Our Value Add Basketball Game is by far our most popular blog of all time. Our play-by-play of Bill Walton's UCLA team defeated Michael Jordan's UNC team for the title, also shows the semifinals with the recent Villanova champs and a surprise team in Draymond Greene's Michigan State team, but the 55,700 who downloaded the game and 98 all-time great teams likely had any combination of results.
With the real college basketball season kicking off Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, we are preparing 30 additional all-time great teams. While most great teams were included in the original set, we limited team game to one team per school from each century (the 20th and 21st) which led to including Bill Walton's undefeated UCLA team instead of Lew Alcindor's one loss UCLA team five years earlier and some great Duke teams and others being left out.
We decided to add 30 more teams to the all-time great teams in the game, allowing schools to have more than one team in a century if one of the following things was true; 1) an additional team from the same school was ranked as one of the top 50 schools in the country by this Bleacher Report story, a team featured one of the 50 greatest college players of all time according to this story, or a team had a great year last year that I wanted to add.
The following are the 36 new teams and what motivated us to add them to the game in the coming days.
Team
Year
Why Added
Arizona St.
1980
Bleacher's #43 team
Arkansas
1978
Bleacher #46 team
Baylor
2021
title and replace 2020 team
Colorado
2021
great last season
DePaul
1980
#45 Mark Aguirre & #41 team
Duke
1986
Bleacher's #31 team
Duke
2001
#36 Shane Battier
Georgia Tech
1990
Bleacher's #42 team
Gonzaga
2021
great season, replaces 2017
Holy Cross
1950
#39 Bob Cousy
Houston
2021
great last season
Houston
1983
#31 Hakeem Olajuwon
Illinois
1989
Bleacher's #47 team
Indiana
1981
Bleacher's #28 team
Iowa
2021
great last season
Jacksonville
1970
#30 Artis Gilmore
Kansas
1988
#26 Danny Manning
Kansas
1997
Bleacher's #39 team
Kentucky
1970
#35 Dan Issel
Kentucky
1948
Bleacher's #44 team
Loyola Marymount
1990
top offense all time 122 pts
LSU
1992
#46 Shaquille O'Neal
Maryland
1984
#25 Len Bias
Miami FL
1965
#28 Rick Barry
Michigan
1965
#32 Cazzie Russell
Michigan St.
2000
Bleacher's#32 team
Niagara
1970
#20 Calvin Murphy
North Carolina
1998
Bleacher's #37 team
Notre Dame
1981
Bleacher's #49 team
South Carolina
1973
Bleacher #50 team
St. Bonaventure
1970
#33 Bob Lanier
UCLA
2021
great last season
UCLA
1967
#1 Lew Alcindor
UNLV
1991
#29 Larry Johnson
UNLV
1987
Bleacher's #33 team
USC
2021
great last season
Once we add those teams we will repost them with the existing all-time teams, resulting in these 132 teams. We created made up six to eight team conferences or divisions just for fun in case anyone wanted to play teams in the same basic time and conference or area.
Since we invented the Value Add Basketball Game in February 2019, we have played a couple of hundred games, and had never had a team score 100 points in regulation until today. The game took 44 minutes to play - with the first card flipped at 1 p.m. and final card at 1:44 p.m.
The team that accomplished it was the only team with two players in the NBA Finals, Phoenix Suns' starter Mikal Bridges and injured Milwaukee Buck Donte DiVincenzo, from our 2-seed and the National Champion 2018 Villanova team.
The victim was the 2020 Creighton team, which does have a very poor defense (Adj. Def 0, worse than the average team's -3) but is happy to simply outscore opponents. The Blue Jays team in the game today actually won our 68-team Value Add Basketball Game championship after Covid cancelled their real Big East tournament game at halftime and March Madness. Ironically, that week I had breakfast with their point guard Marcus Zagarowski's parents as few blocks from Madison Square Gardne in disbelief that the hottest team in basketball (they had improved from 23rd to 7th in one month in the AP poll) would not have a chance at a real run as Covid collapses the world around us.
While one group of former Creighton players participated in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) airing on ESPN, as the Omaha Blue Crew, the VABG Creighton 2020 player cards were in our 8-team NBA Finals college alumni tournament due to Phoenix Sun Ty-shon Alexander, one if the trio of great 3-point shooting guards along with Zegarowski and Mitch Ballock. Those three all have the highest possible endurance of 44, meaning they play all 44 possessions of a VABG game.
At 1 p.m. Central today we flipped the first card in 7-seed Creighton's game against fellow Big East team and 3-seed Villanova, the 2018 national champs.
Zegarowski and Alexander combined for 4 first half 3-pointers and then Alexander hit another one to open the second half to give the Blue Jays a 39-34 lead in the upset big against the 2-seed Nova.
And then Villanova started to look like the team that blitzed Michigan in the 2018 National Title game with a 44-17 first half before cruising to victory. DiVincenzo hit a 3-pointer, then immediately stole the ball and fed it to center Spellman on a dunk plus foul to give Villanova their first lead of the game 41-39 with 18:30 to play. At the 8:17 mark Bridges had a steal, and was fouled on a dunk, hitting the free throw to make it 74-51 Nova less than 12 minutes after they trailed.
As usual., Nova won the turnover battle big 17-7, and doubled Creighton in the second half 72-36 for the most scoring in a half ever in a VABG game for an offensive efficiency of 1.95 points per trip (33 possessions in the second half, and there were a total of four extra in this game for fouls and steal/fast breaks in the final 9 possessions.
It was the first time a team every scored 100 points in regulation in a VABG game, with the final score of 106-72.
Villanova 2018 represents the Big East in our semifinal against another Big Ten foe, the 2015 Wisconsin team of Frank Kaminsky that stunned the Kentucky team that many considered the greatest team in history in the Final Four that year.
The other semifinal is an all-ACC game, with the 2019 champion Virginia Cavaliers facing the only upset winner of our opening rounds and only 2020 team, the 5-seed Louisville 2020 team upset Chris Paul's 4-seed Wake Forest 2005 team 80-79.
With the kickoff of the college basketball season, we calculated the projected player cards for 68 teams to enable you to play these season off as though there were no risk of interruption. The graphics team is laying out the cards, but if you want you can get started by printing out the teams you want to to play from the google sheet. The following is Duke as an example, and click here for the free game.
We chose the 10 players who would yield the best cards from those currently on this roster, however we noticed some of the JUCO transfers and transfers who had sat out a season (e.g. Sam Hauser with UVa) were not listed, so we added players from the Top 100 JUCO rankings as well as Jeff Goodman's rankings from 2019 tracking the key transfers who sat out the 2020 season but planned to play this season. We did not go beyond those three steps to verify if players were sitting out this year due to Covid, were injured, etc., but we hope this gives a realistic play for what would have happened this season without the interruptions Covid-19 may cause.
As for the teams we chose, we picked teams who had cards from last season because they would have made the NIT or NCAA. From there we picked teams we expect to make the NCAA tournament this year based on www.kenpom.com, and retained at least one team from each Conference. The six major conferences all had at east four teams, so we plan to have conference play between them. That left 30 teams from other divisions, and we divided them into three collective conferences (East, West and South-Central). Because those three collective conferences, as well as the Big Ten, feature 10 teams we broke them each into two groups.
You need to print this scoresheet to play the game.
The following is our breakdown of these divisions for our upcoming games, and I plan to track results on this google sheet.
This is a condensed post with a paragraph on every game of our 2020 NIT that might have been using player cards and the free Value Add Basketball Game. The more detailed post includes score sheets and more detail on each game as well as the already concluded NCAA 2020 and all-time tournaments.
In this post we summarize the 1st Round of our simulated NIT tournament starting with the top 5 individual performances in points, rebounds, steals and blocked shots. We then give the breakdown of the top offensive and defensive games by teams, and finally list games in the order of the bracket, and we seed 1- through 32- rather than break down into four 1-8 seeds. At the bottom we include the bracket itself.
Top Rebounds; Santos-Silva (VCU) 15, Oturu (Minnesota) 14, Mooney (ND) 13, Fulkerson (Tennessee) 13, French (St. Louis) 12, Holland (Radford) 12.
Top Steals; Champagnie (St. John's ) 6, Likekel (OK St.) 5, Hayes (Merrimack) 5, Jenkins (VCU) 5, Lomax (Memphis ) 5, Russell (Rhode Island) 5.
Top Blocks; Sidibe (Syracuse) 6, Oturu (Minnesota) 5, Dentlinger (South Dakota State) 5, Langevine (Rhode Island) 5, Haarms (Purdue ) 4, da Silva (Stanford ) 4, Pons (Tennessee) 4.
Biggest Margin - Purdue +21 vs Merrimack 74-53, runner-up VCU and Mississippi State +15 each, while three games went into overtime.
Best Offensive and Defensive Team Performances
Through the 16 1st Round NIT games using the Value Add Basketball game, teams averaged 71.2 possessions, whereas during the actual entire 2020 season teams average a possession less per game at 70.0. However, this is likely because three of the 16 Value Add games went into overtime.
In the 16 board games the average team score 1.01 points per possession, which is just below the 1.02 per possession from the entire real 2020 season, so the game seems to be just about right on target on both through the small sample of 16 games.
The following chart gives each team's points scored in their opening round game, divided by their possession, in order to rank them from the best offensive efficiency (Texas scoring 1.20 points per trip to edge Colgate) down to the best defensive effort (Purdue averaged allowing just 0.76 points per possession against Merrimack).
Offense (best top)
Defense (best bottom)
Points
Possessions
Efficiency
Ave. Real Season
70.0
68.4
1.02
Average Value Add
NIT 1st Round
71.2
70.5
1.01
Texas
Colgate
84
70
1.20
Colgate
Texas
82
70
1.17
Wright St.
Memphis
76
67
1.13
Alabama
Notre Dame
77
68
1.13
Arkansas
Murray St.
75
67
1.12
Rhode Island
Radford
79
71
1.11
Xavier
North Florida
79
71
1.11
Syracuse
Georgetown
73
66
1.11
Minnesota
Furman
75
68
1.10
VCU
Stanford
76
69
1.10
North Florida
Xavier
77
71
1.08
Purdue
Merrimack
74
69
1.07
St. John's
Connecticut
86
81
1.06
Murray St.
Arkansas
70
68
1.03
Oklahoma St.
South Alabama
70
68
1.03
S.Dakota St.
St. Louis
85
83
1.02
N. Iowa
Louisiana Tech
66
65
1.02
Connecticut
St. John's
83
82
1.01
Mississippi State
Tulsa
69
69
1.00
St. Louis
S.Dakota St.
83
83
1.00
Notre Dame
Alabama
68
69
0.99
Georgetown
Syracuse
66
67
0.99
Radford
Rhode Island
69
72
0.96
Furman
Minnesota
66
69
0.96
Louisiana Tech
N. Iowa
61
66
0.92
Memphis
Wright St.
62
68
0.91
Tennessee
South Carolina
62
70
0.89
Stanford
VCU
61
69
0.88
South Alabama
Oklahoma St.
58
69
0.84
South Carolina
Tennessee
58
71
0.82
Tulsa
Mississippi State
54
70
0.77
Merrimack
Purdue
53
70
0.76
1-Xavier vs. 32-North Florida ---16-UConn vs. 17-St. John's
Xavier 79, North Florida 77. North Florida's Ivan Gandia-Rosa, who just missed Atlantic Sun Value Add Player of the year, came within seconds of upsetting 1-seed Xavier. Having already drawn 5 fouls on Paul Scrugg's, he hit 2 free throws finish with 28 points and lead 77-76 with 16 seconds to play. Quintin Gooden missed a potential game-winner for Xavier, but Tyrique Jones grabbed the offensive rebound (game-high 9), fed the ball to Naji Marshall who scored the game-winner despite being fouled and hit the free throw to finish with a team-high 15 and deliver the 79-77 win.
St. John's 86, UConn 83 (OT): The fact that St. John's even forced a overtime was amazing, since UConn's Christian Vital (19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) dominated. However, St. John's then did one they do best, turning UConn over down the stretch. While UConn's 6-foot-11 Carlton dominating (12 points and 12 rebounds) most of the game, his shorter St. John's counterpart Champagnie had 6 steals en route to a team 16-8 edge in steals with several in the last 5 minutes. Figueroa hit two 3-pointers en route to his game high 23 points and Williams scored with 16 seconds left to close the amazing 24-14 run in the final 5 minutes to send the game into overtime 74-74.
Xavier vs. St. John's for pod.
8-Stanford vs. 25-VCU --- 9-Texas vs. 24-Colgate
VCU 76, Stanford 61: The first big upset of the 2020 NIT started at Stanford with a 13-0 blitz from VCU that made it 33-20 out of the gate. In a match-up of star shooting guards, VCU's De'Riante Jenkins stole the ball on two of the first four trips to lead the fast start. The other match-up of big stars featred the two centers with similar last names, as VCU's Marcus Santos-Silva (9 points, 15 rebounds) dominated the boards while Stanford's Oscar da Silva (10 points, 7 rebounds) was strong with four blocked shots. However, the surprise games by Douglas (9 points, 3 rebounds in limited time) and small forward Issac Vann (19 points, 7 rebounds).
Texas 84, Colgate 82: Texas coach Shaka Smart will only host his former team VCU in the 2nd round because his star Jericho Sims took over in the final minutes including the game-winner buzzer beater. The 44 possessions we play included 13 lead changes and 8 ties. Sims scored with 3:30 left to give Texas a 71-70 lead, then to tie it 73-73 on the next trip, then grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Courtney Ramsey to make it 75-73, then scored again for 77-75 lead for 6 points, and offensive rebound and assist in four trips. When Will Raymond capped his 27-point game with a game-tying 3-pointer to make it 82-82, before Sims beat the buzzer for the 84-82 win.
Texas vs. VCU.
4-St. Louis vs. 29-S.Dakota St. --- 13-Notre Dame vs.20-Alabama
South Dakota State 85, St. Louis 83 (OT). The Summit League's South Dakota State overcame a 14-point deficit, 24 fouls including both forwards fouling out and a monster performance by Jordan Goodwin (29 points, 10 rebounds) to stun St. Louis in overtime. Center Matt Dentlinger scored only 4 points but blocked his 5th shot to prevent a game-winner at the buzzer to force overtime. Douglas Wilson then scored 8 of his 21 points in overtime before fouling out as they scored 17 in overtime for the win.
Alabama 77, Notre Dame 68. Alabama overcame 18 turnovers and a bit of a home job at South Bend with a barrage of 3-pointers to advance. On roughly 100 rolls of the 4 dice per game (44 possessions per team plus some offensive rebounds and extra possessions for steals-fast breaks or fouls in the last 9 possessions) there is a one in 36 chance of a bad call favoring the home team that can slip a roll of 36 (foul) and 66 (non foul). The refs missed four Notre Dame fouls, one more bad call than average. However, Bama hit four 3-pointers in their first 6 possessions to take a 32-20 lead and they never trailed behind double digits from their trio of stars in PG Kira Lewis (16 points), SG Jaden Shacekford (18) and John Petty (12).
5-Rhode Island vs. 28-Radford --- 12-Mississippi State vs. 21-Tulsa
Rhode Island 79, Radford 69. In a match-up of 2 of the best point guards in the country, Radford's Carlick Jones (21 points, 9 fouls drawn) gave Fatts Russell (17 points, 5 steals) and his Rhode Island teammates all they could handle. Radford led 50-49 with 10:48 to play, however Rhode Island's mismatch edge at the other 4 positions - as the shooting guard (Jeff Dowton 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and small forward (21 points, 9 rebounds) helped them pull away for the double digit win.
Mississippi St. 69, Tulsa 54. Reggie Perry, a www.valueaddbasketball.com SEC All-Star, led a 7-man rotation with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tulsa's balanced attack with four players in the top 10 percent of all players actually won the turnover battle (14-17) and drew many more fouls (11-19) but simply could not hit their shots in this night - falling behind by 20 on a Reggie Perry dunk with 9:31 to play, 35-55, and never threatening.
2-Purdue vs. 31-Merrimack --- 15-Syracuse vs. 18-Georgetown
Purdue 74, Merrimack 53: After 2 NIT games that came down to final shots, Purdue dominated as expected behind 7-foot-3 Matt Haarms (12 pts, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks) and the sharp-shooting of Sasha Stefanovic (22 points). The game was not within 10 points after Stefanovic hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-34 with 16:51 to play. Jurvaris (16 points, 5 steals) led Merrimack, the biggest surprise team of their first season moving up from Division II to Division I and winning the NEC after being picked to finish 11th of 11 teams.
Syracuse 73, Georgetown 66: John Thompson's stunning upset in the final game played Syracuse in Syracuse's Manley Field House is so famous that if you start to type Manley Field House in google it will add the rest of Thompson's quote "Manley Field House is Officially Closed." Every game Georgetown trip to the currrent Carrier Dome brings back that memory, but on this game the strength of Syracuse forwards - superstar Elijah Hughes (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Marek Dolezaj (15, 8) dominated their Hoya rivals 27-8 in points and 16-11 in rebounds. With the promising backcourt of James Akinjo and Mac McClung play limited minutes each game based on their injury plagued season the backcourt did not have enough as Syracuse point guard Joseph Girard scored 20 points. Though it was close the whole way, Syracuse never trailed.
7-OK St. vs. 26-S. Alabama --- 10-Memphis vs. 23-Wright St.
Oklahoma State 70, South Alabama 58: South Alabama (USA) dominated the boards to lead 47-42 with 10:45 (18 possessions) to play, but USA big men Trhae Mitchell and later Josh Ajayi (8 points, 9 rebounds) fouled out to let Cameron McGriff (18 points, 8 rebounds) take over inside down the stretch to lead Oklahoma State's 70-58 NIT 1st round win.
Wright St. 72, Memphis 62. Memphis started the season with potentially the top player in the country in Wiseman and national title hopes, but ended with a 42-point loss to Cincinnati that would have left then in the NIT. Switching to our simulated NIT, it continued downhill with a 1st round NIT loss as the offense could not click despite 13 steals leading to many fast break chances. The Horizon League's Wright State continued Butler's tradition of upsets, dominating underneath with power forward Bill Wampler (18 points, 7 resbounds) and center Loudon Love (15,7) holding their two counterparts to a total of 15 and 11. Love is one of the few players who gets the ball on 3 of 8 die rolls when on the court, a 5,7 or 8.
3-Arkansas vs. 30-Murray St. --- 14-Tennessee vs. 19-South Carolina Tennessee 62, South Carolina 58. During the real season included two defensive slugfests with the home teams winning - Tennessee 56-55, then South Carolina won 63-61. At the end of the season www.kenpom.com ranked Tennessee 68th and South Carolina 69th and overall we gave Tennessee the home court advantage based on an NIT 14-seed vs. a 19-seed for South Carolina in our Value Add NIT rematch. Once again, the home team won a defensive battle with Tennessee taking the game 62-58. Tournaments do not actually allow conference foes to meet in opening rounds but we simply seeded 1 to 32 and went straight by the match-ups. In the defensive battle, the Vols dominated inside for a 44-37 rebound edge that included Yves Pons (12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks) and John Fulkerson (8 points, 13 rebounds).
Arkansas 75,Murray State 70. Murray State's Anthony Smith drew 9 fouls including fouling out 3-point specialist Isaiah Joe to make it 53-46 Murray State. The Racers looked ready to follow-up on their real 1st round NCAA upset of Marquette. However last year Ja Morant was the best player in the court, and as good as Murray State's Tevin Brown (10 points, 7 rebounds), Arkansas' Jimmy Whitt (16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) was top www.valueaddbasketball.com player on the court and he took over in the final 2 minutes to avoid the upset. Whitt had 2 steals and dunk to lead a 6-0 run to end the game with the 75-70 win.
Arkansas vs Tennessee
6-N. Iowa vs. 27-Louisiana Tech --- 11-Minnesota vs. 22-Furman
Northern Iowa 66, Louisiana Tech 61. Northern Iowa never trailed, but when La Tech's DaQuan Bracket scored to tie it 61-61 with 1:30 to play it was up to Isaiah Brown to score his first points of the game. Brown drew a foul going up for a 3-pointer and was fouled, hitting 2 of 3 free throws for the 63-61 lead. AJ Green hit a 3-pointer on Northern Iowa's next trip to wrap up his game-high 17 point game and the 66-61 win. Northern Iowa did get a bit of a home job with four missed calls going their way - one more than the average three more calls in a game.
Minnesota 75, Furman 66. Point guards Jordan Lyons (Furman) and Marcus Carr (Minnesota) tied for the 4th best scoring games of the first round (23 each) to keep it close, until Minnesota www.valueaddbasketball.com All-American Daniel
Oturu took over the final 12 minutes. Oturu's 5 blocked shots were the second best total of the opening round, and one of them with 11:22 to go kept Minnesota within 48-46, and then he dunked on consecutive trips to make it 50-48. Oturu also grabbed 14 rebounds, the second most of anyone in the opening round, and added 18 points for the most dominant overall performance of the 16 opening round games.
Paragraph summary posted when each game ends, and photo of score sheet a starters posted here.
Game results continue to be added most recent first - scroll down to "Game Results." Click here for the shorter description of each game. Top Performances at bottom of blog.
Thursday night basketball resumed in the bubble and the 36,000th visitor went to our free Value Add Basketball Game. In that light, we shifted for a night from our Statis-Pro basketball league. Using these player cards we already crowned the 2020 NCAA champ (Creighton defeated Duke in title game in tournament in which 37% of games were upsets - better seed went 40-23). The all-time Champ (Bill Walton's UCLA, which did crush Creighton in a match of the two champions).
With 20 teams left, the A10, ACC, Amer, B10, B12, BE, BSth, CUSA, MVC, SEC, SC and Sum Conferences (using www.kenpom.com abbreviations) Are All Alive
Game Results - NIT that might have been (most recent game on top, so far 31% upsets, better seed 11-5). The accounts of each game with a score sheet appear below the bracket.
We did set up an NIT tournament, but had only played one game (Oklahoma State defeated South Alabama). Obviously the marque teams all played in our NCAA, so looking back at our bracket we decided to play the most evenly matched game. We seeded the 32 teams from 1 to 32 rather than four regions of 8 seeds, and that left 17-seed St. John's visiting 16-seed UConn.
Unlike our NCAA tournaments played at neutral sites, we use the home advantage for NIT games until the Final Four. The home advantage in the game is that the home team can always flip a dice roll of 36 and 66 to their advantage. In this traditional Big East match-up (UConn will return to the Big East this year) the Huskies did get three calls - all missed four calls that hurt St. John's. Caraher misses shot with 3:07 to go in the first half, Heron drove to the hoop with 15:01 to play and missed with a no call, and finally in overtime Dunn tried to break a 76-76 tie and missed after a no call.
11-Minnesota 75, 22-Furman 66.
Point guards Jordan Lyons (Furman) and Marcus Carr (Minnesota) tied for the 4th best scoring games of the first round (23 each) to keep it close, until Minnesota www.valueaddbasketball.com All-American Daniel Oturu took over the final 12 minutes. Oturu's 5 blocked shots were the second best total of the opening round, and one of them with 11:22 to go kept Minnesota within 48-46, and then he dunked on consecutive trips to make it 50-48. Oturu also grabbed 14 rebounds, the second most of anyone in the opening round, and added 18 points for the most dominant overall performance of the 16 opening round games.
6-Northern Iowa 66, 27-Louisiana Tech 61
Northern Iowa never trailed, but when La Tech's DaQuan Bracket scored to tie it 61-61 with 1:30 to play it was up to Isaiah Brown to score his first points of the game. Brown drew a foul going up for a 3-pointer and was fouled, hitting 2 of 3 free throws for the 63-61 lead. AJ Green hit a 3-pointer on Northern Iowa's next trip to wrap up his game-high 17 point game and the 66-61 win. Northern Iowa did get a bit of a home job with four missed calls going their way - one more than the average three more calls in a game.
12-Mississippi St. 69, 21-Tulsa 54.
Reggie Perry, a www.valueaddbasketball.com SEC All-Star, led a 7-man rotation with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tulsa's balanced attack with four players in the top 10 percent of all players actually won the turnover battle (14-17) and drew many more fouls (11-19) but simply could not hit their shots in this night - falling behind by 20 on a Reggie Perry dunk with 9:31 to play, 35-55, and never threatening.
5-Rhode Island 79, 23-Radford 69.
In a match-up of 2 of the best point guards in the country, Radford's Carlick Jones (21 points, 9 fouls drawn) gave Fatts Russell (17 points, 5 steals) and his Rhode Island teammates all they could handle. Radford led 50-49 with 10:48 to play, however Rhode Island's mismatch edge at the other 4 positions - as the shooting guard (Jeff Dowton 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and small forward (21 points, 9 rebounds) helped them pull away for the double digit win.
14-Tennessee 62, 19-South Carolina 58
During the real season included two defensive slugfests with the home teams winning - Tennessee 56-55, then South Carolina won 63-61. At the end of the season www.kenpom.com ranked Tennessee 68th and South Carolina 69th and overall we gave Tennessee the home court advantage based on an NIT 14-seed vs. a 19-seed for South Carolina in our Value Add NIT rematch. Once again, the home team won a defensive battle with Tennessee taking the game 62-58. Tournaments do not actually allow conference foes to meet in opening rounds but we simply seeded 1 to 32 and went straight by the match-ups. In the defensive battle, the Vols dominated inside for a 44-37 rebound edge that included Yves Pons (12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks) and John Fulkerson (8 points, 13 rebounds).
29-South Dakota State 85, 4-St. Louis 83 (OT) - 68-68 to end of regulation.
The Summit League's South Dakota State overcame a 14-point deficit, 24 fouls including both forwards fouling out and a monster performance by Jordan Goodwin (29 points, 10 rebounds) to stun St. Louis in overtime. Center Matt Dentlinger scored only 4 points but blocked his 5th shot to prevent a game-winner at the buzzer to force overtime. Douglas Wilson then scored 8 of his 21 points in overtime before fouling out as they scored 17 in overtime for the win.
3-Arkansas 75, 30-Murray State 70
Murray State's Anthony Smith drew 9 fouls including fouling out 3-point specialist Isaiah Joe
To make it 53-46 Murray State. The Racers looked ready to follow-up on their real 1st round NCAA upset of Marquette. However last year Ja Morant was the best player in the court, and as good as Murray State's Tevin Brown (10 points, 7 rebounds), Arkansas' Jimmy Whitt (16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) was top www.valueaddbasketball.com player on the court and he took over in the final 2 minutes to avoid the upset. Whitt had 2 steals and dunk to lead a 6-0 run to end the game with the 75-70 win.
23-Wright St. 72, 10-Memphis 62: Memphis started the season with potentially the top player in the country in Wiseman and national title hopes, but ended with a 42-point loss to Cincinnati that would have left then in the NIT. Switching to our simulated NIT, it continued downhill with a 1st round NIT loss as the offense could not click despite 13 steals leading to many fast break chances. The Horizon League's Wright State continued Butler's tradition of upsets, dominating underneath with power forward Bill Wampler (18 points, 7 resbounds) and center Loudon Love (15,7) holding their two counterparts to a total of 15 and 11. Love is one of the few players who gets the ball on 3 of 8 die rolls when on the court, a 5,7 or 8.
9-Texas 84, 24-Colgate 82: Texas coach Shaka Smart will only host his former team VCU in the 2nd round because his star Jericho Sims took over in the final minutes including the game-winner buzzer beater. The 44 possessions we play included 13 lead changes and 8 ties. Sims scored with 3:30 left to give Texas a 71-70 lead, then to tie it 73-73 on the next trip, then grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Courtney Ramsey to make it 75-73, then scored again for 77-75 lead for 6 points, and offensive rebound and assist in four trips. When Will Raymond capped his 27-point game with a game-tying 3-pointer to make it 82-82, before Sims beat the buzzer for the 84-82 win.
20-Alabama 77, 13-Notre Dame 68. Alabama overcame 18 turnovers and a bit of a home job at South Bend with a barrage of 3-pointers to advance. On roughly 100 rolls of the 4 dice per game (44 possessions per team plus some offensive rebounds and extra possessions for steals-fast breaks or fouls in the last 9 possessions) there is a one in 36 chance of a bad call favoring the home team that can slip a roll of 36 (foul) and 66 (non foul). The refs missed four Notre Dame fouls, one more bad call than average. However, Bama hit four 3-pointers in their first 6 possessions to take a 32-20 lead and they never trailed behind double digits from their trio of stars in PG Kira Lewis (16 points), SG Jaden Shacelford (18) and John Petty (12).
15-Syracuse 73, 18-Georgetown 66. John Thompson's stunning upset in the final game played Syracuse in Syracuse's Manley Field House is so famous that if you start to type Manley Field House in google it will add the rest of Thompson's quote "Manley Field House is Officially Closed." Every game Georgetown trip to the currrent Carrier Dome brings back that memory, but on this game the strength of Syracuse forwards - superstar Elijah Hughes (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Marek Dolezaj (15, 8) dominated their Hoya rivals 27-8 in points and 16-11 in rebounds. With the promising backcourt of James Akinjo and Mac McClung play limited minutes each game based on their injury plagued season the backcourt did not have enough as Syracuse point guard Joseph Girard scored 20 points. Though it was close the whole way, Syracuse never trailed.
25-VCU 76, 8-Stanford 61
The first big upset of the 2020 NIT started at Stanford with a 13-0 blitz from VCU that made it 33-20 out of the gate. In a match-up of star shooting guards, VCU's De'Riante Jenkins stole the ball on two of the first four trips, and on two others back-up Corey Douglas grabbed offensive rebounds and on one of the steals Douglas completed a 4-point play off the steal from Jenkins.
The other match-up of big stars featred the two centers with similar last names, as VCU's Marcus Santos-Silva (9 points, 15 rebounds) dominated the boards while Stanford's Oscar da Silva (10 points, 7 rebounds) was strong with four blocked shots. However, the surprise games by Douglas (9 points, 3 rebounds in limited time) and small forward Issac Vann (19 points, 7 rebounds).
The upset brought back memories of VCU's team that Jay Bilas said should never have been invited to the tournament, but made the miracle run to the Final Four. That team is in our great teams in the game, featuring Bradford Burgess. When Burgess played for my alma mater, Benedictine High School, I once watched him help win a battle of two of Virginia's Top 10 teams. Our Cadets beat TC Williams, the inspiration for the movie Remember the Titans, and Burgess teammate and future NBA player Ed Davis had my favorite stat line ever - 30 points, 20 rebounds, 10 blocked shots.
2-Purdue 74, 31-Merrimack 53
After 2 NIT games that came down to final shots, Purdue dominated as expected behind 7-foot-3 Matt Haarms (12 pts, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks) and the sharp-shooting of Sasha Stefanovic (22 points).
The game was not within 10 points after Stefanovic hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-34 with 16:51 to play. Jurvaris (16 points, 5 steals) led Merrimack, the biggest surprise team of their first season moving up from Division II to Division I and winning the NEC after being picked to finish 11th of 11 teams.
Here are the top players in the NEC.
1-Xavier 79, 32-North Florida 77
North Florida's Ivan Gandia-Rosa, who just missed Atlantic Sun Value Add Player of the year, came within seconds of upsetting 1-seed Xavier. Having already drawn 5 fouls on Paul Scrugg's, he hit 2 free throws finish with 28 points and lead 77-76 with 16 seconds to play.
Quintin Gooden missed a potential game-winner for Xavier, but Tyrique Jones grabbed the offensive rebound (game-high 9), fed the ball to Naji Marshall who scored the game-winner despite being fouled and hit the free throw to finish with a team-high 15 and deliver the 79-77 win.
Here are the top rated ASun players in the past season.
17-St. John's 86, 16-UConn 83 (74-74 end of regulation)
Here is a picture of the score sheet and five starters for each team, except we accidentally put Mustapha Heron of St. John's on the second line of players even though he is a starter. You can click on and blow up the photo to see the running score and the stats marked for each players points, rebounds, steals, turnovers, blocks and fouls:
The team's players all now come on one sheet so you can cut them into 10 cards or just keep the sheet together.
The fact that St. John's even forced overtime was amazing, since UConn's Christian Vital (19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) dominated for a stretch - on three straight trips hitting a 3-pointer, getting an offensive rebound and kicking out to Gilbert for a 3-pointer and then coming up with a steal and fast break dunk to complete an 8-0 run to go from down 32-33 to up 40-32.
With 6-foot-11 Carlton dominating (12 points and 12 rebounds) dominating the offensive boards against the smaller St. John's, UConn maintained the lead and led 60-50 with just 5 minutes to play.
However, St. John's then did one they do best, turning UConn over down the stretch. While the lack of height hurt until that point, center Champagnie had 6 steals en route to a team 16-8 edge in steals with several in the last 5 minutes. Figueroa hit two 3-pointers en route to his game high 23 points and Willams scored with 16 seconds left to close the amazing 24-14 run in the final 5 minutes to send the game into overtime 74-74.
With 1:30 left, St. John's had a 4-point trip when Dunn stole the ball and scored on the fast break while being fouled, then missed the free throw by Champagnie who put it in to cut the score to 71-65.
Dunn and Figueroa took over in OT to advance St. John's 86-83 to face the winner of 1-seed Xavier vs. 32-seed North Florida.
Here is the complete bracket, followed by the breakdown of the one NIT game we played before the break.
NIT Games with Home Court Advantage
7-Oklahoma State 70, 26-South Alabama 58
South Alabama (USA) dominated the boards to lead 47-42 with 10:45 (18 possessions) to play.
However, USA big men Trhae Mitchell and later Josh Ajayi (8 points, 9 rebounds) fouled out to let Cameron McGriff (18 points, 8 rebounds) take over inside down the stretch to lead Oklahoma State's 70-68 NIT 1st round win.
Since our NCAA tournament was played using neutral court rules, this was the first time a game was played as a home game, and two calls hurt USA. The refs missed a call (36 roll) that prevented Mitchell from hitting a 3-pointer and instead caused a turnover. Later Mitchell's 5th foul was on a good call but one that would have been overlooked (also 36 roll) if South Alabama were at home.
From the time Mitchell fouled out USA was outscored 28-11 in part because of several OSU baskets on shots Mitchell would have blocked if still in the game.
With the other two front line players fouled out, USA's Chad Lott (16 points) kept it close for a while, but OSU's point guard Isaac Likelele (9 points, 5 steals) helped OSU win the turnover battle 16 to 8.
The following photo is of the first game played with the team sheets rather than the bigger playing cards. All 10 players on each team are on their sheet, though in the photo we just show the 5.starters across the top and the scoresheet at the top.
December 20, 2025 Update: More than 100,000 unique visitors have used these Value Add Basketball Game instructions—thank you! I always appreciate your questions at pudnerjohn@gmail.com.
Note one recent change if the 51-66 roll falls in the team's STOP range for the game. Updated 1/31/2026. If a STOP occurs on a spot in which a missed shot automatically goes to a specific defender, then the shot is missed and that is what happen. If the STOP occurs on a possession on which a missed shot would result in referring to the rebound chart, then the play might be a turnover or a missed shot and rebound. On those possessions, if the defender's defensive rebound range is None, 1-1, 1-2 or 1-3 then record a turnover. On any better rebound range score as a missed shot and the defender on the player with the ball grabs the rebound without going to the rebound chart. In either case, a roll in the stop range means the team gives the ball up without scoring. Also keep in mind that if a STOP or DUNK range is very high - like the max for either 51-66 - then both team's dunk range can be adjusted as long as the different between the two is the same. So if one team had a 51-66 STOP and the other team had a 51-61 STOP that is a difference of 5, so the two ranges could be adjusted to something like STOP 51-56 and 51-51 - still a difference of 5.
START HERE – Print Teams & Scoresheet
Get every team in the game and print instantly at this link:
That page always gives you: • The printable scoresheet • A complete alphabetical directory of 300 men’s teams and 66 women’s teams • Individual team pages with all player cards
If you only need teams and a scoresheet, that site gives you everything you need in seconds.
Quick Answers to the Most Common Question
Do you have to use the Dunk/Stop Range system? YES. Absolutely. On every roll of 51–66, you MUST check the Dunk/Stop chart first to see whether it is:
• An automatic basket, or • A defensive stop / turnover
This is essential because teams in earlier eras shot far lower percentages (averaged under 30% in the 1940s) and the system equalizes eras while preserving realism. The breakdown and explanation is here.
If You’re New to the Game
If you’re learning for the first time:
1️⃣ Go to https://vab.grokwhy.com/ 2️⃣ Print the scoresheet 3️⃣ Print two teams 4️⃣ Then continue reading below for full instructions
If you already know how to play, you can skip the tutorial and start rolling.
The Value Add Basketball Game (VABG) is designed to be the fastest and most accurate way to simulate matchups among college basketball’s all-time great teams (1939–Present). Once you learn the rhythm, games typically take 30–60 minutes, and can be played solo or head-to-head.
Table of Contents (Quick Reference)
Setup • Print Scoresheet • Choose Teams or Draft Players • Dice or Fast Action Cards • Fill Out Scoresheet • Determine Dunk Range (51–66)
Click and print any team. Each team page includes:
• Full roster cards • Team strength rating (+ / – value compared to average great team)
Example: A +3 team vs a –4 team means the +3 team is a 7-point favorite.
Based on hundreds of played games, results match expectations closely: • 1–6 point favorites win ~61% • 7–12 point favorites win ~81% • 13–17 point favorites win ~88% • Favorites of 18+ have won every game so far
Option B — Draft Superstar Teams
You may also: • Draft from the greatest men’s players • Draft from the greatest women’s players (Top 40 list available) • Print each player card individually
Cut and use only the drafted players. However, when playing a set team you can leave the 10 players on one page and then used dimes and pennies to decide who is in the game.
3️⃣ Dice or Fast Action Cards
You may play with either:
• 4 dice – one 8-sided – two 6-sided (different colors; declare which is “tens” and which is “ones”) – one 20-sided
Players naturally became more athletic and technically advanced over time—but this game evaluates how dominant teams and players were in their own era. Ratings normalize eras so “all-time” matchups are fair.
10 STEPS TO PLAY A VALUE ADD BASKETBALL GAME
(The following example uses 1972 UCLA vs 1982 UNC.)
Step 1 — Fill Out the Scoresheet
Write the 10 players of each team in listed order.
Example UNC lineup: PG Jimmy Black SG Matt Doherty SF Michael Jordan PF James Worthy C Sam Perkins
Step 2 — Determine Dunk / Stop Range (51–66)
Write each team’s Dunk Range at the top of the scoresheet.
Example: UNC: 51–55 UCLA: 51–65
Then apply Dunk Range Adjustments:
UCLA has –7 adjustment against UNC → UNC’s range becomes 51–52 STOP UNC has –12 defense, reducing UCLA to 51–53 DUNK
Record: UNC — “51–52 STOP” UCLA — “51–53 DUNK”
Sometimes one superstar has his own dunk range separate from teammates.
If you do not use Dunk / Stop Ranges, results will NOT be accurate.
Step 3 — Start the Game
Men’s Game: Start tied 20–20 Each player begins with 2 points recorded Represents 22 completed possessions; 44 remain (plus possible extra late possessions)
Women’s Game: Treat this as after the 1st quarter Start tied 14–14 going into 2nd quarter
Step 4 — Determine Who Has the Ball (8-sided die)
Use coins to track who can receive the ball:
Penny = 1 number Dime = 2 numbers - such as "gets ball 5-C & 8" Two dimes = 3 numbers - such as "gets ball 1-PG & 6 and 7
To tip off UNC vs. UCLA, Michael Jordan actually sits out just the very first possession (possession 44) then plays from possessions 43-1 - so in the pitcher below he has no coin and on sub on the 2nd line has a dime for the first possession, then all of UCLAs players n the game are show at the bottom.
On a roll of "4" for UNC, you would count the coins from left to right and James Worthy would get the ball since his is 4th (of all coins, doesn't matter dime or penny for if roll is 1-5.
Then if UCLA rolled an "8" on their turn you only count dimes left to right for the 6, 7 or 8, and since Bill Walton has two dimes he gets the ball and would always get it on a 5, 7 or 8.
Step 5 — Defense Check (11–66 Roll)
Use declared tens / ones 6-sided dice. Result depends on whether possession was a player possession (1–5) or team defense possession (6–8).
If the roll is 11-16, see if the defender on the player who got the ball has the roll in their steal range, and if so they steal the ball. If not, check the 20-sided die in the next step.
If the roll is 21-26, see if the defender on the player with the ball blocks the shot in that range.
If the roll is 31, it can be stolen, but only if any defender on the court has a steal range listed as either 11-20, or 11-16(31) - they mean the same thing.
If the roll is 32, the shot can be blocked but only if any defender on the court has a block range of 21-30 or 21-26(32) - they also mean the same thing.
If the roll is 33-36, see if it is in the defenders foul range. In other cases a defensive result on the 11-66 overrules the 20-sided die, but if the defender commits a foul on one of these numbers, we also check the 20-sided die to determine if the shooter made a 3-point or 2-point shot AND gets one free throw, or if he missed the whether or not he gets 3 shots on a missed 3 or 2 shots on a missed 2. If the result of this roll and the 20-sided dice are both fouls then the player gets a 1-and-1 free throw the first time it happens and gets 2 shots every other time.
If the roll is 41-46, consult the OFFENSIVE players card to determine if he turned the ball over.
Step 6 — Dunk / Stop Rule (51–66)
This is mandatory.
Green Range = Dunk unless alternative option chosen Red Range = Stop
Includes: • Stop = Updated 1/31/2026. If a STOP occurs on a spot in which a missed shot automatically goes to a specific defender, then the shot is missed and that is what happen. If the STOP occurs on a possession on which a missed shot would result in referring to the rebound chart, then the play might be a turnover or a missed shot and rebound. On those possessions, if the defender's defensive rebound range is None, 1-1, 1-2 or 1-3 then record a turnover. On any better rebound range score as a missed shot and the defender on the player with the ball grabs the rebound without going to the rebound chart. In either case, a roll in the stop range means the team gives the ball up without scoring.
Step 7 — Shot Resolution (20-Sided Die)
If no steal / block / turnover occurred on the 11-66 roll, then refer to the 20-sided die:
Example Jordan: 1–2 → 3-pointer good 3–9 → 2-pointer good 10–12 → foul, two free throws 13–20 → miss (a 13-15 is a missed 3-pointer, which only matters if he is also fouled as that would give him three free throws instead of 2).
Step 8 — Free Throws
If the 20-sided die indicates a foul resulting in free
throws:
Roll
the 20-sided die twice (or 3 times if fouled on missed 3-pointer)
Compare
each roll to the free-throw made range on the shooter’s card.
Record
made/miss and update the score.
If the shooter is fouled while making a basket, roll
once for the “and-1.”
If the foul creates a last 9 possessions extra possession
situation, record the extra possession on the scoresheet (see below)
Step 9 — Missed Shots and Rebounds
If a shot misses and:
Possession
is not shaded → rebound automatically to the defender whose position is listed on the scoresheet.
Possession
is shaded → roll a single 6-sided die and the 20 sided die.
Check
the rebound chart on scoresheet against the 20-sided die, it will tell you which position, offense or defense at one of the 5 spots, as the chance to get the rebound.
If the 6-sided roll is within the players range then he gets the rebound - if not then the player up against him gets it.
Some rebound ranges are higher than 1-6, and that is only important if a 10 or 20 is rolled on that dice, the only two numbers that do not go to a position but instead say the rebound goes to the highest range of all 10 players on the court. in the case of two players being tied for the highest range, the offensive player gets the ball.
It is harder for the offense to get a rebound when they miss a free throw (20%) than when they miss a field goal (40%). Therefore, if a team misses a free throw change the following results:
If the rebound chart results in one of the two offensive guards OR the player who missed the free throw getting the rebound, instead the rebound goes to the defender with the highest defensive rebound range.
The only exception is that on a 10 or 20 roll if the player missing the free throw has the highest range on the court he can grab his own miss.
If an offensive rebound occurs:
Record
rebound
Roll
the dice and play another possession normally, but rolls of 6, 7 or 8 go to the player who grabbed the offensive rebound AND the 20-sided die on the roll after an offensive rebound is lowered by 1 to increase the chances of scoring BUT if the player getting the offensive rebound is then gets a "3-pointer made" on the 20-sided die, score as a 2-pointer.
Step 10 — Fouls, Foul Outs & 3-point Strategy
Avoiding fouls. If a star player picks up a 3rd or 4th foul. a couple of steps may be taken to try to avoid them fouling out of the game with a 5th foul..
The player can move one position left or right to guard a player with a smaller foul range (if a center was guarding a center who drew a foul on a 10-14, they could choose to guard the power forward instead with a 9-10 range to give less chance of a foul).
A player can be declared to be playing "soft defense" to avoid a foul, but it will allow a lot more points. In this case all rolls of 33-36 are made baskets but no fouls. The player can only steal on 11 or block a shot on 12. The opposing player's dunk range is 3 higher than the rest of the team.
Trying for 3 pointers if way behind in final 9 possessions:
Every player can add to their three point range as long as they do not more than double their range AND for everyone number that increases that range the highest 2-point made number is changed to a turnover. So a 3-point made range of 1-1 and 2-point made range of 2-7 can only be changed to 1-2 and 3-6. A player with ranges of 1-4 on 3 point shot made and 5-8 on 2-point shots made can change to 1-6 three-point shot made and 7-8 turnover.
Additionally, you can bring players off the bench with higher 3-point ranges.
Step 11 — Substitutions and Stamina
Your scoresheet already assumes each player has scored once
and that the game begins with 44 possessions remaining and the score tied 20-20 before you roll your first dice.
Guidelines:
In our game it is better to put the bench players in first and once the starters can finish the rest of the game (e.g. a Stamina of 39 could come into the game and play possessions 39 - 1 after sitting out 44-40).
If a player is in the game for more possessions than he has stamina, then each number on the 20-sided die or the 11-66 roll is adjusted 1 against him because he is tired. So if a player's stamina has run out and he draws a foul on a 10-11 and he is out of stamina and he rolls an 11, then it would be changed to a 12 and he would miss the shot. If his rebound range was 1-3 and he rolled a 3 after running out of stamina, it would be changed to a 4 and he would not get the rebound, etc.
When a
player subs out:
Move
their coin or dime to the entering player
No
more than three dimes may be on the court at once to get the ball on 6, 7 and 8.
A player can only get a dime if their card has a 6, 7 or 8 after their position but the numbers are interchangable, so a player with a dime for a "6"on their card might actually get the ball on rolls of 8.
If the line-up has only 2 dimes then no one can get a shot off on a roll of "8." If only one dime then no one gets it on a 7 or 8, and if no dimes then no one gets it on 6, 7 or 8. If this happens the shot clock is running low, so roll all dice again and if the second 8-sided roll is a 1-5 then that player tries to score, but on the second roll any 6, 7 or 8 is a shot clock violation and turnover.
Step 12 — Last 9 Possessions ("Crunch Time")
The final 9 possessions simulate the strategic final minutes
of a real basketball game.
Key differences:
Fast
Breaks create extra possessions. At any point in the game if either of the two guards steals the ball, they can declare he is going on a fast break in which case, any roll of 6, 7 or 8 stays with the player who stole he ball, and the 20-sided die number is lowered by 1 to give him or any player a good chance of stealing the ball. A center who steals the ball cannot attempt a fast break. A forward has the option of a fast break only if the steal occurs on an odd number - 11, 13, 15 or 31. If a team is ahead and gets a steal they do not need to start a fast break.
Fouls create extra possessions. If either team is fouled in the last 9 possessions then both teams can an extra possession. A team that is behind can also try for a "steal or foul" in which case the 20-sided die is not rolled. The 8-sided die determines who gets the ball, and if the 11-16 number is a steal or a 41-46 is a turnover then that results, but on any other result the play is automatically a foul and two free throws.
Track extra possessions by recording the added possession
score in the upper left of the box for that possession for the initial play then another number in the lower right corner for the extra position. So a team with 72 points might score a 2-pointers to get a 74 written upper left corner, then if on the extra possession if they made a 3-pointer then a 77 could be written.
Step 13 — Overtime
If the score is tied at the end:
Play 9
additional possessions
Continue
stamina and foul situation as-is
Repeat
as needed until a winner is determined
You can record the overtime possessions so they lineup with the final 9 possessions but just right them in to the right of the rebound chart.
Step 14 — Strategy
Place
best steal defenders toward the left - PG-1 and SG-2 can try to fast break on any steal, so it's better if they get the steal.
Place
best rebounders toward the right. The rebound chart gives the center a chance at the rebound on 6 of 20 numbers, each of the forwards on 4 of 20 numbers, each of the guards on just 2 of every 20 numbers and then on a roll of 10 or 20 it goes to the highest range on the court.
Always
record:
Points
Fouls
Rebounds
Steals
Blocks
Turnovers
(Your scoresheet is designed to make this easy) Once in a while we finish a game and the points on our running score are slightly off from the total of the players points we recorded. In those cases always use the running score if the game is close since it effects decisions made while playing the games. However, in a lopsided game you can choose if you want to adjust the final score by 1 to match up with the player totals you recorded.
Step 15 — Optional Advance Rules on Steals and Blocked Shots
Using the basic rules, steals or blocked shots are always made by the player guarding the player with the ball. if using advanced rules, this is still the case if the 8-sided die is 1-5.
However, under advanced rules an 8-sided roll of 6, 7 or 8 results in "team defense" being played - which improves the game because one player with high steals and blocked shots cannot shut down an opposing star. If advanced rules are chosen and a 6, 7 or 8 is rolled then:
On a roll of 14-16 or 31 there is NEVER a steal.
On a roll of 13, any player on the court with a 11-20 or 11-16(31) can steal the ball.
On a roll of 12, any player with 11-16 can steal the ball.
On a roll of 11, any player with 11-13 or higher can steal.
If no defender comes up with a steal then there is no steal and go to the 20-sided die.
The same plays out on the blocked shot numbers.
On a roll of 24-26 there is never a blocked shot.
On a roll of 23, any player on the court with a 21-30 or 21-26(32) blocks the shot.
On a roll of 22, any player with 21-26 blocks the shot.
On a roll of 21, any player with 21-23 or higher can steal.
If no defender comes up with a block then there is no steal and go to the 20-sided die.
Place best steal defenders toward the left - PG-1 and SG-2 can try to fast break on any steal, so it's better if they get the steal.
Place best rebounders toward the right. The rebound chart gives the center a chance at the rebound on 6 of 20 numbers, each of the forwards on 4 of 20 numbers, each of the guards on just 2 of every 20 numbers and then on a roll of 10 or 20 it goes to the highest range on the court.
Always record:
Points
Fouls
Rebounds
Steals
Blocks
Turnovers
(Your scoresheet is designed to make this easy) Once in a while we finish a game and the points on our running score are slightly off from the total of the players points we recorded. In those cases always use the running score if the game is close since it effects decisions made while playing the games. However, in a lopsided game you can choose if you want to adjust the final score by 1 to match up with the player totals you recorded.
Basketball-Reference Links to Star Player on Each VABG Team
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