Big Ten Boasts BY FAR the Best Player in Edey in the Return of Value Add Basketball Rankings

All-Big Ten Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Zach Edey	Purdue	13.17	125.9	94.5	1-seed, 29-6, nba 58 in 2024
Jalen Pickett	Penn St.	9.66	118.7	101.1	10-seed, 23-14 (PG), nba 32 in 2023
Trayce Jackson-Davis	Indiana	9.45	118.5	97.2	4-seed, 23-12, nba 57 in 2023
Cam Spencer	Rutgers	8.66	119.4	90.8	19-15, Poss 19.8%
Hunter Dickinson	Michigan	8.14	116.3	97.4	18-16, nba 53 in 2024
2nd T-Big Ten Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Boo Buie	Northwestern	7.96	106.4	94.3	7-seed, 22-12 (PG), Poss 28.6%
Joey Hauser	Michigan St.	7.84	121.4	96.6	7-seed, 21-13, Poss 19.5%
Jahmir Young	Maryland	7.76	106.7	95.6	8-seed, 22-13 (PG), Poss 29.4%
Terrence Shannon	Illinois	7.57	111.9	94.9	9-seed, 20-13, nba 43 in 2024
Mason Gillis	Purdue	7.48	121.5	94.5	1-seed, 29-6, Poss 16.6%
HM-Big Ten Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Keisei Tominaga	Nebraska	7.43	119.6	98.8	16-16, Poss 21.3%
Caleb Furst	Purdue	7.33	121.9	94.5	1-seed, 29-6, Poss 15.8%
Zed Key	Ohio St.	6.56	117	101.6	16-19, Poss 23.1%
Kris Murray	Iowa	6.53	118.3	104.6	8-seed, 19-14, nba 23 in 2023
Seth Lundy	Penn St.	6.46	117.5	101.1	10-seed, 23-14, nba 46 in 2023
Steven Crowl	Wisconsin	6.46	109	94.1	20-15, Poss 23.2%
Brice Sensabaugh	Ohio St.	6.34	112	101.6	16-19, nba 28 in 2023
Miller Kopp	Indiana	6.05	125.2	97.2	4-seed, 23-12, Poss 10.9%
Filip Rebraca	Iowa	6.05	118.9	104.6	8-seed, 19-14, Poss 21.3%
Payton Sandfort	Iowa	5.88	117.3	104.6	8-seed, 19-14, Poss 22.7%
Connor McCaffery	Iowa	5.34	123.9	104.6	8-seed, 19-14, Poss 12.1%

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

The Big Ten boasted the second most top 300 players just behind the ACC, and that list starts with by far the best college basketball player last year and this, 7-foot-4 Zach Edey of Purdue. This doesn't mean Edey will be a dominant NBA player - he is projected to go at the end of the second round because the fast breaks in the NBA won't wait for him - but in college he is the guy who dominates both ends. While Purdue took an early exit last year - so did UVa the year before they won the national title, and this seems a great chance to end the stunning streak of the Big Ten not winning a title yet this Century (Michigan State's 2000 title is technically the last year of the 19th century).

What an incredible move to grab four of the best Pac-12 teams to basically combined the old Rose Bowl showdown into one conference. Both USC and UCLA have made Elite 8 runs in the last few years, and would give the conference 10 NCAA bids last year if they were already in the conference. Look down the current Pomeroy rankings on this chart - only one of the 16 teams would be outside the top 82 (Minnesota) in addition to Purdue being No. 1. Next season should be the greatest conference tournament in the history of college basketball.

Team	2023	2024	2025	Seed23	Rnk24
Illinois	B10	B10	B10	9	29
Indiana	B10	B10	B10	4	79
Iowa	B10	B10	B10	8	49
Maryland	B10	B10	B10	8	57
Michigan	B10	B10	B10		39
Michigan St.	B10	B10	B10	7	22
Minnesota	B10	B10	B10		107
Nebraska	B10	B10	B10		42
Northwestern	B10	B10	B10	7	59
Ohio St.	B10	B10	B10		50
Oregon	P12	P12	B10		37
Penn St.	B10	B10	B10	10	82
Purdue	B10	B10	B10	1	1
Rutgers	B10	B10	B10		63
UCLA	P12	P12	B10	2	31
USC	P12	P12	B10	10	30
Washington	P12	P12	B10		61
Wisconsin	B10	B10	B10		23

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

B10 VABG Reminder Set-up for Game and Home Advantages

For Christmas Day Basketball we decided to use the home advantage advanced rules for some Big Ten match-ups. Under the Value Add Basketball Game rules games can be played on a neutral site, which we have done with most of the games we have tracked.

This blog is a good reminder on how to set up the game - see steps through the end of the blog.

However, we chose to play the following three Big Ten games with a home advantage:

Iowa 2021 at Indiana 1981

Michigan 1989 at Iowa 2021

Illinois 1989 at Michigan 1965

Under these rules, the home team can reverse any role of 36 or 66. If the visiting team has the ball and a "36" comes up, that would usually (but not always) result in the home team committing a foul. The home team can reverse that to a "66" so the referee missed the foul call. The reverse is also true, if the home team has the ball and a 66 is rolled, the home offense can reverse the result to a "36" which means the referee gave them a foul call that should not have been called. 

Over the course of a game, that will result in a few bad calls in favor of the home team, that will result in about a 3-point advantage for the home team.

The reason we picked those teams is that it gets them all to three games played - the teams ranked #1 to #37 have all played between three and nine games, so we are trying to work through and get every great team up to at least three games played.

We can then have Loyola Marymount travel to #49 Missouri, which will mean the top 49 teams have all played at least three games. 

Here are the teams ranked from #38 to #47 all-time. The number to the left is their ranking among all-time great teams in our game. After a key player from their team is listed, we then list their average points score and allowed, and then an overall ranked and their conference. So Michigan 1965 featuring Cazzie Russell is 1-1, has won their average game by a 81.0 to 71.5 score, and has a rating of 2.5.

 

38	Michigan	1965	Cazzie Russell	1	1	81	71.5	2.5	B10
39	Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	1	0	88	69	2.4	B10
40	Loyola Marymount (WCC)	1990	Bo Kimble	1	1	119.5	110	2.3	Mid-Maj
41	Syracuse	2003	Carmelo Anthony	2	1	76	74	2.3	ACC
42	Illinois	1989	Nick Anderson	1	1	78	77	2	B10
43	Oklahoma	1985	Wayman Tisdale	3	1	75.3	73.8	1.9	B-12
44	Cincinnati	2002	Jason Maxiell	2	2	72.8	71.5	1.9	Amer
45	Missouri	1982	Steve Stipanovich	2	0	69.5	65.5	1.5	SEC
46	Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	0	2	70.5	78.5	1.3	B10
47	Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	1	1	73	73	1.3	B10

Other Set up reminders

When you set up the game, there are adjustment reminders if you plan not to use all players, since each player starts with at least 2 points, 1 foul and 1 rebound that must be given to other players. In this case 1981 Indiana's players have enough stamina that you only need seven players. Since 2 players will not be in the game, I added two points each to Isaiah Thomas (top right), Wittman and Tolbert to start each with 4 points instead of 2 points to give Indiana 20 points at the start of the 20-20 play in the game.

For the 3 rebounds we need to replace, I always work up from the starting center (Turner) so add one rebound to him and then one to Tolbert and Kitchel, the two forwards (we still call the "3" and the "4" the small forward and power forward for easy reference, even though they are often really just bigger guards with modern teams. 

Finally and most important, we need to add three fouls, and try to do it in hopes that the extra foul doesn't make anyone foul out. Obviously I added a foul to two subs, but then picked Wittman for the other extra foul since with only a "36" for fouls on his card - particularly in a home game where a 36 can be turned to a 66 - he is less likely to pick up additional fouls.

The other key in this game is the low dunk ranges and good defensive adjustments to opponents dunk ranges. If you go to the chart in teh game, Iowa is a 51-50, which means they have no automatic dunks, while Indiana calculates as a 51-48, and since that is two below no dunks it actually changes to any 51-52 being a STOP - meaning the shot is missed and defensive player gets the rebound automatically.

The instructions show coins being used to keep track of who is in the game, but another method is just to write the numbers on the team sheet. In this case, Isaiah Thomas and two other starters will play the whole game, so I write 1, 2 and 4 on their cards to show they will be in the whole game, but then 3 and 5 by the two players who will be replaced by a player on the top line. Once I cross those out and write 3 and 5 on the top line I will circle those because they will be in for the rest of the game once inserted.

Also wrote out who gets the ball on the 6, 7 or 8 roll as shown (we suggest using dimes on player getting an extra die roll if you use coins to track who is in the game).

Notice Iowa is much more confusing in their substitutions, with all 10 players being used a lot and noone on the team playing the whole game. Therefore noone is circled, but I also had to play around trying to figure out the possessions each should be in the game and writing in what possessions they would play at what position. One reason I try to play each team a few times is to catch where I have not listed suggestion rotations for a team, so I will likely add the numbers written on these cards back on the master set of cards on the google docs. Also notice that Keegan Murray, who went onto be one of the top players in the country the next year, actually played less than half of games in this season while Luka Garza was National Player of the Year.

Some who play the game have had trouble getting the scoresheet to print out correctly, with the top line being cut off or all 21 images printing from the instructions when they want to just print the scoresheet. I will show these in reverse order, but the image below shows what you hope to see on your printer that will give you a clean print of the whole scoresheet.

The screen below shows how you get to this screen - click on the scoresheet, then right click on it and save the image to your computer. From that point on, you can always pull that image up from your computer to print this image.

College Hoops 2nd Best Conference History - Big Ten

The second greatest conference so far in our Value Add Basketball Game is the Big Ten - which has had 21 National Champions, and Maryland won the title in 2002 before joining the Big Ten. Here is the list by school - Chicago 1907-1909; Illinois 1915; Indiana 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981,1987; Maryland 2002; Michigan 1989; Michigan State 1979, 2000; Minnesota 1902, 1919; Northwestern 1931; Ohio State 1960; Purdue 1932; Wisconsin 1912, 1914, 1916, 1941.

The conference is led so far by the last undefeated team in basketball, Bobby Knight's 1976 squad, followed by the last actual Big Ten Champion, the 2000 Michigan State Spartans.

It truly is amazing the Big Ten has technically not won a title this century (2000 is technically is the last year of the 20th century). Consider that Frank Kaminsky led Wisconsin to a 2015 Final Four upset against the Kentucky team that was considered by some the greatest ever until that game. Further only a bizarre final few seconds cost Purdue a win over eventual national champ Virginia in 2018.  Michigan State is constantly on the verge of a title.

So far the top 6 teams in the conference are 15-6 against the other greatest teams, and rank second with a 5.8 rating - which estimates they are about 6 points better than the average great team in the game - or about 27 points better than the average team.

Rnk	Great Team	Year	Key Player	W	L	Pts	Allow	Rate
	Top 6 Other Conf			15	6	73.7	68.2	5.8
1	Indiana	1976	Scott May	3	1	71.3	59.8	9.6
2	Michigan St.	2000	Mateen Cleaves	3	0	88.3	78.3	7.3
3	Purdue	2018	Carsen Edwards	4	1	71.2	68.8	5.0
4	Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	0	1	69.0	70.0	4.6
5	Illinois	2005	Deron Williams	3	2	72.0	69.6	4.3
6	Michigan St.	1979	Magic Johnson	2	1	70.3	62.7	4.1
7	Wisconsin	2015	Frank Kaminsky	2	2	65.0	63.3	3.4
8	Michigan	1965	Cazzie Russell	1	1	81.0	71.5	2.5
9	Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	1	0	88.0	69.0	2.4
10	Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	0	1	78.0	79.0	2.2
11	Illinois	1989	Nick Anderson	1	1	78.0	77.0	2.0
12	Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	1	1	73.0	73.0	1.3
13	Michigan St.	2009	Draymond Green	6	3	71.3	71.9	0.9
14	Michigan	2013	Trey Burke	1	2	70.3	69.7	0.3
15	Ohio St.	2007	Greg Oden	2	3	70.2	71.4	-0.4
16	Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	0	1	86.0	87.0	-0.8
17	Maryland	1984	Len Bias	1	1	69.5	68.5	-3.2
18	Indiana	2002	Jared Jeffries	1	3	67.3	72.8	-3.9
19	Maryland	2002	Juan Dixon	1	3	67.0	76.3	-4.0
20	Iowa	2001	Reggie Evans	1	2	71.0	75.3	-5.3

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!

Top College Basketball Centers this Season

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

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

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

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

 

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

Top 50 Centers Overall

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

 

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

Gathers Heart Attack after Alley-Oop Dunk; Could Highest Scoring Team Ever Have Won it All?

The North Carolina 1998 now has a +4.8 simulated KenPom rating to place 28th of the 136 great teams in the Value Add Basketball Game after clinging onto a 104-101 win against the highest scoring team in history - Loyola Marymount.

That was an outstanding defensive performance, believe it or not, as Loyola averaged the all-time record 122.4 points per game for the 1989-90 season behind All-Americans Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers. Loyola fans will never know if this team could have gone all the way because after completing an alley-oop dunk near the end of the season Gathers (who was only the 2nd player to lead the nation in both scoring and rebounding the year before) collapsed and died of a heart attack. The team still made the Elite 8 even without him before finally losing to No.2 UNLV.

In our game at full strength they had already defeated Dan Issel's Kentucky (1970) by a score of 138-116 to make this second round, but fell just short. Their rating of +2.0 means they are rated as 2 points better than the average great team in this game (which means about 22 points better than an average team), which ranks them 45th of our 136 great teams in the game.

Here are the updated ratings for all teams, along with how tough their average opponents was, and their average score. The following are the 13 teams still left in the current tournament we are playing and their overall rank from Duke 2001 as the 5th ranked team to Kentucky 1948 as the 78th ranked team. Below that are all 136 teams with those 13 teams bolded.

1.       Duke 2001 – 5^th

2.       UCLA 1967 – 15^th

3.       Baylor 2021 – 17^th

4.       Kansas 1997 – 20^th

5.       North Carolina – 28^th

6.       Indiana 1981 – 29^th

7.       Houston 1983 – 35^th

8.       Michigan State 2000 – 41^st

9.       Jacksonville 1970 – 47^th

10.   DePaul 1980 – 59^th

11.   Maryland 1984 – 70^th

12.   Holy Cross 1950 – 77^th

13.   Kentucky 1948 – 78^th

 

Rnk	Team-Year-Player you might know	Won	Lost	KenPom	SoS	Score	Allow
1	Kansas - 2008 - Mario Chalmers	5	1	21.3	-7.0	75	56
2	UCLA - 1972 - Bill Walton	6	0	14.5	-3.0	72	62
3	North Carolina - 2005 - Sean May	4	2	13.8	5.5	73	63
4	Virginia - 2019 - Kyle Guy	4	1	12.6	2.0	73	65
5	Duke - 2001 - Shane Battier	1	0	12	7.5	80	69
6	Indiana - 1976 - Scott May	3	1	11.8	6.0	71	60
7	North Carolina - 1982 - Michael Jordan	5	1	11.2	2.0	69	65
8	Houston - 1968 - Elvin Hayes	3	1	11.2	-3.7	73	64
9	Gonzaga - 2017 - Nigel Williams-Goss	3	2	10.4	-6.0	69	59
10	Connecticut - 2004 - Ben Gordon	4	2	10.3	-6.0	74	64
11	Duke - 2010 - Jon Scheyer	5	2	9.6	-4.0	74	67
12	Villanova - 2018 - Mikal Bridges	6	2	9.3	1.3	76	70
13	Purdue - 2018 - Carsen Edwards	5	1	9.2	1.0	72	69
14	Louisville - 2013 - Russ Smith	2	1	8.2	-6.0	74	66
15	UCLA - 1967 - Lew Alcindor	1	0	8.2	-7.0	85	83
16	Kentucky - 1996 - Antoine Walker	0	1	7.6	2.5	64	67
17	Baylor - 2021 - Jared Butler	1	0	7.4	1.0	91	68
18	Auburn - 2019 - Chuma Okeke	8	1	7	5.0	71	65
19	Cincinnati - 1960 - Oscar Robertson	1	1	6	3.5	70	74
20	Kansas - 1997 - Paul Pierce	1	0	5.6	-0.5	84	68
21	Michigan St. - 2009 - Draymond Green	6	2	5.5	-5.0	72	70
22	Duke - 1992 - Christian Laettner	1	1	5.4	-1.3	72	65
23	Oregon - 2017 - Dillon Brooks	3	2	5.2	-2.0	69	68
24	NC State - 1989 - David Thompson	1	0	5.2	2.7	81	80
25	Michigan St. - 1979 - Magic Johnson	2	1	5	1.0	70	63
26	NC State - 1974 - David Thompson	1	1	5	-4.0	68	69
27	UNLV - 1991 - Larry Johnson	1	1	5	-1.0	77	76
28	North Carolina - 1998 - Vince Carter	2	0	4.8	8.0	88	84
29	Indiana - 1981 - Isaiah Thomas	1	0	4.8	0.5	82	64
30	Illinois - 2005 - Deron Williams	3	2	4.6	-11.0	72	70
31	Wake Forest - 1996 - Tim Duncan	2	1	4.6	-2.0	66	65
32	Michigan - 1989 - Glen Rice	0	1	4.6	3.0	69	70
33	Memphis - 2008 - Derrick Rose	4	2	4.5	1.0	69	66
34	Oklahoma - 1985 - Wayman Tisdale	3	1	4.2	0.0	75	74
35	Houston - 1983 - Hakeem Olajuwon	1	0	4	3.0	79	64
36	Iowa - 2021 - Luka Garza	1	0	4	-2.0	88	69
37	Syracuse - 2003 - Carmelo Anthony	2	1	3.6	-9.0	76	74
38	Kentucky - 2012 - Anthony Davis	4	2	3.5	2.2	72	66
39	Michigan - 1965 - Cazzie Russell	1	1	3.4	-2.0	81	72
40	Wisconsin - 2015 - Frank Kaminsky	2	2	3	5.3	65	63
41	Michigan St. - 2000 - Mateen Cleaves	1	0	2.6	5.0	108	104
42	Connecticut - 1999 - Richard Hamilton	0	1	2.4	-1.0	60	64
43	Ohio St. - 1960 - Jerry Lucas	0	1	2.2	3.0	78	79
44	Missouri - 1982 - Steve Stipanovich	2	0	2.2	-1.0	70	66
45	Loyola Marymount - 1990 - Bo Kimble	1	1	2	0.0	120	110
46	Arizona - 2015 - Stanley Johnson	3	1	1.8	2.7	75	71
47	Jacksonville - 1970 - Artis Gilmore	1	0	1.6	1.0	89	76
48	USC - 2021 - Evan Mobley	1	0	1.6	-1.0	77	67
49	Georgetown - 1984 - Patrick Ewing	2	1	1.4	2.0	67	65
50	Michigan - 2013 - Trey Burke	2	3	1.2	1.5	71	70
51	Arkansas - 1994 - Corliss Williamson	0	1	1.2	0.3	78	79
52	Colorado - 2021 - McKinley Wright	1	0	1	-1.0	86	82
53	Syracuse - 1987 - Rony Seikaly	2	1	0.8	2.0	72	69
54	UTEP (Texas Western) - 1966 - Bobby Joe Hill	2	1	0.8	3.0	64	66
55	Texas Tech - 2019 - Jarrett Culver	3	2	0.6	-2.5	66	67
56	Cincinnati - 2002 - Jason Maxiell	2	2	0.6	2.7	73	72
57	Seton Hall - 1989 - John Morton	1	1	0.6	-3.0	78	78
58	Loyola-Chicago - 1963 - Jerry Harkness	0	1	0.6	-1.0	62	68
59	DePaul - 1980 - Mark Aguirre	1	0	0.4	-8.0	82	64
61	Illinois - 1989 - Nick Anderson	0	1	0	2.0	82	86
60	Dayton - 2020 - Obi Toppin	1	0	0	1.5	87	82
62	Arizona - 1997 - Mike Bibby	2	1	-0.6	0.5	69	71
63	Purdue - 1969 - Rick Mount	0	1	-0.8	2.0	86	87
64	Duke - 1986 - Johnny Dawkins	0	1	-1	3.8	106	108
65	Marquette - 2003 - Dwyane Wade	2	2	-1.4	0.0	73	74
66	Marquette - 1971 - Jim Chones	1	1	-1.4	3.0	68	69
67	Georgetown - 2007 - Roy Hibbert	1	2	-1.6	7.0	77	75
68	Pittsburgh - 2009 - DeJuan Blair	1	3	-1.8	0.7	60	62
69	Kansas - 1957 - Wilt Chamberlain	1	1	-1.8	1.0	68	74
70	Maryland - 1984 - Len Bias	1	0	-2	-5.0	74	64
71	Marquette - 1977 - Butch Lee	1	1	-2.6	3.3	66	62
72	San Diego St. - 2011 - Kawhi Leonard	2	2	-2.8	1.0	69	72
73	LSU - 1992 - Shaquille O'Neal	0	1	-2.8	1.0	85	88
74	St. John's - 1985 - Chris Mullin	0	1	-2.8	1.8	75	76
75	Creighton - 2020 - Ty-Shon Alexander	1	1	-3	11.0	77	77
76	Kansas St. - 2008 - Michael Beasley	1	1	-3	-1.0	75	76
77	Holy Cross - 1950 - Bob Cousy	1	0	-3	4.0	108	106
79	San Francisco - 1956 - Bill Russell	0	1	-3.2	0.0	67	74
78	Kentucky - 1948 - Alex Groza	1	0	-3.2	7.7	88	85
80	UNLV - 1987 - Armen Gilliam	0	1	-3.4	5.0	64	82
81	South Carolina - 2017 - Sindarius Thornwell	1	2	-3.6	0.3	65	66
82	Ohio St. - 2007 - Greg Oden	2	4	-4	-1.0	69	72
83	Florida - 2006 - Joakim Noah	3	3	-4.2	-2.0	72	71
84	Oklahoma St. - 2004 - John Lucas	1	3	-5	2.8	69	71
85	Iowa - 2002 - Reggie Evans	1	2	-5	-5.0	71	75
86	St. Bonaventure - 1970 - Bob Lanier	0	1	-5	2.0	64	74
87	Georgia Tech - 2004 - Jarrett Jack	2	4	-5.2	-7.0	61	69
88	Davidson - 2008 - Stephen Curry	1	3	-5.2	-16.0	64	67
89	DePaul - 1945 - George Mikan	0	1	-5.2	1.0	51	55
90	Virginia - 1981 - Ralph Sampson	0	1	-5.4	-0.3	61	72
91	Indiana - 2002 - Jared Jeffries	1	3	-5.6	-2.0	67	73
92	Tennessee - 1977 - Bernard King	1	1	-5.6	7.0	76	83
93	California - 1959 - Jack Grout	0	1	-5.8	1.8	69	71
94	St. Joe's - 2004 - Jameer Nelson	1	2	-6	-2.0	68	76
95	Seattle - 1958 - Elgin Baylor	0	1	-6.2	1.4	62	64
96	Utah - 1998 - Andre Miller	0	1	-6.2	0.0	69	79
97	Oklahoma - 2016 - Buddy Hield	1	3	-6.4	1.0	60	67
98	Texas - 2003 - T.J. Ford	1	2	-6.6	2.0	69	76
99	Wichita St. - 2013 - Fred VanVleet	1	2	-6.6	2.7	64	71
100	Alabama - 1977 - Reggie King	0	1	-6.6	0.3	70	71
101	West Virginia - 2010 - Kevin Jones	1	3	-6.8	-15.0	70	76
102	Georgia Tech - 1990 - Dennis Scott	0	1	-6.8	2.8	64	82
103	UCLA - 2006 - Jordan Farmar	2	3	-7	0.0	66	72
104	Marquette - 2011 - Jimmy Butler	0	1	-7	-4.0	82	87
105	Kansas - 1988 - Danny Manning	0	1	-7.6	2.0	58	67
106	LSU - 2006 - Glen Davis	1	2	-7.8	-0.7	66	75
107	Indiana St. - 1979 - Larry Bird	0	1	-7.8	-5.0	69	76
108	Maryland - 2002 - Juan Dixon	1	3	-8.2	0.8	67	76
109	Notre Dame - 1970 - Austin Carr	1	1	-8.2	-2.0	67	77
110	La Salle - 1954 - Tom Gola	0	1	-8.2	4.0	67	76
111	Oklahoma St. - 1946 - Bob Kurland	0	1	-8.2	-3.0	80	82
112	South Carolina - 1973 - Mike Dunleavy	0	1	-8.2	-2.0	66	72
113	Wyoming - 1943 - Ken Sailors	0	1	-8.2	7.0	60	73
114	Auburn - 1984 - Charles Barkley	1	1	-8.4	2.3	72	77
115	West Virginia - 1959 - Jerry West	0	1	-8.4	2.0	68	69
116	Brigham Young - 1981 - Danny Ainge	0	1	-8.6	0.2	67	77
117	Kentucky - 1970 - Dan Issel	0	1	-8.6	-1.0	116	138
118	North Carolina - 1957 - Lennie Rosenbluth	0	1	-8.6	-5.0	76	89
119	Navy - 1986 - David Robinson	0	1	-9	1.7	61	77
120	Villanova - 1985 - Ed Pinckney	0	1	-9.2	5.0	65	72
121	Georgia - 1982 - Dominique Wilkins	1	1	-9.6	1.0	70	78
122	Arkansas - 1978 - Sidney Monfrief	0	1	-9.6	-3.0	58	79
123	Arizona St. - 1980 - Byron Scott	0	1	-10	3.4	64	79
124	Louisville - 1980 - Darrell Griffith	0	1	-10.4	-5.0	52	82
125	Notre Dame - 1981 - Orlando Woolridge	0	1	-10.4	2.3	68	91
126	George Mason - 2006 - Jai Lewis	0	3	-10.6	2.2	59	67
127	Dayton - 1967 - Don May	0	1	-11	2.8	69	88
128	Creighton - 2014 - Doug McDermott	0	3	-12.8	-1.6	66	80
129	Wake Forest - 2005 - Chris Paul	0	3	-13	5.3	64	85
130	LSU - 1970 - Pete Maravich	0	1	-13	4.5	66	67
131	Princeton - 1965 - Bill Bradley	0	1	-13	2.7	62	79
132	VCU - 2011 - Bradford Burgess	0	3	-13.8	4.0	60	71
133	Loyola-Chicago - 2018 - Cameron Krutwig	0	3	-14.6	-5.0	59	75
134	Miami FL - 1965 - Rick Berry	0	1	-14.6	5.0	104	108
135	Butler - 2010 - Gordon Hayward	0	3	-15.8	1.1	55	76
136	Niagara - 1970 - Calvin Murphy	0	1	-16.6	-0.5	68	84

Isaiah Thomas and Bobby Knight Defense Tops Ga Tech for Final Sweet 16 Spot

Note: The new ratings of all D1 current college basketball players will be updated at www.valueaddbasketball.com within a week, and then updated regularly for the rest of the season (current ratings as of Christmas).

The 1st Round of the Tournament of 30 additional great teams wrapped up with Isaiah Thomas (15 points, 3 steals) and one of Bobby Knight's great Indiana defensive teams from 1981 dominating the 1990 Georgia Tech team. Indiana advances to play last year's national champions from Baylor, who dominated Notre Dame from the same 1981 season. As for Baylor's first two opponents both being from 1981, that season Indiana team was actually upset by Notre Dame early in the season but by the end of the year the Hoosiers were dominant. The Irish actually lost to BYU in the Sweet 16, while Indiana won all five tournament games by double digits and by an average margin of 23 points.

The game featured an all-time point guard match-up with Kenny Anderson (11 points), who played 16 years in the NBA, matching up with Thomas.

Georgia Tech's Dennis Scott was actually the best player in the game despite the loss, with game-highs in points (19) and rebounds (10). Scott happens to be one of three players I've played against in gems - with Dallas Comegys and Grant Hill being the others.  OK, a more accurate statement is that those three NBA players sort of played around as one of 10 players on the court while the rest of us were playing. Three different events over the years, but Comegys would grab every rebound with jumping, Scott would go ahead and switch a few 35 footers during the game, and Hill would only pass. Hill's team actually lost but when he tried to leave the court one of the winners quickly asked him to stay and take his place with the winners.

I also did have a 20 minute conversation with Bobby Knight in 2016.