Conference USA and Return of Value Add Basketball Rankings

All-Conf USA	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Tylor Perry	North Texas	10.37	124.3	94.1	31-7, Poss 24.4%
Jordan Walker	UAB	9.64	114.7	97.9	29-10 (PG), Poss 30.6%
Vladislav Goldin	Florida Atlantic	7.95	117.3	95.7	9-seed, 35-4, Poss 22.9%
Johnell Davis	Florida Atlantic	7.70	114.5	95.7	9-seed, 35-4, Poss 25%
Giancarlo Rosado	Florida Atlantic	7.55	121.1	95.7	9-seed, 35-4, Poss 17.9%
2nd T-Conf USA	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Aaron Scott	North Texas	7.39	124.6	94.1	31-7, Poss 14.4%
Alijah Martin	Florida Atlantic	7.34	113.5	95.7	9-seed, 35-4, Poss 24.4%
Max Fiedler	Rice	6.76	129	110	19-16, Poss 19.8%
Aly Khalifa	Charlotte	6.42	116.7	102.5	22-14, Poss 24.1%
Brice Williams	Charlotte	6.00	114.1	102.5	22-14, Poss 25.9%
HM-Conf USA	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Kenny Hunter	Louisiana Tech	5.70	124.2	105.2	15-18, Poss 14.2%
Luke Frampton	Western Kentucky	5.63	125	105.1	17-16, Poss 13.2%
Cobe Williams	Louisiana Tech	5.43	108.3	105.2	15-18 (PG), Poss 30.1%
Eli Lawrence	Middle Tennessee	5.00	111.4	101.6	19-14, Poss 20.4%

Above is a very late All-Conference USA 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.

What a final season for North Texas, UAB and especially Florida Atlantic before the American Athletic Conference raided all three - and now Liberty looks ready to take their place as a March Madness contender. If you look at the Value Add Basketball All-American team below you will see that the top two players in the conference also give North Texas and UAB an All-American. Obviously the other three 1st team All-Conference players led Florida Atlantic to within one point of a Conference USA team playing for the national title against UConn.

Conference MVP Tylor Perry transferred to K-State.

Outside of the Pac-12, no conference lost more excellent teams to realignment than Conference USA, with but they do get defending ASun champ Kennesaw State next year to add to the huge pickup of Liberty University this year, which brings almost the same kind of following of Baptists across the country as BYU brings Latter Day Saints to the Big 12 and Notre Dame brings Catholics to the ACC.

Louisiana Tech certainly seems like the best remaining challenge to Liberty, though for whatever reason despite a decade of excellent teams they have not been able to pull off a conference title to go to the NCAA tournament - unlike the La Tech women who have three national titles and 13 Final Fours.

Team	2023	2024	2025	Seed23	Rnk24
Charlotte	CUSA	Amer	Amer		118
FIU	CUSA	CUSA	CUSA		227
Florida Atlantic	CUSA	Amer	Amer	9	48
Jacksonville St.	ASun	CUSA	CUSA		229
Kennesaw St.	ASun	ASun	CUSA	14	225
Liberty	ASun	CUSA	CUSA		45
Louisiana Tech	CUSA	CUSA	CUSA		95
Middle Tennessee	CUSA	CUSA	CUSA		133
New Mexico St.	WAC	CUSA	CUSA		253
North Texas	CUSA	Amer	Amer		73
Rice	CUSA	Amer	Amer		219
Sam Houston St.	WAC	CUSA	CUSA		143
UAB	CUSA	Amer	Amer		93
UTEP	CUSA	CUSA	CUSA		137
UTSA	CUSA	Amer	Amer		287
Western Kentucky	CUSA	CUSA	CUSA		147

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%

Back to the Future: HOF Mulkey PG beats Coach Mulkey - La Tech 77, Baylor 72

Score one for youth! In a Value Add Basketball Game featured a 19 year old guard defeating herself as a 56 year old coach.

Coach Kim Mulkey led her 2019 Baylor to a dominant all-time Elite 8 all-time performance until their were three minutes to play. However, a 37 year old younger Hall of Fame Point Guard came up with a steal and bucket to finally give 1982 Louisiana Tech a 64-62 lead with 2:44 (5 possessions) to play.

Angela Turner then made it two straight steals and fast break buckets to give Louisiana Tech a 66-62 lead and they continued to drive to the hoop and draw fouls to hold onto a 77-72 win. La Tech advances to the all-time Final Four to face the winner of Notre Dame vs UConn 2016.

The fun thing about how this played out is there will be one team from each of the past four decades in the all-time Final 4. La Tech from the 80s, Tennessee from the 90s, UConn from the first decade of the 21st century and the winner of the last Elite 8 game from the last decade.

Baylor's Lauren Cox (game high 23 points) dominated much of the game as Baylor did not let La Tech get the ball inside to Pam Kelly.

However after trailing 60-56 with just over four minutes to play, Turner, Janice Lawrence and Angela Turner continued.to drive and draw fouls. DiDi Richards and Chloe Jackson fouled out and Kalani Brown hung in with four fouls as Baylor committed 22 fouls to only 14 for the first national champions. While we do not keep track of missed shots or free throws, we count 17 made free throws for the Louisiana Tech starters alone - the highest we ever recall in a men's or women's game (remember we only play the final 44 possessions of games, assuming a 20-20 tie with all 10 players on each team having two points during the first 22 possessions).

Some believe the first official NCAA champs may have been the best ever, though the Baylor 2019 team had six future WNBA players.

Time to play the game from first roll was 33 minutes.

Lady Trojans Crush South Carolina for Final all-time Elite 8 Spot, 79-59.

 The Lady Trojans (1983) struggled through the opening round of our all-time great women's team, but dominated South Carolina (2017) in the second round in perhaps the matchup of the two greatest players of all time. This tournament is being played using the Value Add Basketball Game.

Cheryl Miller hit a 3-pointer to close out the first half and start an incredible 51-30 run to win going away 79-59. USC won in a block party - 12 blocked shots spread out over every starter except the point guard. While the underdog moving forward, USC next faces a UConn 2010 that struggled to a single digit opening round win.

The all-time Elite 8 is now set:

#12 Notre Dame 2018 vs #1 UConn 2016

#4 La Tech 1982 vs #5 Baylor 2019

#7 USC 1983 vs #2 UConn 2010

#3 Tennessee 1998 vs #6 Baylor 2012

Miller (16 points, 8 rebounds) hit four 3-pointers, while twins Paula McGee (11, 9 and 4 blocks) and Pam McGee (22, 7 and drew 5 fouls on South Carolina Center Alaina Coates) combined for multiple traditional 3-point plays. They even did one backward, with Pam hitting one free throw but missing the second one, but Paula grabbing the rebound and getting it back to her for a bucket.

USC advances to the All-Time Elite 8.

The 2017 South Carolina was not a dominant champ like the current team. They ended up not playing another top 5 team in the tournament due to upsets by eventual runner up Mississippi State and others. However they may have had the best player ever in A'ja Wilson - though USC could make the same claim with Cheryl Miller.

Wilson single handedly destroyed Ohio State 2016 in the opening round, but was held to 12 points and 9 rebounds against the Lady Trojans four dominant bigs.

Rodman's Sister Starts La Tech's 84-62 blowout of Longhorns

When Jennifer White steals the ball on the first play of the game, and passes ahead to Dennis Rodman's sister for the layup just seconds into the game, it's not your day Texas Longhorns.

When you realize this is the young Debra Rodman who Dennis Rodman said (click for story pictured below) defeated him on the basketball court when they were kids, and on the 1982 national champs from Louisiana Tech she was the BACK-UP center to the great Pam Kelly - it's really not your day. 

Kudos again to the incredible upgrade a Basketball Reference to recently release many women's seasons with more to come - which will make our women's cards more and more accurate after piecing stats together in some cases for the Value Add Basketball Game.

Rodman and the second string blitzed the Longhorns 12-2 in their seven possessions on the court, then Pam Kelly (23 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots), powered to a 75-49 lead before some late baskets by the Longhorns backcourt tightened the final slightly to 84-62, in the Value Add Basketball Game.

The one brightspot for the Longhorns was the starting back court of Brook McCarthy (14 points) and Ariel Atkins (17 points, 5 steals), but on the possessions on which Texas did not force a turnover, Louisiana Tech averaged an amazing 2.1 points per trip down the court.

Three of the four heavy favorites that are quite possibly the four best teams in the history of women's college basketball, will advance to the Elite 8 - and the 1-seed UConn 2016 is a heavy favorite to beat #20 seed Long Beach State and join them.

Louisiana Tech held Texas to just 19 rebounds the entire game.