously most of these top players finished their eligibility or went pro so are no longer playing. However, if we made this our All-American teams of returning players including transfers at their new school the headline would be from Creighton.

1st Team Returning All-Americans - Value Add Basketball calculates that Creighton now has two of the three most valuable players in 2022-23 in returning Ryan Kalkbrenner and Utah State transfer Steven Ashworth. Ironically, Thursday it was Colorado State that handed Creighton its first loss - a team that Ashworth had dominated four of seven times in conference games at Utah State. The other 1st Team All-Americans based on last year's Value Add would be J'Wan Roberts returning for Houston, and then Tylor Perry who transferred from North Texas to Kansas State.

Most Valuable Player for 2nd Year. However, the far and away Most Valuable Player in the Country could challenge Anthony Davis, Jon Scheyer and Zion Williamson for as the most Valuable college player of the century in the All-Time Value Add Basketball Rankings - Zach Edey who was almost 2 points better than anyone in the country last year at Purdue and has them at No. 1 this season.

2nd Team Returning All-Americans - The 6th most valuable returning player according to Value Add is Marquette Point Guard Tyler Kolek. He would be joined on a second team All-American squad of returning players by Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi, Texas transfer from Oral Roberts Max Abmas, Duke's Ryan Young, Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis and finally Cam Spencer, who transferred from Rutgers to UConn.

In all, 18 of the top 30 players finished their college careers, leaving those 10 returning All-Americans and then two other players - JaKobe Coles of TCU and USC's Boogie Ellis.
 

All-American 1st Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Zach Edey	Purdue	13.17	125.9	94.5	1-seed, 29-6, nba 58 in 2024
Adama Sanogo (gone)	Connecticut	11.37	122.6	90.9	4-seed, 31-8, Poss 26.4%
Marcus Sasser (gone)	Houston	11.25	123.4	90.4	1-seed, 33-4, nba 25 in 2023
Ryan Kalkbrenner	Creighton	10.80	133.4	93.2	6-seed, 24-13, Poss 19.4%
Steven Ashworth (Creigh)	Utah St.	10.72	127.7	98.9	10-seed, 26-9 (PG), Poss 21.6%
All-American 2nd Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Tylor Perry (K-State)	North Texas	10.37	124.3	94.1	31-7, Poss 24.4%
Brandon Miller (gone)	Alabama	10.23	117.0	88.2	1-seed, 31-6, nba 2 in 2023
Xavier Castaneda (gone)	Akron	9.94	121.9	103.4	22-11 (PG), Poss 29.4%
J'Wan Roberts	Houston	9.90	127.9	90.4	1-seed, 33-4, Poss 18.4%
Jordan Hawkins (gone)	Connecticut	9.88	121.2	90.9	4-seed, 31-8, nba 14 in 2023
All-American 3rd Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Jaime Jaquez (gone)	UCLA	9.80	113.1	88	2-seed, 31-6, nba 18 in 2023
Jalen Pickett (gone)	Penn St.	9.66	118.7	101.1	10-seed, 23-14 (PG), nba 32 in 2023
Jordan Walker (gone)	UAB	9.64	114.7	97.9	29-10 (PG), Poss 30.6%
Tyler Kolek	Marquette	9.63	118	96.7	2-seed, 29-7 (PG), Poss 24.1%
Santiago Vescovi	Tennessee	9.52	114.2	87.5	4-seed, 25-11 (PG), Poss 18.8%
All-American 4th Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Max Abmas (Texas)	Oral Roberts	9.47	120.2	102.2	12-seed, 30-5 (PG), Poss 27.6%
Trayce Jackson-Davis (g)	Indiana	9.45	118.5	97.2	4-seed, 23-12, nba 57 in 2023
Ryan Young	Duke	9.37	128.7	93.9	5-seed, 27-9, Poss 18.3%
Kendric Davis (grad)	Memphis	9.24	111.1	96.1	8-seed, 26-9 (PG), Poss 31.6%
Drew Timme (grad)	Gonzaga	9.21	119.6	99.3	3-seed, 31-6, Poss 30.6%
All-American 5th Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Markquis Nowell (gone)	Kansas St.	8.92	111	95	3-seed, 26-10 (PG), Poss 27.6%
Souley Boum (gone)	Xavier	8.87	119.2	98.6	3-seed, 27-10 (PG), Poss 21.2%
Oscar Tshiebwe (gone)	Kentucky	8.83	122.6	98.8	6-seed, 22-12, Poss 24.5%
Terence Lewis (gone)	Louisiana	8.74	131.2	102.9	13-seed, 26-8, Poss 20.3%
Darius McGhee (gone)	Liberty	8.68	114.5	97.5	27-9, Poss 33.4%
All-American 6th Team	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Azuolas Tubelis	Arizona	8.68	116.1	96.3	2-seed, 28-7, Poss 28.7%
Cam Spencer (UConn)	Rutgers	8.66	119.4	90.8	19-15, Poss 19.8%
Sir'Jabari Rice (gone)	Texas	8.66	116.3	92.1	2-seed, 29-9, Poss 23.4%
JaKobe Coles	TCU	8.64	118.4	94.3	6-seed, 22-13, Poss 23.4%
Boogie Ellis	USC	8.56	113.3	97.5	10-seed, 22-11 (PG), Poss 25.7%

College Hoops 6th Best Conference History - SEC

 We posted out of order, but the 6th best conference in college basketball history is the SEC. This is based on the top six teams in the Value Add Basketball Game going 20-8 with a rating of 4.1.

The conference has been dominated by Kentucky, and the 1996 "Untouchable" Kentucky squad with nine future NBA players is the truly dominant team in the rankings. The 2012 Kentucky team is 4-2 against other great teams, but certainly have potential to be one of the top few teams. 

Beyond Kentucky, the 2019 Auburn team is 8-1 in the game and in real life seemed to have the national championship team if not for the injury to their top player Chuma Okeke before the Final Four during their route of Kentucky. Arkansas' 40 minutes of hell, and Florida's team that won the first of two titles in 2006 when the school was also taking the national football title with Tim Tebow.

Many of the greatest players of all time came out of the SEC and have teams in the game, including - Anthony Davis, Shaq, Bernard King, Charles Barkley, Sidney Moncrief, Dan Issel, Dominique Wilkins, Pete Maravich and Antoine Walker. 

Rnk	Great Team	Year	Key Player	W	L	Pts	Allow	Rate
	Top 6 SEC			20	8	72.9	69.8	4.1
1	Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	1	1	72.5	71.0	13.3
2	Auburn	2019	Chuma Okeke	8	1	71.0	65.3	4.2
3	Kentucky	2012	Anthony Davis	4	2	72.2	65.7	3.7
4	Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	0	1	78.0	79.0	2.8
5	Missouri	1982	Steve Stipanovich	2	0	69.5	65.5	1.5
6	Florida	2006	Joakim Noah	5	3	74.4	72.0	-0.7
7	LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	0	1	85.0	88.0	-1.2
8	South Carolina	2017	Sindarius Thornwell	1	2	65.3	65.7	-3.4
9	Kentucky	1948	Alex Groza	1	1	71.0	81.5	-3.8
10	Tennessee	1977	Bernard King	1	1	76.0	83.0	-5.7
11	LSU	2006	Glen Davis	1	2	66.3	75.0	-6.4
12	Alabama	1977	Reggie King	0	1	70.0	71.0	-6.6
13	South Carolina	1973	Mike Dunleavy	0	1	66.0	72.0	-8.2
14	Auburn	1984	Charles Barkley	1	1	71.5	77.0	-8.3
15	Kentucky	1970	Dan Issel	0	1	116.0	138.0	-8.6
16	Arkansas	1978	Sidney Moncrief	0	1	58.0	79.0	-9.6
17	Georgia	1982	Dominique Wilkins	1	1	70.0	78.0	-9.7
18	LSU	1970	Pete Maravich	0	1	66.0	67.0	-13.0

We invented the Value Add Basketball Game, and since then have grown it to to 135 teams of all-time great teams and players. We have played 188 games to date, and 63,000 unique visitors have clicked on the game. 

Seven current conferences have at least six all-time great teams in the game. We decided to rank those conferences based on the average rating of their top six teams so far in our games against other teams.

Click on the game to play yourself - it contains everything you need to play the Value Add Basketball game, which lets you pit any of 136 great all-time college teams against each other. To pick your two teams it is best to click on this Google doc and print the pages of the teams you want (each team is one page). I track my games on this google sheet, but play your own for free!

Best Power Forwards in College Basketball This Season

 In Value Add Basketball we consider the team's "power forward" the player who behind the team's "center" has some combination of the most defensive rebounds, blocked shots and height, but typically the fewest assists and steals. A great center or power forward will typically have even better raw numbers than a great point guard, because the guards typically need to get the ball to a power forward or center close to the basket for a closer shot.  (for a summary of the top players at each position, click here).

Because www.valueaddbasketball.com calculates how many points per game a player improves his team compared to if a typical replacement player took his place, the raw value add is adjusted by position since the replacement player would be at the same position. Therefore, once the formulas are run, and power forward's raw value add is lowered by multiplying it by 0.95 to get the result you see below and at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

In general, freshmen make so many mistakes (turnovers, bad shots etc.) the first half of the season that they do not rank nearly as high as more experienced players. However, they tend to improve more at the end of the season, so we watch for breakout freshmen first when looking at brackets. Therefore we start with the 10 most valuable freshmen centers in college basketball, starting with the most talented future NBA prospect, Auburn's Jabari Smith, who improves Auburn by 7.14 points per game - meaning there is a better than 50/50 chance Auburn would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than seven points. This calculations were run before Auburn's win against Vanderbilt Wednesday, during which Smith had his first 30-point game, so he is gaining value. 

In his case, he improves the Auburn offense by 4.44 points per game, while his defensive rating of -2.70 indicates he takes three to four points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement power forward. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen power forwards through games of February 15.

Rnk	Top Freshmen Power Forwards	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
7	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	7.14	SEC	6'10"	Fr
11	Paolo Banchero #5	Duke	6.69	ACC	6'10"	Fr
18	Justin Lewis #10	Marquette	6.28	BE	6'7"	Fr
23	Tyson Degenhart #2	Boise St.	6.13	MWC	6'7"	Fr
27	Azuolas Tubelis #10	Arizona	5.9	P12	6'11"	Fr
39	Dillon Jones #2	Weber St.	5.35	BSky	6'6"	Fr
44	Sadaidriene Hall #3	Stephen F. Austin	5.12	WAC	6'5"	Fr
46	Aboubacar Traore #25	Long Beach St.	4.96	BW	6'5"	Fr
51	Jalen Wilson #10	Kansas	4.77	B12	6'8"	So
52	Keshad Johnson #0	San Diego St.	4.68	MWC	6'7"	Jr

Top Overall Power Forwards (4)

A voter would certainly be justified in placing Smith, likely the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, as the 1st Team All-American Power Forward. However, if the entire season including early games were rated evenly, the 1st and 2nd Team All-American should really go to two Big Ten stars. Ohio State's EJ Liddell may have been the most valuable player over the course of the last two seasons, while Keegan Murray of Iowa has been able to explode now that his teammate and National Player of the Year Luka Garza has graduated.

Rnk	Top Freshmen Power Forwards	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Keegan Murray #15	Iowa	10.86	B10	6'8"	So
2	EJ Liddell #32	Ohio St.	9.93	B10	6'7"	Jr
3	Justin Bean #34	Utah St.	9.69	MWC	6'7"	Sr
4	Tari Eason #13	LSU	9.25	SEC	6'8"	So
5	David Roddy #21	Colorado St.	8.84	MWC	6'6"	Jr
6	Christian Braun #2	Kansas	7.54	B12	6'6"	Jr
7	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	7.14	SEC	6'10"	Fr
8	Vince Williams #10	VCU	6.9	A10	6'6"	Sr
9	Jaime Jaquez #24	UCLA	6.81	P12	6'7"	Jr
10	Jake LaRavia #0	Wake Forest	6.77	ACC	6'8"	Jr
11	Paolo Banchero #5	Duke	6.69	ACC	6'10"	Fr
12	Race Thompson #25	Indiana	6.49	B10	6'8"	Jr
13	Dane Goodwin #23	Notre Dame	6.49	ACC	6'6"	Jr
14	Paul Atkinson #20	Notre Dame	6.45	ACC	6'9"	Sr
15	Timmy Allen #0	Texas	6.44	B12	6'6"	Sr
16	Drew Timme #2	Gonzaga	6.41	WCC	6'10"	Jr
17	Fabian White #35	Houston	6.36	Amer	6'8"	Sr
18	Justin Lewis #10	Marquette	6.28	BE	6'7"	Fr
19	Alex Morales #2	Wagner	6.28	NEC	6'6"	Sr
20	Dereon Seabron #1	N.C. State	6.25	ACC	6'7"	So
21	Ryan Hawkins #44	Creighton	6.24	BE	6'7"	Sr
22	Justyn Mutts #25	Virginia Tech	6.17	ACC	6'7"	Sr
23	Tyson Degenhart #2	Boise St.	6.13	MWC	6'7"	Fr
24	Bryce Hamilton #13	UNLV	6.13	MWC	6'4"	Sr
25	Aher Uguak #30	Loyola Chicago	6.07	MVC	6'7"	Sr
26	Abu Kigab #24	Boise St.	5.96	MWC	6'7"	Sr
27	Azuolas Tubelis #10	Arizona	5.9	P12	6'11"	Fr
28	Anthony Holland #25	Fresno St.	5.9	MWC	6'5"	Jr
29	Collin Welp #40	UC Irvine	5.88	BW	6'9"	Sr
30	Ron Harper #24	Rutgers	5.81	B10	6'6"	Sr
31	Jeriah Horne #41	Tulsa	5.81	Amer	6'7"	Sr
32	Keshawn Justice #14	Santa Clara	5.76	WCC	6'7"	Sr
33	Jalen Hill #1	Oklahoma	5.62	B12	6'6"	Jr
34	Anton Watson #22	Gonzaga	5.6	WCC	6'8"	Jr
35	Jayden Gardner #1	Virginia	5.6	ACC	6'6"	Sr
36	Noah Horchler #14	Providence	5.59	BE	6'8"	Sr
37	Marcus Weathers #50	SMU	5.49	Amer	6'5"	Sr
38	Ben Vander Plas #5	Ohio	5.46	MAC	6'8"	Sr
39	Dillon Jones #2	Weber St.	5.35	BSky	6'6"	Fr
40	Taylor Funk #33	Saint Joseph's	5.28	A10	6'8"	Sr
41	Brady Manek #45	North Carolina	5.27	ACC	6'9"	Sr
42	Jalen Bridges #11	West Virginia	5.26	B12	6'7"	So
43	Isaac Mushila #10	Texas A&M Corpus Chris	5.14	Slnd	6'5"	Jr
44	Sadaidriene Hall #3	Stephen F. Austin	5.12	WAC	6'5"	Fr
45	Jermaine Samuels #23	Villanova	5.08	BE	6'7"	Sr
46	Aboubacar Traore #25	Long Beach St.	4.96	BW	6'5"	Fr
47	Julian Champagnie #2	St. John's	4.93	BE	6'8"	Jr
48	Jabari Walker #12	Colorado	4.89	P12	6'9"	So
49	Kris Murray #24	Iowa	4.8	B10	6'8"	So
50	Jalen Adaway #33	St. Bonaventure	4.79	A10	6'5"	Sr

Top College Basketball Centers this Season

In Value Add Basketball we consider the teams "center" the player who has some combination of the most defensive rebounds, blocked shots and height, but typically the fewest assists and steals. A great center will typically have even better raw numbers than a great point guard, because the guards typically need to get the ball to the center close to the basket for a closer shot - even though not nearly as many centers play with their "back to the basket" like they did for most of the history of basketball.  (for a summary of the top players at each position, click here).

Because www.valueaddbasketball.com calculates how many points per game a player improves his team compared to if a typical replacement player took his place, the raw value add is adjusted by position since the replacement player would be at the same position. Therefore, once the formulas are run, and centers raw value add is lowered by multiplying it by 0.9 to get the result you see below and at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

Top 10 most valuable centers are listed below. in general freshmen make so many mistakes (turnovers, bad shots etc.) the first half of the season that they do not rank nearly as high as more experienced players. However, they tend to improve more at the end of the season, so we watch for breakout freshmen first when looking at brackets. Therefore we start with the 10 most valuable freshmen centers in college basketball, starting with the Zags Chet Holmgrem who improves Gonzaga by 8.52 points per game - meaning there is a better than 50/50 chance the Zags would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than eight points.

In his case, he improves the Zags' offense by 5.04 points per game, while his defensive rating of -3.48 indicates he takes three to four points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement center. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen centers through games of February 15.

 

Rnk	Top Freshmen Centers	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
5	Chet Holmgren #34	Gonzaga	8.52	WCC	7'0	Fr
8	Norchad Omier #15	Arkansas St.	7.79	SB	6'7"	Fr
12	Kenneth Lofton #2	Louisiana Tech	7.03	CUSA	6'7"	Fr
18	Johni Broome #4	Morehead St.	6.68	OVC	6'10"	Fr
34	DaRon Holmes #15	Dayton	5.84	A10	6'10"	Fr
57	Fousseyni Traore #45	BYU	4.91	WCC	6'6"	Fr
80	Jalen Duren #2	Memphis	4.27	Amer	6'11"	Fr
95	Charles Bediako #10	Alabama	3.92	SEC	7'0	Fr
111	Eddie Lampkin #4	TCU	3.67	B12	6'11"	Fr
112	Oso Ighodaro #13	Marquette	3.65	BE	6'9"	Fr

Top 50 Centers Overall

In true value, our calculations indicate the 1st Team All-American so far should come from Kentucky, and Holgrem is in a tight races for the 2nd Team All-American center with stars from Indiana, Auburn and UNC.

 

Rnk	Top Centers (5)	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Oscar Tshiebwe #34	Kentucky	11.14	SEC	6'9"	Jr
2	Trayce Jackson-Davis #23	Indiana	8.94	B10	6'9"	So
3	Walker Kessler #13	Auburn	8.66	SEC	7'1"	So
4	Armando Bacot #5	North Carolina	8.6	ACC	6'10"	Jr
5	Chet Holmgren #34	Gonzaga	8.52	WCC	7'0	Fr
6	Orlando Robinson #10	Fresno St.	8.4	MWC	7'0	Jr
7	Hunter Dickinson #1	Michigan	7.89	B10	7'1"	So
8	Norchad Omier #15	Arkansas St.	7.79	SB	6'7"	Fr
9	Jack Nunge #24	Xavier	7.61	BE	7'0	Jr
10	KJ Williams #0	Murray St.	7.27	OVC	6'10"	Jr
11	Kofi Cockburn #21	Illinois	7.22	B10	7'0	Jr
12	Kenneth Lofton #2	Louisiana Tech	7.03	CUSA	6'7"	Fr
13	Mark Williams #15	Duke	6.96	ACC	7'0	So
14	Christian Koloko #35	Arizona	6.93	P12	7'1"	So
15	Jake Stephens #34	VMI	6.88	SC	6'11"	Sr
16	Isaiah Whaley #5	Connecticut	6.72	BE	6'9"	Sr
17	Keve Aluma #22	Virginia Tech	6.71	ACC	6'9"	Sr
18	Johni Broome #4	Morehead St.	6.68	OVC	6'10"	Fr
19	Osun Osunniyi #21	St. Bonaventure	6.65	A10	6'10"	Sr
20	JT Shumate #32	Toledo	6.56	MAC	6'7"	Jr
21	Gaige Prim #44	Missouri St.	6.48	MVC	6'9"	Sr
22	Javon Franklin #13	South Alabama	6.47	SB	6'7"	Sr
23	Yauhen Massalski #25	San Francisco	6.46	WCC	6'9"	Sr
24	Ryan Kalkbrenner #11	Creighton	6.45	BE	7'1"	So
25	Zach Edey #15	Purdue	6.45	B10	7'4"	So
26	Matthias Tass #11	Saint Mary's	6.44	WCC	6'10"	Sr
27	Jamal Cain #1	Oakland	6.42	Horz	6'7"	Sr
28	Isaiah Mobley #3	USC	6.39	P12	6'10"	Jr
29	Trevion Williams #50	Purdue	6.28	B10	6'10"	Sr
30	Drew Pember #4	UNC Asheville	6.13	BSth	6'10"	Jr
31	Darius Days #4	LSU	6.07	SEC	6'7"	Sr
32	Jaylin Williams #10	Arkansas	6.05	SEC	6'10"	So
33	Jalen Slawson #20	Furman	5.86	SC	6'7"	Sr
34	DaRon Holmes #15	Dayton	5.84	A10	6'10"	Fr
35	Bryson Williams #11	Texas Tech	5.8	B12	6'8"	Sr
36	Jesse Edwards #14	Syracuse	5.79	ACC	6'11"	Jr
37	Eric Dixon #43	Villanova	5.76	BE	6'8"	So
38	Andre Kelly #22	California	5.72	P12	6'9"	Sr
39	Graham Ike #33	Wyoming	5.7	MWC	6'9"	So
40	Luka Brajkovic #35	Davidson	5.61	A10	6'10"	Sr
41	Felipe Haase #22	Mercer	5.52	SC	6'9"	Sr
42	John Harrar #21	Penn St.	5.48	B10	6'9"	Sr
43	Nick Muszynski #33	Belmont	5.44	OVC	6'11"	Sr
44	Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua #23	Baylor	5.36	B12	6'8"	Jr
45	Enrique Freeman #25	Akron	5.35	MAC	6'7"	So
46	Pete Nance #22	Northwestern	5.32	B10	6'10"	Sr
47	Nate Watson #0	Providence	5.28	BE	6'10"	Sr
48	Josh Carlton #25	Houston	5.25	Amer	6'11"	Sr
49	Tanner Groves #35	Oklahoma	5.22	B12	6'10"	Sr
50	Myles Johnson #15	UCLA	5.16	P12	6'10"	Sr