36 New All-Time Great College Teams for Kick-off of New Season

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. 

 

Team	Year	Top 50 players or note if added for team rank	Made up Conference
Alabama	1977		SEC 1948-77
Arizona	1997		P12 20th Century
Arizona	2015		P12 21st Century
Arizona St.	1980	Bleacher's #43 team	P12 20th Century
Arkansas	1978	Bleacher #46 team	SEC 1978-94
Arkansas	1994		SEC 1978-94
Auburn	1984		SEC 1978-94
Auburn	2019		SEC 1996-19
Baylor	2021	title and replace 2020 team	B12 2004-21
Butler	2010		BE 1999-18
California	1959		P12 20th Century
Cincinnati	1960		Amer
Cincinnati	2002	#3 Oscar Robertson	Amer
Colorado	2021	great last season	P12 21st Century
Connecticut	1999		BE 1999-18
Connecticut	2004		BE 1999-18
Creighton	2014		BE 1999-18
Davidson	2008		A10
Dayton	1967		A10
DePaul	1945	#24 George Mikan	BE 1945-89
DePaul	1980	#45 Mark Aguirre & #41 team	BE 1945-89
Duke	1986	Bleacher's #31 team	ACC 1981-90
Duke	1992	#19 Christian Laettner	ACC 1992-04
Duke	2001	#36 Shane Battier	ACC 1992-04
Duke	2010		ACC 2005-19
Florida	2006		SEC 1996-19
George Mason	2006		A10
Georgetown	1984	#15 Patrick Ewing	BE 1945-89
Georgetown	2007		BE 1999-18
Georgia	1982		SEC 1978-94
Georgia Tech	1990	Bleacher's #42 team	ACC 1981-90
Georgia Tech	2004		ACC 1992-04
Gonzaga	2021	great season, replaces 2017	Western
Holy Cross	1950	#39 Bob Cousy	Eastern
Houston	1968	#14 Elvin Hayes	Amer
Houston	1983	#31 Hakeem Olajuwon	Amer
Houston	2021	great last season	Amer
Illinois	1989	Bleacher's #47 team	B10 1989-02
Illinois	2005		B10 2005-21
Indiana	1976		B10 1960-81
Indiana	1981	Bleacher's #28 team	B10 1960-81
Indiana	2002		B10 1989-02
Indiana St.	1979	#10 Larry Bird	Eastern
Iowa	2001		B10 1989-02
Iowa	2021	great last season	B10 2005-21
Jacksonville	1970	#30 Artis Gilmore	Eastern
Kansas	1957	#6 Wilt Chamberlain	B12 1946-03
Kansas	2008		B12 2004-21
Kansas	1988	#26 Danny Manning	B12 1946-03
Kansas	1997	Bleacher's #39 team	B12 1946-03
Kansas St.	2008		B12 2004-21
Kentucky	1996		SEC 1996-19
Kentucky	2012		SEC 1996-19
Kentucky	1948	Bleacher's #44 team	SEC 1948-77
Kentucky	1970	#35 Dan Issel	SEC 1948-77
La Salle	1954	#38 Tom Gola	A10
Louisville	1980	#27 Darrell Griffith	ACC 1957-80
Louisville	2013		ACC 2005-19
Loyola Marymount	1990	top offense all time 122 pts	Western
Loyola-Chicago	1963		ACC 1957-80
Loyola-Chicago	2018	#2 Pete Maravich	Eastern
LSU	1970		SEC 1948-77
LSU	2006		SEC 1996-19
LSU	1992	#46 Shaquille O'Neal	SEC 1978-94
Marquette	1977		BE 1945-89
Marquette	2003		BE 1999-18
Maryland	2002		B10 1989-02
Maryland	1984	#25 Len Bias	B10 1960-81
Memphis	2008		Amer
Miami FL	1965	#28 Rick Barry	ACC 1957-80
Michigan	1989		B10 1989-02
Michigan	2013		B10 2005-21
Michigan	1965	#32 Cazzie Russell	B10 1960-81
Michigan St.	1979	#11 Magic Johnson	B10 1960-81
Michigan St.	2000	Bleacher's#32 team	B10 1989-02
Michigan St.	2009		B10 2005-21
Missouri	1982		SEC 1978-94
Navy	1986	#22 David Robinson	Eastern
Niagara	1970	#20 Calvin Murphy	Eastern
North Carolina	1957		ACC 1957-80
North Carolina	1982	#12 Michael Jordan	ACC 1981-90
North Carolina	1998	Bleacher's #37 team	ACC 1992-04
North Carolina	2005		ACC 2005-19
North Carolina St.	1974	#9 David Thompson	ACC 1957-80
Notre Dame	1970	#21 Austin Carr	ACC 1957-80
Notre Dame	1981	Bleacher's #49 team	ACC 1981-90
Ohio St.	1960	#13 Jerry Lucas	B10 1960-81
Ohio St.	2007		B10 2005-21
Oklahoma	1985	#47 Wayman Tisdale	B12 1946-03
Oklahoma	2016		B12 2004-21
Oklahoma St.	2004		B12 2004-21
Oklahoma St. (A&M)	1946	#23 Bob Kurland	B12 1946-03
Oregon	2017		P12 21st Century
Pittsburgh	2009		ACC 2005-19
Princeton	1965	#8 Bill Bradley	Eastern
Purdue	1969		B10 1960-81
Purdue	2018		B10 2005-21
San Diego St.	2011		Western
San Francisco	1956	#5 Bill Russell	Western
Seattle	1958	#16 Elgin Baylor	Western
Sen Hall	1989		BE 1945-89
South Carolina	1973	Bleacher #50 team	SEC 1948-77
South Carolina	2017		SEC 1996-19
St. Bonaventure	1970	#33 Bob Lanier	A10
St. Joe's	2004		A10
St. John's	1985	#40 Chris Mullins	BE 1945-89
Syracuse	1987		ACC 1981-90
Syracuse	2003		ACC 1992-04
Tennessee	1977		SEC 1948-77
Texas	2003		B12 1946-03
Texas Tech	2019		B12 2004-21
UCLA	1967	#1 Lew Alcindor	P12 20th Century
UCLA	1972	#4 Bill Walton	P12 20th Century
UCLA	2006		P12 21st Century
UCLA	2021	great last season	P12 21st Century
UNLV	1987	Bleacher's #33 team	Western
UNLV	1991	#29 Larry Johnson	Western
USC	2021	great last season	P12 21st Century
Utah	1998		P12 20th Century
UTEP (Texas Western)	1966		Western
VCU	2011		A10
Villanova	1985		BE 1945-89
Villanova	2018		BE 1999-18
Virginia	1981	#17 Ralph Sampson	ACC 1981-90
Virginia	2019		ACC 2005-19
Wake Forest	1996	#18 Tim Duncan	ACC 1992-04
Wake Forest	2005		ACC 2005-19
West Virginia	1959	#7 Jerry West	B12 1946-03
West Virginia	2010		B12 2004-21
Wichita St.	2013		Amer
Wisconsin	2015		B10 2005-21
Wyoming	1943		Western

Nova Post 1st Ever 100 pt VABG Game Behind Suns' Bridges and Bucks' DiVincenzo

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.

Eee

2021 Projected Player Cards Released for use with Value Add Basketball Game

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.

:

ACC

Duke 2021

Florida St. 2021

Louisville 2021

Syracuse 2021

Virginia 2021

 

Big 12

Baylor 2021

Kansas 2021

Oklahoma 2021

Oklahoma St. 2021

Texas 2021

Texas Tech 2021

West Virginia 2021

 

Big East

Connecticut 2021

Creighton 2021

Marquette 2021

Providence 2021

Seton Hall 2021

Villanova 2021

 

Big Ten-Group A

Illinois 2021

Michigan 2021

Minnesota 2021

Purdue 2021

Rutgers 2021

 

Big Ten-Group B

Indiana 2021

Iowa 2021

Michigan St. 2021

Ohio St. 2021

Wisconsin 2021

 

Pac-12

Arizona St. 2021

Oregon 2021

Stanford 2021

UCLA 2021

 

SEC

Alabama 2021

Auburn 2021

Florida 2021

Kentucky 2021

LSU 2021

Tennessee 2021

 

 

East-Group A

Merrimack 2021

North Carolina Central 2021

Richmond 2021

Siena 2021

Vermont 2021

 

East-Group B

Colgate 2021

Hofstra 2021

Saint Louis 2021

VCU 2021

Yale 2021

 

South/Central-Group A

Memphis 2021

Murray St. 2021

Prairie View A&M 2021

South Alabama 2021

Wright St. 2021

 

South/Central-Group B

Akron 2021

Furman 2021

Houston 2021

Liberty 2021

Winthrop 2021

 

West-Group A

Gonzaga 2021

Northern Iowa 2021

South Dakota St. 2021

Stephen F. Austin 2021

UC Irvine 2021

 

West-Group B

BYU 2021

Eastern Washington 2021

New Mexico St. 2021

North Texas 2021

San Diego St. 2021

2020 Value Add NIT - Winners and Top Performances

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 5 game stats in NIT opening round.

Top points; Goodwin (St. Louis) 29, Gamdia-Rosa (N.Florida) 28, Rayman (Colgate) 27, Figueroa (St. John's) 23, Lyons (Furman ) 23, Carr (Minnesota) 23.

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.

NIT 2020 Playing Out as 36,000th Visitor to Value Add Basketball Game

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.

Top points; Goodwin (St. Louis) 29, Gamdia-Rosa (N.Florida) 28, Rayman (Colgate) 27, Figueroa (St. John's) 23, Stefanovic (Purdue) 22.

Top Rebounds; Santos-Silva (VCU) 15, 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, 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

Best offense - Texas 84-82 in regulation past Colgate, runner-up Colgate in same game.

Best Defense - Purdue 74-53 vs Merrimack, runner-up Mississippi State vs Tulsa 69-54

Value Add Basketball Game (VABG) Instructions

As we tip off the 2025 Sweet 16 team, if you already know how to play Value Add Basketball Game and just need to print a scoresheet and two teams to play a game, moving forward you can just click on this link. That link will always give you the link to the scoresheet and the alphabetical list of links.

If you do not yet know how to play the game, then you can click on the full  instructions, which start with this scoresheet and teams, but then continues with instructions after the last team.

Value Add Basketball Game

John Pudner - pudnerjohn@gmail.com

Visit PudnerSports.com for instructions.

USE THIS SCORESHEET FOR ALL GAMES (347 Games Total)

A | B | C | D | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y |

A

Alabama 1977 - Reggie King

Alabama 2023 - Brandon Miller

Alabama State 2025, Off 94, Def 120 , Rating -43 Amarr Knox

Arizona 1997 - Mike Bibby

Arizona 2015 - Stanley Johnson

Arizona 2025, Off 114, Def 100 , Rating -3 Caleb Love

Arizona St. 1980 - Byron Scott

Arizona St. 2009 - James Hardin

Arizona WOMEN 2021 – Aari McDonald

Arkansas 1978 - Sidney Moncrief

Arkansas 1994 - Corliss Williamson

Arkansas 2021 - JD Notae

Arkansas 2025, Off 107, Def 98 , Rating -8 Adou Thiero

Auburn 1984 - Charles Barkley

Auburn 2019 - Chuma Okeke

Auburn 2025, Off 122, Def 101 , Rating +4 Johni Broome

Auburn WOMEN 1989 – Carolyn Jones

Auburn WOMEN 2009 - KeKe Carrier & DeWanna Bonner

B

Baylor 2021 - Jared Butler

Baylor WOMEN 2012 - Kalani Brown

Baylor WOMEN 2019 - Brittney Griner

Boston College 2006 - Jared Dudley

Bowling Green 1963 - Nate Thurmond #49 best player ever

Bradley 1954 - Elmer Behnke

Brigham Young 1981 - Danny Ainge

Buffalo 2019 - Jeenathan Williams

Butler 2010 - Gordon Hayward

BYU 2025, Off 118, Def 111 , Rating -10 Richie Saunders

C

California 1959 - Jack Grout

California 1993 - Jason Kidd

Centenary 1976 - Robert Parish

Central Florida 2019 - Joey Graham

Charlotte 1977 - Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell

Cincinnati 1960 - Oscar Robertson

Cincinnati 2002 - Jason Maxiell

Cincinnati 1962 - Paul Hogue

Clemson 1987 - Horace Grant

Colorado 2021 - McKinley Wright

Colorado St. 2024 - Isaiah Stevens

Colorado St. WOMEN 1999 - Becky Hammon

Connecticut 1996 - Ray Allen

Connecticut 1999 - Richard Hamilton

Connecticut 2004 - Ben Gordon

Connecticut 2011 - Kemba Walker

Connecticut 2023 - Adama Sanogo

Connecticut WOMEN 1995 - Rebecca Lobo

Connecticut WOMEN 2002 - Sue Bird & Diana Taurasi

Connecticut WOMEN 2010 - Breanna Stewart

Connecticut WOMEN 2016 - Maya Moore

Creighton 2014 - Doug McDermott

Creighton 2020 - Ty-Shon Alexander

Creighton 2023 - Ryan Kalkbrenner

D

Dartmouth 1940s and Friends - Dick McGuire

Dartmouth 1944 - Dick McGuire

Davidson 2008 - Stephen Curry

Dayton 1967 - Don May

Dayton 2020 - Obi Toppin

Dayton 2020 - Obi Toppin

Delaware WOMEN 2013 - Elena Delle Donne

DePaul 1980 - Mark Aguirre

DePaul 1945 George Mikan

DePaul 1946 - George Mikan

Detroit Mercy 1960 - Dave DeBusschere #73 best player ever

Drake 1969 - Willie McCarter

Drake 2025, Off 106, Def 106 , Rating -17 Bennett Stirtz

Duke 1986 - Johnny Dawkins

Duke 1992 - Christian Laettner

Duke 2001 - Shane Battier

Duke 2010 - Jon Scheyer

Duke 2015 - Justise Winslow

Duke 2022 - Wendell Moore

Duke 2025, Off123, Def 97 , Rating +9 Cooper Flagg

Duke WOMEN 2006 - Alison Bales

Duquesne 2024 - Jimmy Clark

F

Fairleigh Dickinson 2005 - Gordon Klaiber

Florida 2006 - Joakim Noah

Florida 2025, Off 123, Def 98 , Rating +8 Walter Clayton

Florida Atlantic 2023 - Johnell Davis

Florida St. 1968 - Dave Cowans

Florida St. 1993 - Charlie Ward

G

George Mason 2006 - Jai Lewis

Georgetown 1984 - Patrick Ewing

Georgetown 1989 Alonzo Mourning

Georgetown 1995 - Allen Iverson

Georgetown 2007 - Roy Hibbert

Georgia 1982 - Dominique Wilkins

Georgia Tech 1990 - Dennis Scott

Georgia Tech 2004 - Jarrett Jack

Georgia WOMEN 2013 - Jasmine James

Gonzaga 1984 - John Stockton

Gonzaga 2017 - Nigel Williams-Goss

Gonzaga 2023 - Drew Timme

Grand Canyon 2024 - Tyon Grant-Foster

H

High Point 2025, Off 111, Def 118 , Rating -24 Kimani Hamilton

Holy Cross 1950 - Bob Cousy

Houston 1968 - Elvin Hayes

Houston 1983 - Hakeem Olajuwon

Houston 2021 - Quentin Grimes

I

Illinois 1989 - Nick Anderson

Illinois 2005 - Deron Williams

Indiana 1976 - Scott May

Indiana 1981 - Isaiah Thomas

Indiana 2002 - Jared Jeffries

Indiana St. 1979 - Larry Bird

Indiana WOMEN 2024 - MacKenzie Holmes

Iowa 2001 - Reggie Evans

Iowa 2021 - Luka Garza

Iowa St. 2014 - DeAndre Kane

Iowa WOMEN 2024 - Caitlin Clark

J

Jacksonville 1970 - Artis Gilmore

James Madison University 2024 -

K

Kansas 1957 - Wilt Chamberlain

Kansas 1988 - Danny Manning

Kansas 1997 - Paul Pierce

Kansas 2008 - Mario Chalmers

Kansas 2022 - Ochai Agbaji

Kansas 1952 - Clyde Lovellette

Kansas St. 2008 - Michael Beasley

Kansas St. 2023 - Markquis Nowell

Kentucky 1948 - Alex Groza

Kentucky 1970 - Dan Issel

Kentucky 1978 - Jack Givens

Kentucky 1996 - Antoine Walker

Kentucky 2012 - Anthony Davis

Kentucky WOMEN 2013 - A'dia Mathies

L

La Salle 1954 - Tom Gola

Liberty 2023 - Darius McGhee

Long Beach State WOMEN 1987 - Cindy Brown

Louisiana Tech 1985 - Karl Malone

Louisiana Tech WOMEN 1982 - Pam Kelly

Louisiana Tech WOMEN 1988 – Teresa Weatherspoon

Louisville 1968 - Wes Unseld

Louisville 1980 - Darrell Griffith

Louisville 2013 - Russ Smith

Louisville WOMEN 2009 - Angel McCoughtry

Louisville WOMEN 2014 - Shoni Schimmel

Loyola Marymount 1990 - Bo Kimble

Loyola-Chicago 1963 - Jerry Harkness

Loyola-Chicago 2018 - Cameron Krutwig

LSU 1953 -Bob Pettit

LSU 1970 - Pete Maravich

LSU 1992 - Shaquille O'Neal

LSU 2006 - Glen Davis

LSU WOMEN 2005 - Sylvia Fowles

LSU WOMEN 2023 - Angel Reese

M

Marquette 1955 - Terry Rand

Marquette 1971 - Jim Chones

Marquette 1977 - Butch Lee

Marquette 1994 - Jim McIlvaine

Marquette 2003 - Dwyane Wade

Marquette 2011 - Jimmy Butler

Marquette 2023 - Tyler Kolek

Marquette WOMEN 2019 - Chloe Marotta, Natisha Hiedeman

Marshall 1956 - Hal Greer

Maryland 1984 - Len Bias

Maryland 2002 - Juan Dixon

Maryland 2025, Off 112, Def 100 , Rating -5 Derik Queen

Maryland WOMEN 2006 - Crystal Langhorne

Massachusetts 1971 - Julius Erving (Dr.J)

Massachusetts 1996 - Marcus Camby

McNeese 2025, Off 107, Def 108 , Rating -18 Javohn Garcia

Memphis 2008 - Derrick Rose

Miami 1965 - rick barry

Miami 2013 - Shane Larkin

Miami 2023 - Norchad Omier

Michigan 1965 - Cazzie Russell

Michigan 1989 - Glen Rice

Michigan 1993 - Chris Webber & Fab 5

Michigan 2013 - Trey Burke

Michigan St. 1979 - Magic Johnson

Michigan St. 2000 - Mateen Cleaves

Michigan St. 2009 - Draymond Green

Michigan State 2025, Off 111, Def 94 , Rating 0 Jaxon Kohler

Michigan State WOMEN 2005– Liz Shimek

Minnesota 1977 - Kevin McHale

Minnesota WOMEN 2004 - Lindsay Whalen

Mississippi 2001 - Justin Reed

Mississippi 2025, Off 111, Def 101 , Rating -7 Sean Pedulla

Mississippi St. 2005 - Lawrence Roberts

Mississippi State WOMEN 2018 - Victoria Vivians

Missouri 1982 - Steve Stipanovich

Montana 2025, Off 100, Def 123 , Rating -40 Joe Pridgen

Morehead St 2011 - Kenneth Faried

Mount St. Mary's 2025, Off 92, Def 115 , Rating -34 Dola Adebayo

Murray St. 2019 - Ja Morant

N

Navy 1986 - David Robinson

NC State 2024 - DJ Burns

NC State 1974 - David Thompson

NC State WOMEN 2024 - Aziaha James

Nebraska 2014 - Terran Petteway

Nevada 2004 - Kirk Snyder

New Mexico 1974 - Bernard Hardin

New Mexico 2025, Off 108, Def 101, Rating -10 Donovan Dent

New Mexico St. 1970 - Jimmy Collins

New York University 1948 -Dolph Schayes

Niagara 1970 - Calvin Murphy

Norfolk St 2012 - Kyle O'Quinn

North Carolina 1957 - Lennie Rosenbluth

North Carolina 1965 - Billy Cunningham

North Carolina 1972 - Bob McAdoo

North Carolina 1982 - Michael Jordan

North Carolina 1998 - Vince Carter

North Carolina 2005 - Sean May

North Carolina 2022 - Armando Bacot

North Carolina 2017 - Justin Jackson

North Carolina WOMEN 2007 - Erlana Larkins

Northern Iowa 2015 - Seth Tuttle

Northwestern 2017 - Vic Law

Notre Dame 1970 - Austin Carr

Notre Dame 1981 - Orlando Woolridge

Notre Dame WOMEN 2001 - Ruth Riley

Notre Dame WOMEN 2012 - Kylar Diggins

Notre Dame WOMEN 2018 - Arike Ogunbowale

O

Oakland 2024 - Trey Townsend

Ohio St. 1960 - Jerry Lucas

Ohio St. 2007 - Greg Oden

Ohio State WOMEN 1993 - Katie Smith

Ohio State WOMEN 2016 - Kelsey Mitchell

Oklahoma 1985 - Wayman Tisdale

Oklahoma 2016 - Buddy Hield

Oklahoma St. 1946 - Bob Kurland

Oklahoma St. 2004 - John Lucas

Oklahoma WOMEN 2002 - Stacey Dales

Oklahoma WOMEN 2010 - Abi Olajuwon

Old Dominion WOMEN 1980 - Nancy Lieberman

Old Dominion WOMEN 1985 - Adrienne Goodson

Old Dominion WOMEN 1997 - Ticha Penicheiro

Oregon 2017 - Dillon Brooks

Oregon St. 1982 - AC Green

Oregon St. 1990 - Gary Payton

Oregon WOMEN 2019 - Sabrina Ionescu

P

Penn St. 2018 - Tony Carr

Penn State WOMEN 2012 - Maggie Lucas

Pittsburgh 2009 - DeJuan Blair

Princeton 1965 - Bill Bradley

Princeton 2023 - Tosan Evbuomwan

Providence 1960 - Lenny Wilkens

Providence 1987 - Billy Donovan

Purdue 1969 - Rick Mount

Purdue 2018 - Carsen Edwards

Purdue 2024 - Zach Edey

Purdue WOMEN 2003 - Shereka Wright

R

Rhode Island 2017 - Jared Terrell and Coach Danny Hurley

Richmond 2011 - Justin Harper

Robert Morris 2025, Off 101, Def 113, Rating -25 Amarion Dickerson

Rutgers 1976 - Phil Sellers

Rutgers WOMEN 1988 - Sue Wicks

Rutgers WOMEN 2005 - Cappie Pondexter

Rutgers WOMEN 2007 - Kia Vaughn

S

San Diego St. 2011 - Kawhi Leonard

San Diego St. 2023 - Jaedon LeDee

San Francisco 1956 - Bill Russell

Santa Clara 1996 -Steve Nash

Seattle 1958 - Elgin Baylor

Seton Hall 1989 - John Morton

Seton Hall 2020 - Myles Powell

SMU 2017 - Semi Ojeleye

South Carolina 1973 - Mike Dunleavy

South Carolina 2017 - Sindarius Thornwell

South Carolina WOMEN 2017 - A'ja Wilson

South Carolina WOMEN 2024 - Kamilla Cardoso

South Dakota St 2012 - Nate Wolters

Southern Illinois 1967 - Walt Frazier

St. Bonaventure 1970 - Bob Lanier

St. Joe's 2004 - Jameer Nelson

St. John's 1985 - Chris Mullin

St. John's 2025, Off 105, Def 87 , Rating +1 RJ Luis

St. Mary's 2023 - Logan Johnson

St. Peter's 2022 - Doug Edert

Stanford 2008 - Brook Lopez

Stanford WOMEN 2012 - Nnemkadi Ogwumike

Stanford WOMEN 2021 - Kiana Williams

Stephen F Austin 2016 - Thomas Walkup

Syracuse 1987 - Rony Seikaly

Syracuse 2003 - Carmelo Anthony

Syracuse 1966 - Dave Bing #74 best player ever & Jim Boeheim

T

TCU 2023 - JaKobe Coles

Temple 1958 - Guy Rodgers

Tennessee 1977 - Bernard King

Tennessee 2023 - Santiago Vescovi

Tennessee WOMEN 1989 - Bridgette Gordon

Tennessee WOMEN 1998 - Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw

Tennessee WOMEN 2007 - Candace Parker

Texas 2003 - T.J. Ford

Texas 2007 - Kevin Durant

Texas 2023 - Marcus Carr

Texas A&M 2007 - Acie Law

Texas A&M WOMEN 2011 - Danielle Adams

Texas Southern 2013 - Fred Sturdivant

Texas Tech 2019 - Jarrett Culver

Texas Tech WOMEN 1993 - Sheryl Swoopes

Texas WOMEN 1986 - Clarissa Davis

Texas WOMEN 1989 - Clarissa Davis (not usually used)

Texas WOMEN 2018 - Ariel Atkins

Troy 2025, Off 100, Def 108 , Rating -25 Tayton Conerway

Tulsa 2000 - Eric Coley

U

UCLA 1967 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

UCLA 1972 - Bill Walton

UCLA 1987 - Reggie Miller

UCLA 2006 - Jordan Farmar

UCLA 2008 - Russell Westbrook

UCLA 2021 - Jaime Jaquez

UCLA 1964 - Walt Hazzard

UCLA 1975 - Dave Meyers

UCLA WOMEN 2018 - Monique Billings

UNC Wilmington 2003 - Devontae Cacok

UNLV 1987 - Armen Gilliam

UNLV 1991 - Larry Johnson

USC 2021 - Evan Mobley

USC WOMEN 1983 - Cheryl Miller

USC WOMEN 1994 - Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson

Utah 1998 - Andre Miller

Utah St. 2003 - Desmond - Penigar

Utah St. 2024 - Great Osobor

UTEP 1970 - Tiny Archibald

UTEP (Texas Western) 1966 - Bobby Joe Hill

V

Vanderbilt 1993 - Bill McCaffrey

Vanderbilt 2025, Off 110, Def 109 , Rating -16 Jason Edwards

Vanderbilt WOMEN 2002 - Chantelle Anderson

VCU 1985 - Calvin Duncan

VCU 2011 - Bradford Burgess

Vermont 2020 - Anthony Lamb

Villanova 1985 - Ed Pinckney

Villanova 2018 - Mikal Bridges

Villanova 1950 - Paul Arizin #66 best player ever

Virginia 1981 - Ralph Sampson

Virginia 2019 - Kyle Guy

Virginia Tech 1986 - Dell Curry

Virginia Tech WOMEN 2023 - Elizabeth Kitley

Virginia WOMEN 1991 - Dawn Staley

Virginia WOMEN 2018 - Dominique Toussaint

W

Wake Forest 1996 - Tim Duncan

Wake Forest 2005 - Chris Paul

Washington 2006 - Brandon Roy

Washington St. 2008 - Taylor Rochestie

Washington WOMEN 2017 - Kelsey Plum

Weber St. 2010 - Damian Lillard

West Virginia 1959 - Jerry West

West Virginia 2010 - Kevin Jones

Western Kentucky 1966 - Clem Haskins

Wichita St. 2013 - Fred VanVleet

Winthrop 2007 - Craig Bradshaw

Wisconsin 2015 - Frank Kaminsky

Wofford 2019 - Fletcher Magee

Wyoming 1943 - Ken Sailors

X

Xavier 2023 - Jack Nunge

Y

Yale 2024 - Danny Wolf

Value Add Basketball Game (VABG) Instructions

The Value Add Basketball Game (VABG) is the fastest and most accurate way to simulate matchups between all-time great college basketball teams from 1942 to the present. Games take less than an hour to play, and once you're familiar with the rules, they can take as little as 30 minutes. You can play solo or with two players.

Table of Contents for Quick Reference
Setting up to play a game - search blog for these headers:
Print the SCORESHEET to track the running score and
Choose Your All-time Teams or Draft Best Players:
Dice or Fast Action Cards:
Fill Out the Scoresheet
Determine Team Dunk Range (51-66):

Playing the game = search blog for these headers
Start Game by Rolling the 4 Dice (or picking fast action card)
1st Read the 8-sided Die to See Who Gets the Ball
2nd Read the 2 Traditional Dice to Get a Result of 11-66
3rd Read if there was no Steal, Blocked Shot or Turnover Above, Read 20-sided for Shot
Roll 20-sided Die 2 More Times for Free Throws
Rebounds on Missed Shots:
If Possessions NOT SHADED:
On possessions with no shading (listed as 43, 41, 39, etc.), the rebound automatically goes to the defensive player 

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Preparation Steps

Print the Scoresheet:

Print the SCORESHEET to track the running score and

basic player statistics.

 

Choose Your All-time Teams or Draft Best Players:

You can either hold a draft to pick from the greatest

women's player of all time (see top 40 cards here) o 

You can either draft form the greatest players in the game

       (see mock draft at bottom of blog)  or pick 2 teams from below.

Pick the two teams from the list below that you want to

play against each other. Visit the link for each team you

want below to print both teams’ player cards. The + or -

rating by each team indicates how many points better

or worse the team is than the average great team in the

game, so a team with a +3 would be a 7-point favorite

against a team with a -4. Through hundreds of games,

the favorites chances of winning are very close to what

you would expect. 1-6 point favorites have won 61%

of the time, 7-12 point favorites 81%, 13-17 point

favorites have won 88%, and so far all 15 favored by

at least 18 points have won.

Dice or Fast Action Cards:

You’ll need either dice or Fast Action Cards. You can

purchase four dice (two traditional 6-sided dice of

different colors, one 20-sided die, and one 8-sided

die) or print the Fast Action Cards from the provided

Dropbox link or website.

Click and Print the Teams You Want to Play

A | B | C | D | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y |

Choose the two teams you want to play from their links below, then click and print each one.  If you are playing two great teams against each other, the sheet will contain all 10 players on the team so you simply use the sheet. If you have drafted your own team of great players, then you print each player's team and cut out their card. The rating by the team tells you how much better or worse they are than the average team. So if the first time, Alabama 1977 were to play the second team Alabama 2023, the 2023 team would be a 5-point favorite, because they are a +3 and the 1977 team is a -2. We had accidentally let the DePaul 1945 team drop off the list.

Note: Players become more athletic and better overtime based on learning from training and techniques learned

from earlier eras, so no doubt if players went

in a "time machine" and played then newer eras would win. However, these cards

are calibrated so the each era is equal based on how much better than an average team

and player each one was relative to other eras in the game.

10 Steps to Play a Value Add Basketball Game

After completing the preparation steps (A to C), you're ready to play. The following steps guide you through the process, based on the starting lineups from the all-time championship game between Bill Walton's 1972 UCLA team and Michael Jordan's 1982 UNC team.

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Fill Out the Scoresheet

Fill Out the Scoresheet:

Write the names of all 10 players for each team in the order they appear on the game cards. For example, for UNC (listed on the left side of the scoresheet), list the players in the following order:

PG-1 Jimmy Black, SG-2 Matt Doherty, SF-3 Michael Jordan, PF-4 James Worthy, C-5 Sam Perkins.

Determine Team Dunk Range (51-66):

Write each team’s "dunk range" at the top of the scoresheet. For example, UNC’s dunk range is 51-55, while UCLA’s is 51-65. However, UCLA has a -7 Dunk Range Adjustment, which makes UNC's range an actual STOP range of 51-52 on the chart below because it is in the RED range on the chart, so on the top of the scoresheet by UNC put "51-52 STOP." Meanwhile, UNC has the best defensive range in history at -12, so that lowers UCLA's excellent 51-65 dunk range to 51-53 on the chart for the game, so record "51-53 dunk" by UCLA on the scoresheet. Also some places this is listed as a "LAY-UP" range, which is the same thing.

If you do not use the dunk range for each team the results will not be accurate, because it adjusts for level of competition the team faced, eras in which they played, and the level of defensive guarding the ball by each team. Also note that normally the whole team has the same dunk range, but occasionally a great player like Dr. J on a mediocre team has a better dunk range and defensive adjust dunk range than the rest of their team, in which case both the great player and the player they are guarding would have a different dunk range than the rest of their team.

At this stage just get the correct range on the scoresheet - we will cover what happens later.

Start Game by Rolling the 4 Dice (or picking fast action card)

Game Start:

Start the game with both teams tied at 20-20. Each of the 10 players begins with 2 points, and several other stats are recorded depending on the player's position. These all appear on the scoresheet. This assumes that 22 possessions have already been played, with each player scoring once. There are 44 possessions remaining, plus potential extra possessions in last nine possessions of the game if a player is fouled or has a steal and fast break..

For women’s games, treat the start as a 14-14 first quarter, with the dice rolls beginning at 6-6 for the second quarter.

1st Read the 8-sided Die to See Who Gets the Ball

To keep track of which players are in the game and who will receive the ball, use coins and dimes to mark each player's card. In the example image, we've placed Michael Jordan's UNC team on top and Bill Walton's UCLA team on the bottom to fit both teams in the photo. Note that the UCLA reserves are not shown in the photo.

Assigning Coins to Players

• Penny: If a player can only "Get Ball On" one number (1-5), place a penny on their card.
• Dime: If a player can "Get Ball On" two numbers, place a dime on their card.
• Two Dimes: In rare cases where a player has three "Get Ball On" numbers (like Bill Walton in this example), place two dimes on their card. However, no team can have more than three dimes on the court at any time, so you may need to prioritize which players get the dimes.

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First Possession Example

In this scenario, Michael Jordan's Stamina is 43 out of 44, so he starts the game on the bench since we FINISH the game with starters so give the reserves their numbers first. For the first possession (44 on the scoresheet), a dime is placed on Jim Braddock as the backup point guard. To determine who gets the ball, use the following order:

1. Penny Placement: On a roll of 1, the ball goes to the player with the coin furthest to the left. In this case:
   • 1 goes to Jimmy Black (Point Guard),
   • 2 goes to Jim Braddock,
   • 3 goes to Matt Doherty.
   • 4 goes to James Worthy.
   • 5 goes to Sam Perkins.

After this first possession, the dime moves from Braddock to Michael Jordan, who will then be eligible to get the ball on the next possession.

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Subsequent Possessions

• After the first possession, for each roll of 1-5, the ball is assigned based on the order left to right:

  • 1 goes to Jimmy Black.
  • 2 goes to Matt Doherty.
  • 3 goes to Michael Jordan.
  • 4 goes to James Worthy.
  • 5 goes to Sam Perkins.

• For a 6-8 roll, only the players with dimes are eligible to receive the ball. In this case:

  • 6 goes to Michael Jordan (skipping the first two players since players with pennies can never get the ball on a 6,7 or 8 on the 8-sided die).
  • 7 goes to James Worthy.
  • 8 goes to Sam Perkins.

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Special Case: Point Guard Passing

For Jimmy Black, there’s a unique rule for unselfish players. If a 1 is rolled to give Black the ball and the 20-sided die results in an even number, you will re-roll the 8-sided die to determine if Black will shoot or pass. This rule reflects Black’s unselfish style of play — he may pass the ball to a teammate instead of attempting the shot himself. Only a few players have that sentence on their card to indicate they might turn down a shot.

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UCLA Line-Up Example

The bottom row of the photo shows UCLA's lineup, which won't typically be in the game until the final 37 possessions. Here’s how the ball is assigned for UCLA’s players:

• For a 1-5 roll, the ball goes from left to right:

  • 1 goes to Greg Lee (Point Guard).
  • 2 goes to Henry Bibby.
  • 3 goes to Larry Farmer.
  • 4 goes to Jamaal Wilkes.
  • 5 goes to Bill Walton.

• For a 6-8 roll, UCLA’s players are assigned as follows:

  • 6 goes to Henry Bibby.
  • 7 goes to Bill Walton (because he has two dimes on his card).
  • 8 goes to Bill Walton.

Again, it doesn’t matter whether the player has a 6, 7, or 8 on their card — the important thing is that they have an extra number, and that extra number determines if they get a dime and thus the ball on a 6, 7 or 8.

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Strategy Tips

1. Player Positioning:

   • It's best to position players with higher steal ranges (e.g., Steal 11-16) further left, as they can capitalize on fast breaks and steal opportunities.
   • Place players with higher rebound ranges (e.g., Off. Reb 1-6, Def. Reb 1-6) further right, since the rebound chart gives more chances for Center players (who are usually further right) to grab rebounds.

   This arrangement ensures that your best defenders and rebounders are in positions where they can take advantage of their skills. The cards are put in their suggested order, but you can always note you want to flip any of the cards to another position further left or right.

2. Defensive Matchups:

   • Normally, players guard opponents in the corresponding order (left to right). However, if you have a player with both a high steal range (11-16) and block range (21-26), you can assign them to guard a particular opposing star.
   • For example, Michael Jordan is the best defender of the 3,000+ player cards in the game, with his -12 defense rating, steals (11-16, 31), and blocked shots (21-26). You can assign him to guard the opposing team's key player to limit their scoring opportunities. Luckily for UNC, Sam Perkins is the 2nd best defender in the game, so in this match-up he can face Bill Walton.

3. Fewer Dimes on the Court:

   • If there are fewer than three players with dimes on the court (i.e., fewer shot makers), and the 8-sided comes up with an 8 or another number without a corresponding dime, then the team rolls the dice again in danger of a shot clock violation. On the second roll but this time:
     • 1-5 results go to the corresponding player, BUT
     • 6-8 results result in a shot clock violation and turnover even if there is a 6 or 7 on the court..

2nd Read the 2 Traditional Dice to Get a Result of 11-66

After determining who has the ball, refer to the corresponding defender to see what happens on the 11-66 roll. You must used two different colored traditional dice and declare before the first roll which is the "10s" dice and which is the "1s."

For example, if a "3" roll on the 8-sided die means Jordan has the ball and is being guarded by Larry Farmer, you check the dice roll against Farmer's defense card. This is how things play out on the 1-5 roll, however if the player gets the ball on a 6, 7 or 8 roll then it is considered a "team defense" scenario so it is the whole UCLA team, not just Farmer, scrambling to cover Jordan.

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Table for Defensive Results if 1-5 on 8-sided die:

Roll	Result
11-16	Possible STEAL by the defender (check defender’s card)
21-23	Possible BLOCKED SHOT by the defender (check defender’s card)
31	STEAL no matter who has the ball if ANY defender has Steal range 11-16 (31)
32	BLOCK no matter who has the ball if ANY defender has Block range 21-26 (32)
33-36	Foul by the defender (check defender’s card)

Table for Defensive Results if 6-8 on 8-sided die:

Roll	Result
11-13	Possible STEAL by ANY defender, but it takes a 11-13 to steal on an "11," a 11-16 to steal on a 12, and a 11-16(31) to steal on a 13.
21-23	Possible BLOCKED SHOT by ANY defender (but likewise it takes a 21-23 to block a shot on a 21, a 21-26 to block a shot on a 22, or a 21-26(32) to block a shot on a 23.
33-36	Foul by the defender (check defender’s card, the foul can only be on the defender even if the 8-sided die was 6-8)

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Strategy Tip: Fast Break Option

The Fast Break option can be used whenever one of the two guards steals the ball or when one of the two forwards steals the ball on an odd-numbered roll (11, 13, 15, or 31). The fast break cannot be used if the center steals the ball. It’s crucial to position your highest steal players in guard spots to maximize this option.

When using the Fast Break option, the following adjustments are made:

1. 6, 7, or 8 Roll: The player who steals the ball keeps it, rather than passing it to the player who would normally receive it.
2. Adjustment to the 20-Sided Die: Subtract 1 from the 20-sided die roll, giving the player a 5% better chance of making a 3-pointer instead of a 2-pointer, or other shot adjustments.
3. Last 9 Possessions (Last 5 minutes): Running a fast break in the final 9 possessions creates an additional possession. Write the updated score in the upper left corner of the box and play an extra die roll on the scoresheet. A team leading by a small margin might want to avoid the fast break to control the clock, while a team behind might use it to increase their chances of catching up.

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For an 41-66 roll, check the Player With Ball card for the following results:

• 41-46: Possible Turnover. Note below the optional advanced rule that if one of the all-time elite point guards of all time is on the court the last 9 possessions of a game, then the team ignores a turnover or steal on a roll of 12, 14, 16, 42, 44 or 46.
• 51-66: As determined on the chart above and written on the scoreboard, this number range can help the offense or defense.
• STOP RANGE. The chart above determined UNC had a "51-52 STOP" range in this matchup, so if a 51-52 is rolled when UNC has the ball then they do NOT score. For scorekeeping purposes, roll one 6-sided die and look at the defenders rebounding range, and if the roll falls within the range it is a missed shot and the defender gets credit for the rebound, but if it is not in the range then score as a turnover.
• DUNK RANGE. Because the dunk chart above determined UCLA would have a 51-53 DUNK range against UNC in this match-up, any roll of 51-53 is a dunk unless UCLA chooses option 2 or 3 below in the GREEN range.

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Green Range (Dunk Range)

If the offensive player is in the green range (51-66), it results in a dunk unless one of the following options is chosen:

• Option A: A 2-point bucket is awarded for the player with the ball.
• Option B: If a foul (x2) occurs on the 20-sided die, and the 51-56 roll is within the dunk range, the offense can choose to draw a foul instead of taking the dunk. This strategy could be used if the foul is committed by a key player on the opposing team to increase the chances of them fouling out or to create an additional possession when trailing in the last 9 possessions of the game or overtime.
• Option C: If a good 3-point shooter has the option to dunk, they can choose to take an open 3-point shot instead. In this case:
  • The player does not get the 2 points from the dunk, but their 3-point made range is tripled, with a limit of 1-15. Any shot outside the range would be a missed 3-point shot if this option is used.
  • In the UNC vs. UCLA match-up teams should just take the dunk since no one has more than two 3-pointers made, so even one of the players with a 1-2 range would make a 3-pointer only on a 1-6 and miss on a 7-20.

Strategy Tip: If the player has a 3-point range of 1-5 or higher, always choose the 3-point shot over the dunk. In the course of 20 dunk options, that player would average scoring 45 points using this option and only 40 points simply taking the automatic dunk.

Strategy Tip - WHEN TO CHOOSE THE OPEN 3 OVER THE DUNK. We also recommend using this option with a player with a 1-4 range IF it occurs on a shaded possession with a chance for an offensive rebound, provided the team's offensive rebounding is as good or better than the opponents defensive rebounding. In that scenario we would expect 36 points in 20 attempts and at least another 4 or 5 points off offensive rebounds to likely do a little better than just taking the 40 points on 20 dunks. We recommend simply taking the two points if the range is 1-3, unless the team is behind near the end of the game and needs to gamble to catch up.

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3rd Read if there was no Steal, Blocked Shot or Turnover Above, Read 20-sided for Shot

If no result occurs on the 11-66 die, use the 20-sided die to determine the outcome of the shot. For example, if Jordan is shooting:

• 1-2: 3-pointer made.
• 3-9: 2-pointer made.
• 10-12: Foul on Farmer, Jordan gets 2 free throws.
• 13-15: Misses 3-pointer.
• 16-20: Misses 2-pointer.

If Jordan is fouled on the defenders 33-36 range while making a shot, the basket counts, and he gets 1 free throw. If he is fouled while missing a 3-pointer, he gets 3 free throws.

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Roll 20-sided Die 2 More Times for Free Throws

To determine if a player makes or misses a free throw, roll the 20-sided die twice:

• For Jordan, if the roll is between 1 and 14, the player makes the free throw.
• If the roll is between 15 and 20, the player misses.

Rebounds on Missed Shots:

When a shot or free throw is missed, follow these steps to determine who gets the rebound:

If Possessions NOT SHADED:

• On possessions with no shading (listed as 43, 41, 39, etc.), the rebound automatically goes to the defensive player , as indicated on the scoresheet. No die rolls are required.

"Shaded" Possessions:

• On shaded possessions (listed as 44, 42, 40, etc.), follow these steps:
  1. Roll the 20-sided die to determine which player has a chance to get the rebound. Refer to the rebound chart in the lower right corner of the scoresheet to match the die result with the corresponding player.
  2. Roll one 6-sided die to check if the selected player is within his Offensive or Defensive Rebound range.
     • If the 6-sided die result is within the player’s rebound range, he gets the rebound.
     • If the 6-sided die result is outside the player's rebound range, the opposing player in the same possession will get the rebound instead.

Strategy Options (Optional)

Strategy Tip - FAST BREAK:

As noted above, you can use the "fast break" option in the game. A fast break

can be initiated anytime one of the two guards steals the ball, or anytime

one of the two forwards steals it on an odd-numbered roll (11, 13, 15, or 31),

but never when the center steals the ball. (We may want to make an exception

for Wes Unseld, who was known for throwing the ball 85 feet to a breaking guard.)

This is a reason you may want players with the highest steal ranges in the

uard positions, if possible.

Strategy Tip - OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

If the offense grabs the rebound, they can continue with the regular offense.

However, if they do, they only get one roll, and if the 8-sided die results

in a 6, 7, or 8, it results in a shot clock violation, instead of the usual roll

to determine the next action.

The only advantage to running the normal offense after an offensive rebound

is if the team is behind and needs to attempt a 3-pointer. However, if the

team decides to have the player who grabbed the rebound attempt a shot,

then, similar to a steal, if the 8-sided die rolls a 6, 7, or 8, the player will

take the shot. Regardless of who gets the ball, the offense will lower the

20-sided die roll by one for that shot attempt. The key difference between

attempting to score off an offensive rebound and a steal is that the player

who grabs the offensive rebound cannot make a 3-pointer. While the

20-sided die is lowered by one, it’s important to note that you’re

essentially trading a 3-point attempt for a 2-point shot.

Strategy Tip - AVOIDING FOULS:

If a player gets their 3rd or 4th foul, you may want to take steps to

prevent them from fouling out. There are two main strategies:

a. Change Who They Are Guarding:

If the player they are guarding gets the ball often (e.g., on rolls

of 5 or 8) and tends to draw fouls (e.g., 9-12 on the defensive card results

in a foul), you have the option to change the defender’s assignment.

You can move the player to guard someone who only gets the ball on a

single 8-sided die roll (e.g., a roll of "4") and who draws fouls only

on specific 20-sided die rolls (e.g., a range of 10-10).

b. Play Soft:

A defender can choose to "play soft." In this case, the player allows

a layup on all rolls of 33-36 on his defensive card, thus avoiding fouls.

The downside is that the defender cannot attempt a steal (11-16)

or block a shot (21-26). However, if the defender would have

blocked the shot or stolen the ball, the offensive player will not

get a foul called on them during the 20-sided die roll. For example,

if a roll results in a foul for 2 free throws (a 10 on the 20-sided die),

it is changed to a made basket.

Keep in mind, while playing soft significantly reduces the chance

of picking up a foul, it’s still possible for a player to get their 5th

foul if the 11-66 roll doesn’t prevent it.

Strategy Tip - STAMINA and RESTING PLAYERS:

For a simpler game, you can play the bottom row of reserves

for the first 7 possessions (44-38 on the scoresheet), then switch

to the starting players for the final 37 possessions. However,

to make the game more realistic, you can use the suggested

possession rotation at the bottom of most player cards, or

implement your own system to ensure no player exceeds

their Stamina number.

Playing a Player Who Is Out of Stamina:

If you need to keep a player in the game despite them being out

of stamina (e.g., because you need a 3-point shooter late

in the game or a key player fouled out), you must adjust

all rolls by one for the player who is out of stamina, or for

the player they are guarding.

For example:

If a player would block a shot on a roll of 21-26, but is out of

stamina, they can only block on 21-25.

If the player they are guarding normally makes a 3-pointer

on a roll of 1-3, they now make it on a 1-4.

If they grab a rebound on a roll of 1-4, they can only grab it on a 1-2.

If the player has played twice as many possessions as their stamina,

then all rolls must be adjusted by two.

In overtime, all players are considered out of stamina, so there is

no longer a penalty for anyone.

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2 Strategies Usually Used by Teams Trailing in the Last 5 Minutes of the Game:

In the final 9 possessions of the game, write the running score in

smaller text in the upper-left corner of the box. This is because a

fast break or a foul by either team will add an extra possession in

the same box, which will need to be accounted for. If no extra

possessions occur, the game will have 44 possessions, but if

extra possessions happen in every one of the last 9, the game

could have up to 53 possessions.

A team trying to rally can try one of the following two strategies:

Go for a Turnover or Foul:

The defense can call or use the 20-sided die to NOT be rolled

to indicate they are trying for a turnover or foul. This strategy

automatically creates an extra possession, even if no foul occurs.

If the other three dice result in a turnover or steal, the defense is

successful and gets the ball. On any other result, the 8-sided die

determines who the defense fouled, and they will shoot two free

throws, but no basket is made.

This strategy can only be used in the last five minutes because

it would not create an extra possession before that.

Go for 3-Pointers:

A team running out of time to catch up can announce they are

trying for a 3-point shot. They may also want to bring in

additional 3-point shooters.

When this strategy is used, the following changes are made

to each offensive player's 20-sided die results:

Only the 2-point shot made range is affected. All other

result ranges stay the same.

For each 2-point shot made at the top of the range, it is

converted to a 3-point shot made, and the corresponding

defensive rebound is applied.

Here’s an example:

Player 1:

2-pt made range: 1-8

Change to 3-pt made: No change (still 1-8)

Player 2:

2-pt made range: 3-8

Change to 3-pt made: 1-4

Change to 3-pt missed, def rebound: 7-8

Player 3:

2-pt made range: 4-10

Change to 3-pt made: 1-6

Change to 3-pt missed, def rebound: 8-10

If Player 3 already has a good 3-point shooting range, this

can be very effective.

Update the Score After Each Possession:

After each Possession the most important thing to do is

update the scoresheet to reflect the score for both teams.

I just put a dash if there is no score that possession, but

if UCLA scored on their first possession after we start

the game at 20-20 then just put a "22" in their spot on

possession 44. If you tally players stats at the end of the

game you sometimes find the players totals add up to a

point or two different than your running score. We

strongly advise making the running score the official

score and take your best guess at which player point

total to adjust.

Overtime or Extra Possessions Last 5 Minutes

If the game is tied at the end of the scoresheet, then

play a 5-minute overtime writing in possessions to

the right of the rebound chart to mirrors the last 9

possessions of regulation including having an extra

possession on a fast break or foul and determining

which sheets to use the rebound chart. If tied after that

overtime, then use another sheet to continue to play

overtimes until there is a winner.

If one of the teams has a note with their player cards

to play extra possessions then start the game to the

left of the 44-34 possessions, but if Loyola Marymount

is playing then you will need to use two scoresheets to

have enough room, since their games entail an extra

26 possessions. If two teams both have lines requiring

extra possessions then you must add the two totals, so

if Loyola played the Syracuse team, then you would

need to have 36 extra possessions, almost an entire extra sheet.

When this happens, use the top line of players - the

starters - for the first half of the extra possessions,

so in Loyola vs. Syracuse that would mean the stop line

played possessions 36-19 on the first sheet, then

the bottom line played possessions 18-1, then you

went to the suggestion possession on the second full

sheet of 44. We do NOT count any of these extra

possessions or any overtime possessions against a

players possessions, so the player can only get tired

and have adjusted die rolls if he is in more than more

possessions during the main sheet than his Stamina.

Top PG on Court Last 5 Minutes Limits

TOs to just 11, 13, 15, 31, 41, 43 or 47

In the closing 9 possessions, if a Point Guard from Bleacher Reports'

ranking of the top point guards in history is on the court, then

ignore any turnover or steal on an even numbered 11-66 roll.

That means the following point guards will not allow a

turnover on a 12, 14, 16, 42, 44 or 46 - so if one comes up then ignore it

and use the result on the 20-sided die.

A turnover can still be committee on an 11, 13, 15, 31, 41, 43 or 45.

The highest ratings as an all-time PG are noted with the source of Hoops Hype (HH), Jay Bilas (JB) or Bleacher Reports (BR) ans Fade Away.

Team	Year	No TO, Stl on 12,14,16,42,44,46 if in game last 9 possessions
Arizona	1997	Mike Bibby, all-time PG#22-BR
California	1993	Jason Kidd #43, all-time PG#4-JB
Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson #9-all-time PG#3-HH
Davidson	2008	Stephen Curry #16, all-time PG#2-HH
Duke	2001	Jay Williams, all-time PG#12-BR
Duke	1986	Johnny Dawkins, all-time PG#16-BR
Duke	1992	Bobby Hurley, all-time PG#6-JB
Georgetown	1995	Allen Iverson #31, all-time PG#9-JB
Georgia Tech	1990	Kenny Anderson, all-time PG#13-BR
Gonzaga	1981	John Stockton #24,all-time PG#7-HH
Holy Cross	1950	Bob Cousy #34, all-time PG#2-BR
Indiana	1981	Isiah Thomas #27, all-time PG#2-JB
Kansas	1997	Jacque Vaughn, all-time PG#32-BR
Kentucky	1978	Kyle Macy, all-time PG#37-BR
LSU	1970	Pete Maravich #54, all-time #16 PG-HH
Michigan St.	1979	Magic Johnson #4, all-time PG#1-HH,JB,BR
Michigan State	2000	Mateen Cleaves, all-time PG#19-BR
Niagara	1970	Calvin Murphy, all-time PG#3-BR
North Carolina	1998	Ed Cota, all-time PG#26-BR
North Carolina	2005	Raymond Felton, all-time PG#39-BR
Oregon St.	1990	Gary Payton #42, all-time PG#8-BR
Providence	1960	Lenny Wilkens #65,all-time #19 PG-HH
Santa Clara	1996	Steve Nash #37,all-time PG#8-HH
Southern Illinois	1967	Walt Frazier #41,all-time PG #14-HH
St Joes	2004	Jameer Nelson, all-time PG#10-BR
Syracuse	1987	Sherman Douglas, all-time PG#11-BR
Texas	2003	TJ Ford, all-time PG#21-BR
UCLA	1964	Walt Hazzard, all-time PG#20-BR
UCLA	2008	Russell Westbrook #68,all-time PG #12-HH
UNLV	1991	Greg Anthony, all-time PG#38-BR
Utah	1998	Andre Miller, all-time PG#25-BR
UTEP	1970	Tiny Archibald #67,all-time #15 PG-HH
Wake Forest	2005	Chris Paul #29, all-time PG#6-HH
West Virginia	1959	Jerry West #4-HH

History of Playing the Game

Sims Magazine ran a great piece on how the Value Add Basketball Game was created. 

History of Playing the Game

The Value Add Basketball Game (VABG) was developed using

advanced statistical methods to replicate real-world basketball

performance across eras. The game includes teams dating back

to Dartmouth's 1942-44 squad and Wyoming’s 1943 squad, with

occasional additions at the conclusion of new seasons to claim

new champs or in other cases new schools not yet represented

(fyi, James Madison University).

Top Team Rankings:

In our all-time title game of the first 96 teams we created,

UCLA’s 1972 team defeated Michael Jordan’s 1982 UNC team.

On the women’s side, Tennessee's 2023 team triumphed over

he Louisiana Tech squad from Jordan's 1982 championship season.

• UCLA is generally considered the best of the 200 men’s teams.
• The 2016 UConn team is ranked as the best women’s team,
•  despite being upset in the all-time Final Four.

The game typically takes 35-45 minutes to play once you're

familiar with the flow. However, your first few games may

take a bit longer as you get used to the rules.

Dr. J, AD, 6 PGs, and 6 Cs in All-Time Mock Lottery

While I play great all-time teams against each other in the Value Add Basketball Game, many of the 80,000 players who have gotten the free game tell me they play it like fantasy sports, drafting the best individual players to create their own teams. In April 2024, I put together a mock draft of the best 40 women's cards, and after Christmas 2024, I calculated the top 60 men's cards for the fantasy mock draft below.

Scroll further down for our list of the greatest men's players of all time in our game, which spans back to the early 1940s Dartmouth and Wyoming squads, through the new dynasty from UConn, and the latest addition in JMU. After listing my mock draft, I included a copy of the cleaned-up rules for the game and a list of all great teams. Note: these are the best cards in the game. While Michael Jordan is the greatest NBA player who played college basketball, most agree that Kareem was the greatest college player ever. While Jordan's card is actually the best defensive card in our game, it is from his freshman season when he was averaging 13.6 points per game—not his sophomore season, when he was an All-American, or his junior year, when he beat out Ralph Sampson for National Player of the Year. Even in this freshman season, he ranks as the 35th best card of thousands in the game.

With all the great basketball sim games on the market, I believe the two things that the Value Add Basketball Game does better than any other game are:

1. Calibrating for the level of competition and the era in which a team played, to put all on equal footing.
2. Accounting for the true impact of point guards, as they improve all four teammates, giving them value well beyond their individual stats.

The Centers: Abdul-Jabbar Edges Walton, Chamberlain and Russell

Centers dominated most of college basketball history, so it is no surprise that 6 of the best 14 cards in the game are centers. When we calculated each cards value it was a photo finish as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's offensive rating was 1.16 and defense was 0.92, while Bill Walton was just one point lower on offense for 1.15/0.92.

This calculation means that if a team had five average Value Add Basketball Game cards and thus gave up scored and gave up 1.00 point per trip, and then we inserted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar card for one of the five average players, the team would start scoring 1.16 points per trip down the court and allowing only 0.92 points allowed per trip. Assuming 70 possessions a game, that means the team averaging a 70-70 tie, would start winning their games by an average score of 81-64 with Abdul-Jabbar added to the team.

That's three points better than the best ever recorded when Sports Illustrated and ESPN covered my initial Value Add ratings (before the game) and I calculated that Anthony Davis freshman season and Jon Scheyer's senior season they were both worth about 14 points per game to Kentucky and Duke.

The two UCLA greats edge out the original two greatest players in Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, and the final of six lottery picks who are centers are the one player to be Abdul-Jabbar (Elvin Hayes of Houston) and the one surprise card to calculate as one of the 14 best in history - Georgetown's shot blocking extraordinaire Alonzo Mourning.

The Big O – Oscar Robertson Leads 6 Lottery Pick PGs

From the first time Sports Illustrated and ESPN covered my development of the Value Add Basketball Rankings (years before the game was invented), I found myself making the case to NBA teams in draft prep and arguing at MIT convenings featuring Nate Silver and others that basketball ratings cannot be accurate unless you add a subjective factor for the best point guards.

A player running the point commits far more turnovers than he would if playing another position because he needs to bring the ball 94 feet up the court against pressure—not just catch the ball and shoot. I believe the Value Add Basketball Game accounts for the true value of the point guard through a "pressure credit" to any player named one of the greatest point guards of all time, based on these three analyses: Hoops Hype, Jay Bilas or Bleacher Reports.

The way the Value Add Basketball Game accounts for this is by adjusting during the final 9 possessions (5 minutes) of a game. If one of these all-time great point guards is in the game, he reduces the chance of a turnover or steal almost in half, no matter who on his team has the ball. In the normal steal range of 11-16 or 31, these PGs take care of the ball and get it to teammates in easy positions, so the even numbers of 12, 14, and 16 are not considered steals. Instead, we roll the 20-sided die. The same applies to turnovers on 42, 44, or 46.

Therefore, Oscar Robertson's offensive and defensive ratings of 1.11 and 0.98 result in a +18 rather than a +13, because the extra 5 points reflect his ability to play elite point guard when the team needs him most, with the pressure on.

If that same team of average players—initially averaging a 70-70 tie—that improved to an average 81-64 win by adding Anthony Davis, instead added Oscar Robertson, we'd expect their average to drop to a 79-66 win. So, a 13-point improvement that makes him our No. 3 overall pick, still four points worse than Kareem or Bill Walton but better than everyone else.

The other five point guard lottery picks in our all-time mock draft are:

• Walt Frazier (Southern Illinois, 1967)
• Gary "The Glove" Payton (Oregon State, 1990)
• Jerry West (West Virginia, 1959)
• Walt Hazzard (UCLA’s first undefeated team in the dynasty run)
• Magic Johnson (Michigan State, 1979)

I think of West, the Big O, and others playing positions other than point guard, but it doesn't matter if they always played point guard. In fact, Magic once made a point of going up for the jump ball at the outset of a Lakers game when Kareem was injured, just to play all five positions in a game. The point is that if Bilas or one of the other two sets of experts believes a player could play point guard that well, then that player can be used in clutch time in our game, and his card is that much better.

All three experts agree that Magic was the greatest PG of all time. The other five PG lottery picks have slightly better cards in our game because they put up more offensive numbers than Magic did during Michigan State’s title season.

Memories of the 2 non-PG or C Lottery Picks - Dr. J and AD

While you probably want to nail down a dominant Center or Point Guard with your first pick in the draft, the other two lottery picks we suggest depending on who is available are Dr. J and AD - that's UMass 1971 Julius Erving or Kentucky 2012 Anthony Davis.

Both are listed as forwards by basketball reference, which we use to determine all positions except for flagging the point guards as mentioned above.

Dr. J of course was the first human highlight reel, and one of the greatest gifts of my life was my Aunt Joanne deciding to take me to my first basketball game as a 6-year-old to see him play for the Virginia Squires in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

I could tell at that young age my New York Jets, who had won the Superbowl the year before, and my new team the Virginia Squires, would dominate the sports world for years to come. The Squires could not afford to keep Dr. J and the three years after he left went 28-56 and 15-69 before improving their final year to 15-68 before going out of business. The Jets established much better consistency by going 3-11 all three of those season but unfortunately stayed in business so I could watch them get beaten up by Aunt Joanne's Buffalo Bills as late as I type this today on December 29, 2024. But back to the mock draft ...

Ironically I saw Anthony Davis only college loss when I spare of the moment bought tickets to the last Kentucky at Indiana game on the way to a 3-day silent retreat in Indiana. It resulted in the only time I stormed a court, as noted in the photo, running past former Marquette coach Tom Crean as ESPN was so excited about the buzzer beater they accidentally awarded the 3-pointer to Kentucky on the screen.

Despite this shot costing Davis college perfection, this is a guy who was so good as a POINT GUARD that as a freshman in high school that one NBA team official told me they thought he would be a future NBA point guard if he had stopped growing at 6-foot-2. The interesting thing I noticed in calculating my mock draft is that Davis ("AD") is the only card I calculate as a all-time lottery pick since 2000.

This is not because the game is biased against newer teams - in fact our current all-time top 25 includes 12 recent teams from Duke 2001 to UConn 2023, and only 13 top 25 teams between the 1962 Cincinnati team right after the Big O graduated through Paul Pierce's 1997 Kansas' team.

I believe this is due to two factors. First, more teams early on had that one absolutely dominant player, whereas in recent decades the great teams have more balanced domination to need to share the ball more.

The even bigger factor is the greatest players leaving after one year for the draft or not playing college at all. I've always believed Davis would have been the greatest college player on college basketball history if he had stayed to his senior or even junior year. Players improve SO MUCH even between their freshman and sophomore seasons, and my calculations a decade ago was that Davis improved Kentucky more than 14 points a game as a freshman, so it would have been a close call between the 2014 or 2015 Anthony Davis card and Kareem's card for greatest college player ever if NIL had existed then and he had stayed and won a couple of more titles to rival the current UConn team for the second greatest dynasty of all time behind Kareem's UCLA.

Lott	Player, all-time NBA, college PG	School	Year	Pos	Ht	Off	Def
1	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3	UCLA	1967	C	7'2	1.16	0.92
2	Bill Walton #44	UCLA	1972	C	6'11	1.15	0.92
3	Oscar Robertson #9-all-time PG#3-HH	Cincinnati	1960	PG	6'5	1.11	0.98
4	Wilt Chamberlain #5	Kansas	1957	C	7'1	1.1	0.92
5	Walt Frazier #41,all-time PG #14-HH	Southern Illinois	1967	PG	6'4	1.05	0.94
6	Gary Payton #42, all-time PG#8-BR	Oregon St.	1990	PG	6'4	1.05	0.94
7	Jerry West #4-HH	West Virginia	1959	PG	6'3	1.12	1.01
8	Bill Russell #6	San Francisco	1956	C	6'9	1.07	0.91
9	Julius Erving #14	Massachusetts	1971	F	6'6	1.08	0.92
10	Walt Hazzard, all-time PG#20-BR	UCLA	1964	PG	6'2	1.08	0.98
11	Alonzo Mourning #78	Georgetown	1989	C	6'10	1.08	0.93
12	Anthony Davis #71	Kentucky	2012	F	6'10	1.07	0.92
13	Magic Johnson #4, all-time PG#1-HH,JB,BR	Michigan St.	1979	PG	6'8	1.02	0.93
14	Elvin Hayes #58	Houston	1968	C	6'9	1.1	0.96
Rd 1	Player, all-time NBA, college PG	School	Year	Pos	Ht	Off	Def
15	Bob McAdoo #45	North Carolina	1972	F	6'9	1.07	0.93
16	Tim Duncan #8	Wake Forest	1996	C	6'11	1.07	0.93
17	Jerry Lucas #46	Ohio St.	1960	C	6'8	1.14	1
18	Bob Cousy #34, all-time PG#2-BR	Holy Cross	1950	PG	6'1	1.04	0.96
19	Lenny Wilkens #65,all-time #19 PG-HH	Providence	1960	PG	6'1	1.04	0.96
20	John Stockton #24,all-time PG#7-HH	Gonzaga	1981	PG	6'1	1.03	0.95
21	Allen Iverson #31, all-time PG#9-JB	Georgetown	1995	PG	6'0	1.02	0.94
22	Steve Nash #37,all-time PG#8-HH	Santa Clara	1996	PG	6'3	1.04	0.96
23	Pete Maravich #54, all-time #16 PG-HH	LSU	1970	PG	6'5	1.12	1.05
24	Tiny Archibald #67,all-time #15 PG-HH	UTEP	1970	SG	6'1	1.03	0.96
25	Greg Anthony, all-time PG#38-BR	UNLV	1991	PG	6'0	1.06	0.99
26	Bob Pettit #35	LSU	1953	F	6'9	1.07	0.95
27	Billy Cunningham #72	North Carolina	1965	F	6'6	1.05	0.93
28	Dave Cowens #61	Florida St.	1968	C	6'9	1.07	0.95
29	Wes Unseld #48	Louisville	1968	C	6'7	1.07	0.95
30	Robert Parish #63	Centenary (LA)	1976	C	7'0	1.05	0.93
Rd 2	Player, all-time NBA, college PG	School	Year	Pos	Ht	Off	Def
31	Larry Bird #7	Indiana St.	1979	F	6'9	1.09	0.97
32	James Worthy #56	North Carolina	1982	F	6'9	1.03	0.91
33	Hakeem Olajuwon #13	Houston	1983	C	7'0	1.06	0.94
34	Shaquille O'Neal #11	LSU	1992	C	7'1	1.08	0.96
35	Jason Kidd #43, all-time PG#4-JB	California	1993	PG	6'4	1.01	0.95
36	Jameer Nelson, all-time PG#10-BR	St Joes	2004	PG	6'0	1.05	0.99
37	Dolph Schayes #70	NYU	1948	C	6'7	1.06	0.95
38	Michael Jordan #1	North Carolina	1982	SG	6'6	1.01	0.9
39	Karl Malone #23	Louisiana Tech	1985	F	6'9	1.05	0.94
40	Chris Webber #76	Michigan	1993	F	6'9	1.06	0.95
41	Jacque Vaughn, all-time PG#32-BR	Kansas	1997	PG	6'1	1.02	0.97
42	Mike Bibby, all-time PG#22-BR	Arizona	1997	PG	6'1	1.05	1
43	Jay Williams, all-time PG#12-BR	Duke	2001	PG	6'2	1.03	0.98
44	Hal Greer #64	Marshall	1956	SG	6'2	1.05	0.95
45	Isiah Thomas #27, all-time PG#2-JB	Indiana	1981	PG	6'1	1.01	0.97
46	Johnny Dawkins, all-time PG#16-BR	Duke	1986	PG	6'2	1.03	0.99
47	Kenny Anderson, all-time PG#13-BR	Georgia Tech	1990	PG	6'2	1.04	1
48	Andre Miller, all-time PG#25-BR	Utah	1998	PG	6'2	1	0.96
49	Mateen Cleaves, all-time PG#19-BR	Michigan State	2000	PG	6'2	0.99	0.95
50	Elgin Baylor #20	Seattle	1958	F	6'6	1.1	1.01
51	Dave DeBusschere #73	Detroit Mercy	1960	F	6'6	1.07	0.98
52	Patrick Ewing #40	Georgetown	1984	C	7'0	1.03	0.94
53	Ray Allen #47	Connecticut	1996	SG	6'5	1.05	0.96
54	Paul Pierce #62	Kansas	1997	F	6'6	1.06	0.97
55	Calvin Murphy, all-time PG#3-BR	Niagara	1970	PG	5'9	1.03	1
56	Ed Cota, all-time PG#26-BR	North Carolina	1998	PG	6'2	1.02	0.99
57	Raymond Felton, all-time PG#39-BR	North Carolina	2005	PG	6'1	1.03	1
58	Russell Westbrook #68,all-time PG #12-HH	UCLA	2008	PG	6'3	1.01	0.98
59	Stephen Curry #16, all-time PG#2-HH	Davidson	2008	PG	6'3	1.02	0.99
60	Dave Bing #74	Syracuse	1966	SG	6'3	1.09	1.01
Other	Player, all-time NBA, college PG	School	Year	Pos	Ht	Off	Def
	James Harden #50	Arizona St.	2009	SG	6'5	1.04	1
	Charles Barkley #22	Auburn	1984	C	6'6	1.04	0.97
	Nate Thurmond #49	Bowling Green	1963	F	6'11	1.01	0.98
	George Mikan #28	DePaul	1945	C	6'10	1.02	0.98
	Bobby Hurley, all-time PG#6-JB	Duke	1992	PG	6'0	1.02	1
	Dominique Wilkins #36	Georgia	1982	F	6'7	1.01	0.93
	Clyde Drexler #53	Houston	1983	F	6'7	1.04	0.97
	Kyle Macy, all-time PG#37-BR	Kentucky	1978	PG	6'3	1.02	1
	Dwyane Wade #30	Marquette	2003	SG	6'4	1.05	1
	Rick Barry #38	Miami	1965	F	6'7	1.07	1.02
	Kevin McHale #39	Minnesota	1977	F	6'10	1.03	0.97
	David Robinson #25	Navy	1986	C	7'1	1	0.96
	Kawhi Leonard #33	San Diego St.	2011	F	6'7	1.03	0.97
	Alex English #79	South Carolina	1973	F	6'7	1.02	0.99
	Sherman Douglas, all-time PG#11-BR	Syracuse	1987	PG	6'0	1.02	1.01
	TJ Ford, all-time PG#21-BR	Texas	2003	PG	5'11	1.01	0.99
	Kevin Durant #12	Texas	2007	F	6'9	1.06	0.99
	Reggie Miller #51	UCLA	1987	SG	6'7	1.04	0.96
	Paul Arizin #66	Villanova	1950	F	6'4	1.07	1
	Chris Paul #29, all-time PG#6-HH	Wake Forest	2005	PG	6'0	1.01	1.02

Other stars alpha
Dola Adebayo
Ochai Agbaji
Mark Aguirre
Danny Ainge
Ty-Shon Alexander
Nick Anderson
Carmelo Anthony #69
Armando Bacot
Shane Battier
Michael Beasley
Len Bias
DeJuan Blair
Bill Bradley
Craig Bradshaw
Mikal Bridges
Dillon Brooks
Johni Broome
Bradford Burgess
Trey Burke
DJ Burns
Jared Butler
Jimmy Butler
Devontae Cacok
Marcus Camby
Bob Carney
Marcus Carr
Tony Carr
Austin Carr
Vince Carter
Mario Chalmers
Jim Chones
Jimmy Clark
Walter Clayton
JaKobe Coles
Jimmy Collins
Tayton Conerway
Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell
Jarrett Culver
Dell Curry
Glen Davis
Johnell Davis
Donovan Dent
Amarion Dickerson
Juan Dixon
Billy Donovan
Jared Dudley
Calvin Duncan
Doug Edert
Zach Edey
Jason Edwards
Carsen Edwards
Terrence Edwards
Reggie Evans
Tosan Evbuomwan
Kenneth Faried
Jordan Farmar
Nick Fazekas
Cooper Flagg
T.J. Ford
Javohn Garcia
Luka Garza
Armen Gilliam
Artis Gilmore
Jack Givens
Jack Gohlke
Tom Gola
Ben Gordon
Joey Graham
Tyon Grant-Foster
Draymond Green
A.C. Green
Darrell Griffith
Quentin Grimes
Jack Grout
Alex Groza
Kyle Guy
Kimani Hamilton
Richard Hamilton
Bernard Hardin
Jerry Harkness
Justin Harper
Clem Haskins
Gordon Hayward
Roy Hibbert
Buddy Hield
Paul Hogue
Dan Issel
Jarrett Jack
Justin Jackson
Jaime Jaquez
Jared Jeffries
Bobby Joe Hill
Stanley Johnson
Larry Johnson
Logan Johnson
Kevin Jones
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Frank Kaminsky
DeAndre Kane
Bo Kimble
Reggie King
Bernard King
Gordon Klaiber
Amarr Knox
Jaxon Kohler
Tyler Kolek
Cameron Krutwig
Bob Kurland
Christian Laettner
Anthony Lamb
Bob Lanier
Shane Larkin
Acie Law
Vic Law
Jaedon LeDee
Butch Lee
RJ Lewis
Jai Lewis
Damian Lillard #75
Brook Lopez
Caleb Love
Clyde Lovelette
John Lucas
Fletcher Magee
Danny Manning
CJ Massinburg
Jason Maxiell
Scott May
Sean May
Don May
Bill McCaffrey
Willie McCarter
Doug McDermott
Darius McGhee
Dick McGuire
Jim McIlvaine
Dave Meyers
Brandon Miller
Evan Mobley
Sidney Moncrief
Wendell Moore
Ja Morant
John Morton
Rick Mount
Chris Mullin
Joakim Noah
JD Notae
Markquis Nowell
Jack Nunge
Greg Oden
Semi Ojeleye
Chuma Okeke
Norchad Omier
Kyle O'Quinn
Great Osobor
Sean Pedulla
Desmond Penigar
Terran Petteway
Ed Pinckney
Myles Powell
Joe Pridgen
Derik Queen
Terry Rand
Justin Reed
Glen Rice
Lawrence Roberts
Guy Rodgers
Derrick Rose
Lennie Rosenbluth
Brandon Roy
Cazzie Russell
Ken Sailors
Ralph Sampson
Adama Sanogo
Richie Saunders
Jon Scheyer
Dennis Scott
Byron Scott
Rony Seikaly
Phil Sellers
David Shelton
Russ Smith
Isaiah Stevens
Steve Stipanovich
Bennett Stirtz
Fred Sturdivant
Jared Terrell
Adou Thiero
David Thompson
Sindarius Thornwell
Drew Timme
Wayman Tisdale
Obi Toppin
Seth Tuttle
Fred VanVleet
Santiago Vescovi
Antoine Walker
Kemba Walker
Thomas Walkup
Charlie Ward
Kyle Weaver
Deron Williams
Nigel Williams-Goss
Corliss Williamson
Justise Winslow
Danny Wolf
Nate Wolters
Orlando Woolridge
McKinley Wright