Cincy 1962 Holds Off UNLV 73-71 to face Kentucky 2 hours to the South in Final 4

Pos	UNLV 1991 (Dunk 51-54)	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Actual Season
1-PG	Greg Anthony	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	2	nba,6'1	11.6 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 8.9 Ast
2-SG	Stacey Augmon	13	1	5	0	0	3	4	2	2	nba,6'6	16.5 Pts, 7.3 Reb, 3.6 Ast
3-SF	Anderson Hunt	10	2	2	0	0	4	0	0	1	6'1	17.2 Pts, 1.6 Reb, 2.9 Ast
4-PF	Elmore Spencer	4	0	1	2	2	2	0	1	3	nba,7'1	6.4 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 1.2 Ast
5-C	Larry Johnson	24	0	9	6	6	9	1	0	3	nba,6'6	22.7 Pts, 10.9 Reb, 3.0 Ast
1-PG	Evric Gray	7	0	3	1	5	1	0	1	2	nba,6'7	6.8 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 1.4 Ast
2-SG	Travis Bice	7	1	1	2	2	3	0	0	2	6'5	4.7 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast
3-SF	George Ackles	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	8.2 Pts, 5.7 Reb, 0.8 Ast
4-PF	Bobby Joyce	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'7	2.3 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.3 Ast
		0
	Turnovers 16	71	4	24	11	15	28	5	4	17
Pos	Cincinnati 1962 (51-63)	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Summary
1-PG	Tony Yates	5	0	2	1	1	2	2	0	1	6'1	8.2 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 4.3 Ast
2-SG	Tom Thacker	20	1	7	3	4	2	6	0	1	nba,6'2	11.0 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 3.4 Ast
3-SF	Ron Bonham	13	1	5	0	0	6	1	0	2	nba,6'5	14.3 Pts, 5.0 Reb, 1.1 Ast
4-PF	George Wilson	3	0	1	1	4	7	1	0	2	nba,6'8	9.2 Pts, 8.0 Reb, 1.1 Ast
5-C	Paul Hogue	18	0	8	2	2	13	0	6	5	nba,6'9	16.8 Pts, 12.4 Reb, 0.6 Ast
1-PG	Tom Sizer	4	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	3	6'2	2.7 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 1.2 Ast
2-SG	Larry Shingleton	6	1	1	1	2	2	0	0	1	5'10	3.9 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.8 Ast
3-SF	Fred Dierking	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6	4.1 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.6 Ast
4-PF	Dale Heidotting	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8	3.1 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 0.4 Ast
		0
	Turnovers 14	73	3	28	8	13	36	11	6	17

While Anthony Davis lead Kentucky 2012 to an easy Elite 8 win, their Final 5 opponent two hours to the north had to go to the wire to make the game. That game pitted two great centers with the threat that if either fouled out guarding each other it would give the other team a great chance. (see Value Add Basketball Game)

UNLV's 1991 center Larry Johnson, whose powerful game resulted in 22.7 point per game and a game-high 24 points in this game, did finally draw a 5th foul on Cincinnati 1962 Center Paul Hogue (16.8 pts and 12.4 average and 18,13 in this game) but it was not until less than a minute to play. Johnson hit both free throws to finish 6-6 from the line to cut it to 72-69, but Tom Thacker hit the first of two free throws to wrap up the win, and Stacey Augmon's bucket at the buzzer still left Cincinnati with the 73-71 win.

While this Final 4 Game will feature two teams just two hours from each other (the Cincinnati airport is actually in the state of Kentucky), while the other Final 4 game will be between teams in the same arena, as UCLA teams from1964 and 1975 face off.

Despite Rim Protecting Star early Foul Out, Cincy Stakes Claim to Best Ever in Beating Syracuse

In light of their best player Paul Hogue fouling out to only play 22 of 57 possessions in the game, and going up against one of the greatest players and scoring point guards in history in Dave Bing who led this Syracuse team to 99 points per game in 1966, the Cincinnati 1962 team staked their claim as the best team in history with an 80-66 win in their Value Add Basketball Game debut.

Jim Boeheim was the only major college men's coach to top 1000 wins besides coach K, but it was his college roommate Dave Bing who was named as one of the 75 greatest by the NBA.

Our games start in a 20-20 tie with 22 possessions assumed already played, when Vaughn Harper drew a 5th foul despite Hogue "playing to avert the foul, Syracuse took the lead 43-42, but the Bearcats responded by stopping Syracuse's high powered offense on the next 13 possessions to take a 54-43 lead. Teams average about 1.0 points per trip down the court, but the Bearcats only allowed Syracuse 0.81 points per trip.  Not on the scoresheet that Syracuse 1966 games are so high paced that both teams get an extra 10 possessions because of their fast pace.

 

Team	Dunk Range	Pts	Possessions	Per Trip
Syracuse 1966	51-51	46	57	0.81
Cincinnati 1962	51-66	60	56	1.07

Except for a few high paced teams like Syracuse, Value Add Basketball Games actually last 44 to 53 possessions in actual play depending on how many of the last nine possessions (fine 5 minutes) result in an extra possession due to a fast break style or foul, and since that happened three times in this game in addition to the 10 extra possessions at the beginning based on Syracuse's cards, that totalled 57 possessions actually played (remember this is really a 77 possession game since we assumed that 22 possessions at the beginning of each game resulted in a 20-20 tie before we start rolling the dice).

The reason Cincinnati had one extra possession is that we always have the team leading the game by more than a few points hold the ball on the final possession rather than try to run up the score.

Strategy Tip: Avoiding a Foul

Hogue was in foul trouble so playing to avoid the foul which meant the following three adjustments are made:

The defender does not commit a foul on his own card but the three possible four possible foul numbers - 33-36 - all turn into made baskets.

The player avoiding the foul also cannot attempt a steal in the 11-16,31 possible steal numbers OR for Hogue more importantly not attempt a blocked shot on the 21-26, 32 numbers all of which are normally blocked shots for Hogue.

The only way to commit a foul despite this strategy is if the offensive player you are guarding draws a foul on the 20-sided die, Therefore Hogue started guarding George Hicker who only has one foul drawn number (10) on the 20-sided die, instead of Vaughn Harper (9-11 draws foul) or Val Reid (10-12) who both have three foul numbers. However, when Hicker took his normal rest on possessions 37-31 Hogue was back on Harper, and with 32 possessions left Harper drew the 5th foul.

Even without Hogue, the Bearcats have so many dominant, physical players, that they still dominated the Board 45-33 behind 10 rebounds each by George Wilson and Tom Thacker.

Thacker was the MVP of the game for his defense on Bing. Thacker is one of only a few of the 3000+ players in our game to have steals and blocks on all 6 numbers of each - so when the ball goes to the opposing player on an 8-sided die roll of 2, Thacker steals it on 11-16 or blocks a shot on 21-26 - so one third of every time the opponent tries to score.

The rules are different when a star player gets the ball on a 6,7 or 8 as it is considered team defense and any defensive player can steal or block on any player BUT on far fewer rolls On team defense:

Roll of

11 - only a defender with 11-13 or better steals

12 - only a defender with 11-16 steals.

13 - only a defender with 11-16 AND 31 steals.

14-16 or 31 - NOT a steal if 8-sided die was 6, 7 or 8.

21 - only a defender with 21-23 or better blocks shot.

22 - only a defender with 21-26 blocks shot.

23 - only a defender with 21-26 AND 31 blocks shot.

24-26 or 32 - NOT a block if 8-sided die was 6, 7 or 8.

In addition, the entire Bearcats defense is an elite -5 on adjusting opponents dunks, which meant Syracuse only got a bucket at the hoop on a roll of 51 (Normal Syracuse dunk range of 51-59, minus 5 for Cincinnati defense to get to 51-53, then minus another two because the Cincinnati 51-59 PLUS the really bad Syracuse defense of +5 actually meant Cincinnati was two numbers higher than the maximum 51-66 on the dunk chart, and if we have to lower one team by 2 to fit the maximum 51-66 dunk range the we lower the other team by 2 as well.

So Bing did get free some, and in fact had a game high 21 points, but Thacker's incredible defense held him well below is 28.4 ppg average.
 

Pos	Syracuse 1966, #198 all-time	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season
1-PG	Frank Nicoletti	3	0	1	1	2	4	1	0	5	6'2,1.9pt
2-SG	Dave Bing	21	1	9	0	0	6	1	0	4	6'3,NBA^28.4pt
3-SF	Jim Boeheim	5	1	1	0	0	4	0	0	4	6'4,14.6pt
4-PF	George Hicker	13	0	5	3	4	3	4	2	2	6'2,15.1pt
5-C	Vaughn Harper	5	0	2	1	2	9	3	4	3	6'4,9pt
1-PG	Richard Dean	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	6'6,12.9pt
2-SG	Richard Cornwall	6	1	1	1	2	7	0	0	1	5'10,6.7pt
3-SF	Sam Penceal	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6'3,3.8pt
4-PF	Norman Goldsmith	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	6'3,3.4pt
5-C	Val Reid	5	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	1	6'9,3.2pt
	Totals	66	3	24	9	14	33	9	6	24
Pos	Cincinnati 1962, #2 all-time	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Actual Season
1-PG	Tony Yates	11	0	1	9	11	5	4	0	2	6'1,8.2pt
2-SG	Tom Thacker	12	2	1	4	6	10	2	5	1	6'2,NBA^11.0pt
3-SF	Ron Bonham	17	1	4	6	7	5	1	2	3	6'5,NBA^14.3pt
4-PF	George Wilson	9	2	1	1	3	10	1	4	3	6'8,NBA^9.2pt
5-C	Paul Hogue	8	0	4	0	0	7	0	2	5	6'9,NBA^16.8pt
1-PG	Tom Sizer	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2,2.7pt
2-SG	Larry Shingleton	8	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	2	5'10,3.9pt
3-SF	Fred Dierking	8	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	6'6,4.1pt
4-PF	Dale Heidotting	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'8,3.1pt
	Totals	80	7	19	21	28	45	8	13	19

Boeheim Leads Fast Pace Syracuse in Upset Bid vs. Cincinnati

 Jim Boeheim ran a disciplined 2-3 zone to take Syracuse to championships, but as a player with all time great Dave Bing the 1966 Syracuse team road a "defense optional" style to average 99 points per game to take the Orange Men to their first Final 8 in nine years.

Even No. 2 Vanderbilt could not slow them down during the season, though Vandy did survive a 113-98.

This is the 2nd of 4 games pitting a team added to the game because they were part of the 10 greatest dynasties ever (Cincinnati, the 1-seed) vs. four teams added because one of their players has broken into the NBA top 75 players of all time - in this case 16-seed Syracuse's case Dave Bing.

Note at the bottom of Syracuse's team sheet that an extra 10 possessions will be played because of the number of extra possessions Syracuse created due to their fast pace. As shown in the bracket at the bottom, the winner of this game gets the winner of the 8 v 9 game between UNLV 1991 and UNC 2017.

Cincinnati already had the 1960 team of Oscar Robertson in the Value Add Basketball Game, but this team with their next batch of stars comes into the game as the No. 2 ranked team in our entire game.

The 2-seed right behind them, UCLA's undefeated team from two years later, was already impressive in the first "great team against great player" match-up when they beat Villanova 85-65.

Cincinnati has a +17 rating, which combined with Syracuse's -7 makes Cincy a 24-point favorite in the game which would make an upset the biggest upset yet in our 305 games played since the invention of the game. DePaul 1981 with Mark Aguire and Terry Cummings won despite being 18-point underdogs against Kareem's UCLA teams to capture the biggest upset yet.

Resuming with All-Time Great Basketball Teams

With ABC featuring a top 25 match-up of Duke vs. Purdue to compete with the NFL Sunday afternoon, we turned to a couple of All-Time Top 10 Duke team in the Value Add Basketball Game. We are focused on trying teams who have only played one or two games to see if they move up or down in our All-Time standings (click for game log and ratings). 

In the table of upcoming games below, a red line indicates the game has been played and the team lost (e.g. Cincy lost to Ohio State), and green means the team won. A bolded game means an All-Time Top 25 match-up, while italics means a top 50 all-time match-up from the 135 all-time great basketball teams.

Four Top 10 teams that we felt needed to justify their rankings because they had fewer than 3 games were; then #10 Cincinnati that was replaced by Ohio State 1960 after losing to them; #9 Duke 1992 that fell out of the Top 10 with an OT loss to UConn 2004; #3 Kentucky 2006 that will face an SEC test against #35 Arkansas 1994; #4 Duke 2001 that will be tested by #16 UNLV 1991; 

We were sidetracked from resuming the basketball games this week due to some great improvements from a user to the all-time great Statis-Pro Baseball teams (click on instructions to the game as well as great new sheets of pitchers and batters for those 60 all-time great teams.

Red equals team lost game - Green equals teams won game - Black equals not yet played

Team	Year	Player You Might Know	Opponent	Opp Yr
#35 Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	#67 LSU	1992
#35 Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	#3 Kentucky	2006
#21 Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	#10 Ohio St.	1960
#30 Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	#56 San Francisco	1956
#19 Connecticut	2004	Ben Gordon	#9 Duke	1992
#71 Dayton	2020	Obi Toppin	#64 Purdue	1969
#9 Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	#30 Connecticut	1999
#4 Duke	2001	Shane Battier	#16 UNLV	1991
#91 Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	#64 Purdue	1969
#48 Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	#40 Iowa	2021
#40 Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	#48 Indiana	1981
#40 Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	#70 Kansas	1957
#59 Jacksonville	1970	Artis Gilmore	#56 San Francisco	1956
#70 Kansas	1957	Wilt Chamberlain	#40 Iowa	2021
#3 Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	#35 Arkansas	1994
#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	#47 Michigan	1989
#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	#75 St. John's	1985
#67 LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	#35 Arkansas	1994
#67 LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	#72 Marquette	1971
#72 Marquette	1971	Jim Chones	#67 LSU	1992
#106 Marquette	2011	Jimmy Butler	#75 St. John's	1985
#47 Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	#10 Ohio St.	1960
#47 Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963
#10 Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	#21 Cincinnati	1960
#10 Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	#47 Michigan	1989
#64 Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	#71 Dayton	2020
#64 Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	#91 Georgia Tech	1990
#56 San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	#30 Connecticut	1999
#56 San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	#59 Jacksonville	1956
#75 St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	#106 Marquette	2011
#75 St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963
#16 UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	#4 Duke	2001

Lucas' Ohio State Face the Big O's Cincy and Michigan

In our updated rankings of the top 25 all-time college basketball teams, you will notice several have only one or two games played. We decided we will focus on those teams now - particularly the teams in our Top 75 that only have one game played. We set up "doubleheaders" for each of them to see if they hold or can even improve their rankings.

The most intriguing double header we set up heading into the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game this weekend, was letting Jerry Lucas 1960 Buckeyes National Champs play the 1989 Champs from Michigan - but also the game that never happened - a 1960 National Championship between them and the Cincinnati Bearcats as the warm up for Michigan.

In 1960, the Bearcats were ranked 1st all year behind Oscar Robertson, the Big O, and both the Bearcats and Buckeyes made the Final 4. The Bearcats lost in the semifinals for the third straight year with the Big O, this time to a great Cal team - which ironically had left the Pac-12 that year only to later return, so Oscar Robertson did not face Jerry Lucas for the championship.

The really ironic part of the story is the Big O then went to the NBA, and the two years after he left, Cincinnati not only won the national title, but did it by beating Jerry Lucas and Ohio State. The were then national runner-ups in 1963, to make it six straight years in the Final Four. Cal interrupted what would have been three straight national title rematches between the two teams from the same state. Those two teams were in the middle of a 98 year stretch during which they never played on each others campuses, so they could only meet in tournaments. 

Bearcats fans may ask why I included their 1960 team instead of one of the national champs the next two years. Well, that is because I look at both the greatest teams ever but also the greatest players ever to choose who gets a team in the game. The Big O was the only player who went onto the NBA from this Bearcats team in the game, and no player from the National Champs went onto the NBA.

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

 

Team	Year	Player You Might Know	Opponent	Opp Yr
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	LSU	1992
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	Kentucky	2006
Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	Ohio St.	1960
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	San Francisco	1956
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	Duke	1992
Dayton	2020	Obi Toppin	Purdue	1969
Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	Connecticut	1999
Duke	2001	Shane Battier	UNLV	1991
Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	Purdue	1969
Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	Iowa	2021
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Indiana	1981
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Kansas	1957
Jacksonville	1970	Artis Gilmore	San Francisco	1956
Kansas	1957	Wilt Chamberlain	Iowa	2021
Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	Arkansas	1994
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	Michigan	1989
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	St. John's	1985
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Arkansas	1994
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Marquette	1971
Marquette	1971	Jim Chones	LSU	1992
Marquette	2011	Jimmy Butler	St. John's	1985
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Ohio St	1960
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Loyola	1963
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Cincinnati	1960
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Michigan	1989
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Dayton	2020
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Georgia Tech	1990
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Connecticut	1999
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Jacksonville	1956
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Marquette	2011
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Loyola	1963
UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	Duke	2001

College Hoops 6th Best Conference History - American Athletic Conference

The American Athletic Conference ranks 6th of the 7 great conferences - no shame at all considering 25 conferences do not feature six all-time great teams. Our ratings are based on how the top 6 teams in each great conference have played against some of the greatest college basketball teams in history in the Value Add College Basketball Game (see details at the bottom). .

The conference formed recently when the Big East broke into football and basketball-only schools, and they ended up putting together six teams in particular with incredible history. So far in our game the six teams have gone 13-9 against some of the greatest teams in college basketball history. Obviously they will be hurt by Houston and Cincinnati moving to the Big 12 along with Central Florida (who does not have an all-time great team). 

The top two teams are virtually tied with ratings of 8.7 and 8.5 in Oscar "Big O" Robertson's 1960 Cincinnati squad being chased by Elvin Hayes 1968 Houston team that handed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar their only loss.

In this conference the 20th century teams are currently in the top 3 spots, but that could change as Hakeem Olajuwon's 1983 squad is barely leading Derrick Rose's 2008 Memphis team - both of which had heart breaking national championships slip away in their real season.

Rnk	Great Team	Year	Key Player	W	L	Pts	Allow	Rate
	American Athletic top 6			13	9	69.8	68.5	3.5
1	Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	1	1	69.5	73.5	8.7
2	Houston	1968	Elvin Hayes	3	1	73.0	63.8	8.5
3	Houston	1983	Hakeem Olajuwon	2	1	70.7	65.0	4.1
4	Memphis	2008	Derrick Rose	4	2	68.7	65.8	3.9
5	Cincinnati	2002	Jason Maxiell	2	2	72.8	71.5	1.9
6	Wichita St.	2013	Fred VanVleet	1	2	64.3	71.3	-6.4

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

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

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

Rnk	Great Team	Year	Key Player	W	L	Pts	Allow	Rate
	American Athletic top 6			13	9	69.8	68.5	3.5
1	Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	1	1	69.5	73.5	8.7
2	Houston	1968	Elvin Hayes	3	1	73.0	63.8	8.5
3	Houston	1983	Hakeem Olajuwon	2	1	70.7	65.0	4.1
4	Memphis	2008	Derrick Rose	4	2	68.7	65.8	3.9
5	Cincinnati	2002	Jason Maxiell	2	2	72.8	71.5	1.9
6	Wichita St.	2013	Fred VanVleet	1	2	64.3	71.3	-6.4