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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEC All-Time Great Basketball Team Player Cards

Alabama's dominant season came to an end in one of the most balanced NCAA tournaments, while Tennessee also looked like a contender until a late season injury and Arkansas touched off one of the best three year runs by defeating a 1-seed.

We added Value Add Basketball Game teams for all three teams and set put each in the bracket below for the All-Time SEC championship. We included five national champs and gave them the top five seeds - Kentucky 1948, 1996 and 2012, Arkansas' 40 minutes of hell 1994 champs, and the first of consecutive Florida champs from 2006.

Both Iron Bowl teams have come their close to winning it all in the last five years and are seeded right behind the teams that won national titles. Auburn's 2019 Final Four team that came one traveling call short of the title game despite missing their best player, Chuma Okeke. Alabama was the best team in the country most of the year and even at the end but got the wrong matchup. As we noted in this blog, our bracket based on the more experienced is in the 99th percentile.

 The system actually picked Alabama to make the Final Four next year rather than this year. Even though they will lose Brandon Moore to the NBA - an offseason in the weight room prevents other freshmen from being pushed around by a more muscular team like San Diego STate.

We do also opt for teams with incredible player - and noone has bigger names than the 21 SEC teams in the game. From Charles Barkley to Pistol Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins, Dan Issel, Sidney Moncrief and Dan Issel, even some of the lower seeds put exciting players on the court.

The way the bracket is set up, if Charles Barkley can lead 1984 Auburn past the 1973 South Carolina team - then I am assuming he would trash talk Anthony Davis and our top all-time seed Kentucky 2012. I was at the only game Davis lost in college, on an incredible shot at Indiana, but that team is loaded. 

Alabama 2023 gets a bye then faces the fast Missouri 1982 team. Auburn's 2019 Final Four team faces South Carolina's 2017 team in a battle of surprise Final Four teams. But the team with more NBA talent than any others (Kentucky 27, Duke 22) will always be the team to beat in SEC basketball.

The following are the cards for our top seed Kentucky 2012. We would have Kentucky 1996 as our second seed, but if we did it would set up possible second round matchups of Arkansas 1978 vs. Arkansas 1994, and Kentucky 1996 vs Kentucky 1979, so we flipped the two and three seeds to avoid that.

Seed. SEC Teams, Best Player Card, Did they win title?

1. Kentucky - 2012 - Anthony Davis. Champs

2. Kentucky - 1996 - Antoine Walker. Champs

3. Arkansas - 1994 - Corliss Williamson. Champs

4. Florida - 2006 - Joakim Noah. Champs

5. Kentucky - 1948 - Alex Groza. Champs

6. Auburn - 2019 - Chuma Okeke.

7. Alabama - 2023 - Brandon Miller.

8. LSU - 1992 - Shaquille O'Neal.

9. Tennessee - 2023 - Santiago Vescovi.

10. Missouri - 1982 - Steve Stipanovich.

11. South Carolina - 2017 - Sindarius Thornwell.

12. Arkansas - 2022 - JD Notae.

13. Tennessee - 1977 - Bernard King.

14. LSU - 2006 - Glen Davis.

15. Alabama - 1977 - Reggie King.

16. South Carolina - 1973 - Mike Dunleavy.

17. Auburn - 1984 - Charles Barkley.

18. Kentucky - 1970 - Dan Issel.

19. Arkansas - 1978 - Sidney Moncrief.

20. Georgia - 1982 - Dominique Wilkins.

21. LSU - 1970 - Pete Maravich.

We include a bracket, player cards and a summary for all conferences with at least eight all-time great teams in the game, or for any other team not in one of those eight conferences click on this "Mid-Major" bracket to see where they are in that bracket. Click for the ACC, Atlantic 10, American Athletic, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-12 or SEC, or back to this master list of all teams here or the game itself with the playing cards at our All-Time Value Add Basketball Game. 

To go straight to the player cards for the team you want, click on the alphabetic list by team and scroll to find the player cards for your team:

List A - Alabama 1977 to Georgia Tech 2004

List B - Gonzaga 2017 to Marquette 2011

List C - Marquette 2023 to San Francisco 1956

List D - Seattle 1958 to Xavier 2023 

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

College Hoops 6th Best Conference History - SEC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

34-2 Kentucky (1996) 81, 37-2 Gonzaga (2017) 75

 The "untouchable" 1996 Kentucky team featuring nine future NBA players led by no more than 1 point throughout the second half until pulling away the final 7 minutes.

Nigel Williams-Goss (18 points, 3 steals) kept the Zags in front until the final stretch, but Kentucky dominated the boards 40-28 in the win.

The Zags last lead was 62-61 with 7:40 to play. Antoine Walker (13 points, 14 rebounds) the grabbed 4 offensive rebounds in the next three trips and passed to Tony Delk (12 points, 5 rebounds) who scored and was fouled to make it 67-64 Kentucky. Walter McCarty added a team high 16 points for Kentucky in the 81-75 win. 

The 6-point margin was the same margin the Zags lost the national title by in 2017 to UNC to cap a 37-2 mark. Kentucky went 16-0 in the sec and 34-2 in the 1996 season and beat Syracuse for the title.

We notices a few things in dusting off the game after the baseball season.

I printed out the drop box version of the cards this time instead of the normal Google docs cards to double check.

The Google docs player cards are the most accurate as one of the Dunk ranges on the drop box version are slightly off. Kentucky's 51-66 dunk range is the accurate one and you can see I wrote that on the cards.

Also this revealed the drop box print was cutting off the outside margins, so I had to look on the screen and write in the foul range and shooting ranges for all players.

Also I usually use coins to keep track of who is in the game, but this time just wrote in who got the ball on the rolls of 1-8, then crossed off those numbers when a new player came into the game. If you follow our suggested rotations at the bottom of the cards, the final stretch of the game is played using the top row of 5 players unless someone fouls out or you want to change strategy to bring in someone better at 3-point shots or steals.

Finally, if you follow the chart in the game Kentucky's dunk range calculated to a 51-66 and Gonzaga to a 51-56 once cross referencing with the opposing defenses dunk adjustment. The average in a game is 51-53, and at the start of a game you can choose to adjust both teams by the same amount - and we chose to lower them both by 3 to make it 61-63 and 51-53.

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).

If you do not use Google docs, you can instead pull up this pdf in drop box, but if you do that or if you printed cards previously you should check to see if a team's dunk range was adjusted by pulling up this chart. 

The Value Add Basketball Game is our most popular blog by far on www. pudnersports.com with more than 62,000 unique visitors. We have two separate sets of Statis-Pro Baseball Instructions, which have been viewed by more than 20,000 total. Here are the top 10 according to blogger.

Top Shooting Guards in College Basketball This Season

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

Because www.valueaddbasketball.com calculates how many points per game a player improves his team compared to if a typical replacement player took his place, the raw value add is adjusted by position since the replacement player would be at the same position. Therefore, once the formulas are run, and shooting guard's raw value add is increased by multiplying it by 1.10 to get the result you see below and at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

In general, freshmen guards in particular 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 guards. 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 shooting guards in college basketball, starting with the best freshman shooting guard TyTy Washington of Kentucky. His value add of 6.34 indicates there is a better than 50/50 chance Kentucky would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than seven points. 

In his case, he improves the Kentucky's offense by 4.90 points per game, while his defensive rating of -1.44 indicates he takes three to four points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement shooting guard. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen power forwards through games of February 15. Arizona's Dalen Terry is one of three Arizona players we would name to our All-American freshmen team - and his defense of -2.35 is by far the best for any shooting guard.

Rnk	Top Freshmen SG	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
15	TyTy Washington #3	Kentucky	6.34	SEC	6'3"	Fr
20	Dalen Terry #4	Arizona	5.65	P12	6'7"	Fr
38	Trevor Keels #1	Duke	4.72	ACC	6'4"	Fr
50	Terquavion Smith #0	N.C. State	4.35	ACC	6'4"	Fr
60	Steele Venters #2	Eastern Washington	4.18	BSky	6'7"	Fr
62	Reyne Smith #2	Charleston	4.06	CAA	6'2"	Fr
65	Nate Heise #0	Northern Iowa	4.02	MVC	6'4"	Fr
67	Malaki Branham #22	Ohio St.	4	B10	6'5"	Fr
71	Brandon Murray #0	LSU	3.95	SEC	6'5"	Fr
73	JD Davison #3	Alabama	3.91	SEC	6'3"	Fr

Top overall SG

One reason we love running these numbers is to find truly elite players who will not be noticed because their team either does not get enough TV coverage or is just not winning enough games to draw attention. The biggest case this year comes from teh 13-10 Washington in the Pac-12. We calculte that Washington would be 4-19 instead of 13-10 if Terrell Brown were not on the team, and for us that makes him the truly deserving 1st team All-American shooting guard who will not get any voters for it.

The race for 2nd and 3rd team All-American shooting buard is much closer.  TyTy Washington should be considered because it is truly unusual for a freshman guard to be anywhere near this high - but K-State, St. John's, BYU, Tennessee and the player who may have improved his team the most this year from last year - Alondes Williams of Wake Forest.

 

Rnk	Top Shooting Guards (2)	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Terrell Brown #23	Washington	10.42	P12	6'3"	Sr
2	Nijel Pack #24	Kansas St.	9.39	B12	6'0	So
3	Posh Alexander #0	St. John's	8.8	BE	6'0	So
4	Alex Barcello #13	BYU	8.69	WCC	6'2"	Sr
5	Santiago Vescovi #25	Tennessee	8.65	SEC	6'3"	Jr
6	Alondes Williams #31	Wake Forest	8.15	ACC	6'5"	Sr
7	Garrett Sturtz #3	Drake	7.66	MVC	6'3"	Sr
8	Justin Moore #5	Villanova	7.53	BE	6'4"	Jr
9	Jaden Ivey #23	Purdue	7.05	B10	6'4"	So
10	Brad Davison #34	Wisconsin	6.97	B10	6'4"	Sr
11	Ryan Rollins #5	Toledo	6.72	MAC	6'4"	So
12	JD Notae #1	Arkansas	6.66	SEC	6'2"	Sr
13	Jaden Shackelford #5	Alabama	6.63	SEC	6'3"	Jr
14	Josh Jefferson #11	Middle Tennessee	6.39	CUSA	6'2"	Sr
15	TyTy Washington #3	Kentucky	6.34	SEC	6'3"	Fr
16	Eli Brooks #55	Michigan	6.17	B10	6'1"	Sr
17	Umoja Gibson #2	Oklahoma	6	B12	6'1"	Sr
18	Alfonso Plummer #11	Illinois	5.73	B10	6'1"	Sr
19	Hunter Cattoor #0	Virginia Tech	5.71	ACC	6'3"	Jr
20	Dalen Terry #4	Arizona	5.65	P12	6'7"	Fr
21	Reece Beekman #2	Virginia	5.62	ACC	6'3"	So
22	Buddy Boeheim #35	Syracuse	5.56	ACC	6'6"	Sr
23	Adam Flagler #10	Baylor	5.5	B12	6'3"	Jr
24	Michael Jones #13	Davidson	5.49	A10	6'5"	Jr
25	Grayson Murphy #2	Belmont	5.46	OVC	6'3"	Sr
26	Amorie Archibald #3	Louisiana Tech	5.41	CUSA	6'3"	Sr
27	Gibson Jimerson #24	Saint Louis	5.4	A10	6'5"	Fr
28	Mason Archambault #11	South Dakota	5.25	Sum	6'0	Sr
29	Sean McNeil #22	West Virginia	5.23	B12	6'3"	Sr
30	Rasir Bolton #45	Gonzaga	5.11	WCC	6'3"	Sr
31	Jabari Rice #10	New Mexico St.	5.05	WAC	6'4"	Jr
32	D'Moi Hodge #55	Cleveland St.	5.03	Horz	6'4"	Sr
33	Spencer Jones #14	Stanford	4.96	P12	6'7"	Jr
34	James Reese V #0	South Carolina	4.93	SEC	6'4"	Sr
35	Rudi Williams #3	Coastal Carolina	4.92	SB	6'2"	Sr
36	Desmond Cambridge #4	Nevada	4.88	MWC	6'4"	Sr
37	Cameron Tyson #5	Seattle	4.87	WAC	6'2"	So
38	Trevor Keels #1	Duke	4.72	ACC	6'4"	Fr
39	Davion Warren #2	Texas Tech	4.7	B12	6'6"	Sr
40	CJ Fleming #25	Bellarmine	4.7	ASun	6'0	Sr
41	Joe Bryant #4	Norfolk St.	4.62	MEAC	6'1"	Sr
42	Logan Johnson #0	Saint Mary's	4.54	WCC	6'2"	Sr
43	Demaree King #1	Jacksonville St.	4.52	ASun	6'0	Jr
44	Caleb Grill #2	Iowa St.	4.42	B12	6'3"	Jr
45	Courtney Ramey #3	Texas	4.41	B12	6'3"	Sr
46	Alex Hunter #10	Furman	4.41	SC	5'11"	Sr
47	Isaiah Wong #2	Miami FL	4.4	ACC	6'3"	So
48	Michael Forrest #11	Florida Atlantic	4.37	CUSA	6'1"	Jr
49	Tyler Harris #14	Memphis	4.36	Amer	5'9"	Sr
50	Terquavion Smith #0	N.C. State	4.35	ACC	6'4"	Fr

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

Kentucky Star Tops Updated Hoops Top 25 Players

Not just Kentucky hype - Oscar Tshiebewe is BY FAR the most valuable player in college basketball after the Wildcats destroyed Kansas this weekend. Below this tweet is the email that went to almost all Athletic Departments the morning of January 31 outlining the numbers and then listing the rest of the top 25. Another piece on the www.valueaddbasketball.com ratings appeared on this CBS site.

We ran the updated calculations for college basketball players prior to the 1st kick-off of the two incredible Conference playoff games resulting in a Rams-Bengals Super Bowl.

(Note, if you want updates on John Pudner's non-sports organization simply click on www.takebackaction.org to sign up.)

You can click on the image below or www.valueaddbasketball.com to pull up the ratings for all 4,281 Division 1 college players, or simply sort by conference, team or player as shown in the image.

Click here for our posts on all 32 all-conference teams, or on this CBS/247 site for more information.

You can look up the following numbers for all players, but we will use the top-rated player for the explanation of what each number means.

Oscar Tshiebwe's 17 point, 14 rebound, 4 steal performance in Kentucky's dominant win at Kansas followed his 21,22,3 performance in the same categories against Mississippi State to move into the clear lead in the Value Add Basketball Player of the Year calculations.

The system calculates a players points above replacement in the same way www.kenpom.com calculates the offensive and defensive and overall ratings for college basketball teams.

Tshiebwe improves Kentucky by +6.94 on offense (same as a 106.94 team rating at www.kenpom.com) and takes -4.33 away from the Wildcats opponents on defense (same as a 95.67 for teams in www.kenpom.com as 4.33 less than 100).

The offense of 6.94 and defense of -4.33 adds up to a total 11.27 Value Add, the same as a +11.27 overall team rating for www.kenpom.com.

The Notes field includes information on the most common position played, and the weighting on that position to make the measurement a true measure of points above replacement at his position.

For example, Tshiebwe actually calculates with an even higher points above average replacement, but because most centers calculate higher than players at other possessions, his 11.27 rating was lowered from the non-position specific calculation.

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