Self's Tulsa Plays Like Kansas in 10th Biggest Blowout

Bill Self's breakthrough season was this Tulsa team that finished #7 in www.kenpom.com including a run to the Elite 8 through a previous No. 1 Cincinnati and a near upset of UNC in the Elite 8. Tulsa has never finished in the top 40 since, as Self then went to Illinois for three dominant seasons and then Kansas for national championships. Self reached No. 7 and the Elite 8 with this team despite not having a single future NBA player.

Tulsa was the second team in a row in our current tournament of 16 new teams to produce one of the biggest 10 blowouts in the history of our Value Add Basketball Game - both by teams now in the American Athletic Conference. In the 245th all-time great men's team game we ever played, Cornbread Maxwell led Charlotte to a 95-68 win over New Mexico for a 27-point margin that was our 10th biggest blowout ever in the game.

They stayed in the top 10 for only one game, as Tulsa's 92-64 win over Washington State topped the margin by one point as the 10th biggest blowout in the history of our game.
 

Margin	All-time great teams	Score	All	Marg	Opponent	Yr
1	Houston - 2021 - Grimes - B12	102	50	52	Princeton	2023
2	Connecticut - 2023 - Sanogo - BE	77	39	38	St. Peter's	2022
3	Villanova - 2018 - Bridges - BE	106	72	34	Creighton	2020
4	Gonzaga - 2017 - Williams-Goss - WCC	81	48	33	UCLA	2006
5	Virginia - 2019 - Guy - ACC	97	64	33	Maryland	2002
6	Duke - 2010 - Scheyer - ACC	89	57	32	Wake For	2005
7	Kansas - 2008 - Chalmers - B12	83	52	31	St. Joe's	2004
8	Memphis - 2008 - Rose - Amer	82	52	30	Louisville	1980
9	Villanova - 2018 - Bridges - BE	89	60	29	Butler	2010
10	Tulsa - 2000 - Shelton - Amer	92	64	28	Wash St.	2008
11	Charlotte - 1977 - "Cornbread" Maxwell - Amer	95	68	27	New Mex	2019

The two performances pushed both teams slightly ahead of Memphis among all our American Athletic teams, at 33rd and 38th in our standings based partly on the cards but also on the results of game so far. We track all results and ratings on this google sheet. These are just the six teams who will be in the American Athletic out of our 200 great teams.

 

Rnk	American Athletic	Year	Player	W	L	Score	Allow	SOS
33	Tulsa	2000	Shelton	1	0	92.0	64.0	-9.0
38	Charlotte	1977	Maxwell	1	0	95.0	68.0	-3.0
44	Memphis	2008	Rose	4	2	68.7	65.8	-0.3
73	Temple	1958	Rodgers	0	0	NG	NG	NG
140	Wichita St.	2013	VanVleet	1	2	64.3	71.3	1.7
179	Florida Atlantic	2023	Davis	0	1	64.0	77.0	-2.0

Here is the box score from Tulsa's blowout win.

 

Pos	Washington St. 2008	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Season Actual
1-PG	Taylor Rochestie	6	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	5	6'1,10.4 ppg
2-SG	Derrick Low	16	3	3	1	2	1	1	0	1	6'2,14.1 ppg
3-SF	Kyle Weaver	13	1	4	2	4	6	0	0	3	6'6,12.2 ppg,NBA
4-PF	Robbie Cowgill	10	0	5	0	1	4	0	1	2	6'10,7.3 ppg
5-C	Aron Baynes	7	2	0	1	2	4	0	1	3	6'10,10.4 ppg,NBA
1-PG	Thomas Abercrombie	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6,1.2 ppg
2-SG	Stephen Sauls	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3,2.1 ppg
3-SF	Daven Harmeling	6	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	3	6'7,5.6 ppg
4-PF	Caleb Forrest	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8,3.4 ppg
5-C	Nikola Koprivica	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7,2.5 ppg
	14 Turnovers	64	8	18	4	9	22	2	2	21
Pos	Tulsa 2000	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Season Actual
1-PG	Marcus Hill	19	2	4	5	6	3	2	0	1	6'5,11.2 ppg
2-SG	Greg Harrington	11	0	5	1	2	4	1	0	4	6'2,10.8 ppg
3-SF	David Shelton	16	1	4	5	5	6	0	0	1	6'6,13.5 ppg
4-PF	Eric Coley	14	1	4	3	3	6	2	1	1	6'5,11.3 ppg
5-C	Brandon Kurtz	10	0	3	4	4	7	0	1	3	6'10,11.2 ppg
1-PG	Tony Heard	8	0	3	2	2	1	0	1	1	6'0,9.7 ppg
2-SG	Dante Swanson	8	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	3	5'10,5.5 ppg
3-SF	Antonio Reed	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'10,1.8 ppg
4-PF	Kevin Johnson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7,2.4 ppg
5-C	Charlie Davis	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7,2.5 ppg
	6 Turnovers	92	4	30	20	22	34	5	3	17

On the flip side, the blowout loss plunged Washington State to the bottom of our combined Pac-12/MWC conference. Oregon State's earlier win against James Madison moved them up to within one spot of the top of the new combined conference, just behind UNLV's dominant 1991 team.

Rnk	P12/MWC	Year	Player	W	L	Score	Allow	SOS
41	UNLV	1991	Johnson	1	2	72.7	76.3	0.7
42	Oregon St.	1982	Green	1	0	81.0	68.0	-12.0
103	San Diego St.	2011	Leonard	2	2	69.3	71.8	-0.3
126	UNLV	1987	Gilliam	0	1	64.0	82.0	-6.0
138	Nevada	2004	Fazekas	0	0	NG	NG	NG
168	Wyoming	1943	Sailors	0	1	60.0	73.0	1.0
174	San Diego St.	2023	LeDee	0	1	78.0	84.0	-1.0
193	New Mexico	1974	Hardin	0	1	68.0	95.0	-3.0
196	Washington St.	2008	Weaver	0	1	92.0	64.0	0.0

Here is the actual scoresheet with Tulsa dominating from the outset.

Mountain West Perhaps Merge with Pac-12 and Return of Value Add Basketball Rankings

All-Mountain West	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Steven Ashworth	Utah St.	10.72	127.7	98.9	10-seed, 26-9 (PG), Poss 21.6%
Jaedon LeDee	San Diego St.	8.17	111.5	90.4	5-seed, 32-7, Poss 24.5%
Jaelen House	New Mexico	7.59	114	102.5	22-12 (PG), Poss 26.9%
Isaiah Stevens	Colorado St.	6.13	111.9	106.1	15-18 (PG), Poss 28.1%
EJ Harkless	UNLV	6.03	104.3	99.7	19-13 (PG), Poss 33.2%
HM-Mountain West Conf	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Camden Vander Zwaag	Air Force	5.84	121.5	104.5	14-18, Poss 16.7%
Marcus Shaver	Boise St.	5.74	99.8	95.1	10-seed, 24-10 (PG), Poss 26.3%
Patrick Cartier	Colorado St.	5.52	116.3	106.1	15-18, Poss 24.7%
Omari Moore	San Jose St.	5.08	110	102.6	21-14, Poss 28.1%

From the rubble of the disasterous Pac-12 decision to treat revenue sustaining football and basketball as any more important than the Olympic sports they sustain, the one intriguing proposal making the rounds was the Pac-12 partnering to set up a "relegation" system with other conferences. The idea would be to follow the soccer model of having teams in the highest conference (presumably the Pac-12) play and each year the bottom couple drop to a lower conference and the top couple from the lower conference move up to the Pac-12 for the next season.

This is pure speculation, but with Washington State and Oregon State having pure control of all Pac-12 decisions as the only remaining members for next season, if others would agree it seems adding Gonzaga and Saint Mary's and then the four Missouri Conference NCAA tournament teams to a Pac-12 would be a very exciting eight for basketball (we are not pondering football here). The would leave seven in the MWC, add an eighth like maybe UC Irvine, play a season and start the relegation and advancement. Sounds easier on the back of a napkin then the logistics that it would entail, but with the Mountain West headlines for the unheard of four bids they seem like the non-Power Conference bell of the ball right now.

Above is a very late All-Mountain West 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.

Note from below that Steven Ashworth was not only our MVP of the conference, but an also an all-American, but has transferred to Creighton for this season.

Team	2023	2024	2025	Seed23	Rnk24
Air Force	MWC	MWC	MWC		194
Boise St.	MWC	MWC	MWC	10	81
Colorado St.	MWC	MWC	MWC		26
Fresno St.	MWC	MWC	MWC		155
Nevada	MWC	MWC	MWC	11	44
New Mexico	MWC	MWC	MWC		52
San Diego St.	MWC	MWC	MWC	5	20
San Jose St.	MWC	MWC	MWC		121
UNLV	MWC	MWC	MWC		125
Utah St.	MWC	MWC	MWC	10	60
Wyoming	MWC	MWC	MWC		177

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%

Mountain West Conference (MWC) 25 MVPs and Top Freshmen

The following are the 25 most valuable players based on their value above a typical replacement player both offensively and defensively at www.valueaddbasketball.com in the Mountain West Conference (MWC).    

Details to follow.

Best Power Forwards in College Basketball This Season

 In Value Add Basketball we consider the team's "power forward" the player who behind the team's "center" has some combination of the most defensive rebounds, blocked shots and height, but typically the fewest assists and steals. 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 power forward's raw value add is lowered by multiplying it by 0.95 to get the result you see below and at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

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 most talented future NBA prospect, Auburn's Jabari Smith, who improves Auburn by 7.14 points per game - meaning there is a better than 50/50 chance Auburn would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than seven points. This calculations were run before Auburn's win against Vanderbilt Wednesday, during which Smith had his first 30-point game, so he is gaining value. 

In his case, he improves the Auburn offense by 4.44 points per game, while his defensive rating of -2.70 indicates he takes three to four points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement power forward. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen power forwards through games of February 15.

Rnk	Top Freshmen Power Forwards	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
7	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	7.14	SEC	6'10"	Fr
11	Paolo Banchero #5	Duke	6.69	ACC	6'10"	Fr
18	Justin Lewis #10	Marquette	6.28	BE	6'7"	Fr
23	Tyson Degenhart #2	Boise St.	6.13	MWC	6'7"	Fr
27	Azuolas Tubelis #10	Arizona	5.9	P12	6'11"	Fr
39	Dillon Jones #2	Weber St.	5.35	BSky	6'6"	Fr
44	Sadaidriene Hall #3	Stephen F. Austin	5.12	WAC	6'5"	Fr
46	Aboubacar Traore #25	Long Beach St.	4.96	BW	6'5"	Fr
51	Jalen Wilson #10	Kansas	4.77	B12	6'8"	So
52	Keshad Johnson #0	San Diego St.	4.68	MWC	6'7"	Jr

Top Overall Power Forwards (4)

A voter would certainly be justified in placing Smith, likely the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, as the 1st Team All-American Power Forward. However, if the entire season including early games were rated evenly, the 1st and 2nd Team All-American should really go to two Big Ten stars. Ohio State's EJ Liddell may have been the most valuable player over the course of the last two seasons, while Keegan Murray of Iowa has been able to explode now that his teammate and National Player of the Year Luka Garza has graduated.

Rnk	Top Freshmen Power Forwards	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Keegan Murray #15	Iowa	10.86	B10	6'8"	So
2	EJ Liddell #32	Ohio St.	9.93	B10	6'7"	Jr
3	Justin Bean #34	Utah St.	9.69	MWC	6'7"	Sr
4	Tari Eason #13	LSU	9.25	SEC	6'8"	So
5	David Roddy #21	Colorado St.	8.84	MWC	6'6"	Jr
6	Christian Braun #2	Kansas	7.54	B12	6'6"	Jr
7	Jabari Smith #10	Auburn	7.14	SEC	6'10"	Fr
8	Vince Williams #10	VCU	6.9	A10	6'6"	Sr
9	Jaime Jaquez #24	UCLA	6.81	P12	6'7"	Jr
10	Jake LaRavia #0	Wake Forest	6.77	ACC	6'8"	Jr
11	Paolo Banchero #5	Duke	6.69	ACC	6'10"	Fr
12	Race Thompson #25	Indiana	6.49	B10	6'8"	Jr
13	Dane Goodwin #23	Notre Dame	6.49	ACC	6'6"	Jr
14	Paul Atkinson #20	Notre Dame	6.45	ACC	6'9"	Sr
15	Timmy Allen #0	Texas	6.44	B12	6'6"	Sr
16	Drew Timme #2	Gonzaga	6.41	WCC	6'10"	Jr
17	Fabian White #35	Houston	6.36	Amer	6'8"	Sr
18	Justin Lewis #10	Marquette	6.28	BE	6'7"	Fr
19	Alex Morales #2	Wagner	6.28	NEC	6'6"	Sr
20	Dereon Seabron #1	N.C. State	6.25	ACC	6'7"	So
21	Ryan Hawkins #44	Creighton	6.24	BE	6'7"	Sr
22	Justyn Mutts #25	Virginia Tech	6.17	ACC	6'7"	Sr
23	Tyson Degenhart #2	Boise St.	6.13	MWC	6'7"	Fr
24	Bryce Hamilton #13	UNLV	6.13	MWC	6'4"	Sr
25	Aher Uguak #30	Loyola Chicago	6.07	MVC	6'7"	Sr
26	Abu Kigab #24	Boise St.	5.96	MWC	6'7"	Sr
27	Azuolas Tubelis #10	Arizona	5.9	P12	6'11"	Fr
28	Anthony Holland #25	Fresno St.	5.9	MWC	6'5"	Jr
29	Collin Welp #40	UC Irvine	5.88	BW	6'9"	Sr
30	Ron Harper #24	Rutgers	5.81	B10	6'6"	Sr
31	Jeriah Horne #41	Tulsa	5.81	Amer	6'7"	Sr
32	Keshawn Justice #14	Santa Clara	5.76	WCC	6'7"	Sr
33	Jalen Hill #1	Oklahoma	5.62	B12	6'6"	Jr
34	Anton Watson #22	Gonzaga	5.6	WCC	6'8"	Jr
35	Jayden Gardner #1	Virginia	5.6	ACC	6'6"	Sr
36	Noah Horchler #14	Providence	5.59	BE	6'8"	Sr
37	Marcus Weathers #50	SMU	5.49	Amer	6'5"	Sr
38	Ben Vander Plas #5	Ohio	5.46	MAC	6'8"	Sr
39	Dillon Jones #2	Weber St.	5.35	BSky	6'6"	Fr
40	Taylor Funk #33	Saint Joseph's	5.28	A10	6'8"	Sr
41	Brady Manek #45	North Carolina	5.27	ACC	6'9"	Sr
42	Jalen Bridges #11	West Virginia	5.26	B12	6'7"	So
43	Isaac Mushila #10	Texas A&M Corpus Chris	5.14	Slnd	6'5"	Jr
44	Sadaidriene Hall #3	Stephen F. Austin	5.12	WAC	6'5"	Fr
45	Jermaine Samuels #23	Villanova	5.08	BE	6'7"	Sr
46	Aboubacar Traore #25	Long Beach St.	4.96	BW	6'5"	Fr
47	Julian Champagnie #2	St. John's	4.93	BE	6'8"	Jr
48	Jabari Walker #12	Colorado	4.89	P12	6'9"	So
49	Kris Murray #24	Iowa	4.8	B10	6'8"	So
50	Jalen Adaway #33	St. Bonaventure	4.79	A10	6'5"	Sr

Mountain West Conference Top 15 Men’s Basketball Players To Date

 For Immediate Release

John Pudner, 404.606.3163, johnp@takebackaction.org

Mountain West Conference Top 15 Men’s Basketball Players To Date

“Value Add Basketball is happy to provide the early list of the conferences top 15 men’s  basketball players based on proven analytics used by NBA teams for draft prep,as well as writers at Sports Illustrated, ESPN, NBC Sports, Fox Sports,” said John Pudner, the inventor of the system.”

“Seven years ago we drew attention by tabbing Utah’s Delon Wright as the most valuable player in the country, and now we list players at two Utah Universities- BYU’s Alex Barcello and Utah State’s Justin Bean - as the top two players in the country through Christmas.”

“Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson is also performing at an All-American level, and the MWC places an impressive five players in the national top 100 (of 4,000+ players). In addition to listing the top 15 players to date, we list others with a chance at the NBA - though Boise State’s Emmanuel Akot is the only player besides Robinson that we rate as having a 50-50 shot to make the NBA.” (both bolded on list below with a 54% and 48% chance)

You can click on this google doc with information on all 4,000+ players prior to it being posted on www.valueaddbasketball.com. You can also click here for the top 100 players in the country.

Information includes each player’s chance of making the NBA, his Value Add Rating for how many points he impacts a typical game (roughly 10 points is All-American level). The key to the table is: Rank = the player's conference ranking, Value Add = how many points he improves his team over a replacement player, Class = if he is in his 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th and final year of eligibility, Ht = his height, AdjD = how many points he takes away from opponents, and NBA = his percent chance of making the NBA.

Feel free to use any information contained in these statements as wanted, and email (johnp@takebackaction.org), or text/call 404.606.3163 for any questions or additional quotes from John Pudner.

Rank	MWC	Team	Value Add	Class	Ht	AdjD	NBA
1	Justin Bean	Utah St.	10.75	Sr	6'7"	-3.21	5%
2	Orlando Robinson	Fresno St.	8.6	Jr	7'0	-3.65	54%
3	David Roddy	Colorado St.	7.72	Jr	6'6"	-2.63	1%
4	Isaiah Stevens	Colorado St.	6.65	Jr	6'0	-1.31	1%
5	Abu Kigab	Boise St.	6.53	Sr	6'7"	-4.14	1%
6	Desmond Cambridge	Nevada	5.79	Sr	6'4"	-1.85	1%
7	Hunter Maldonado	Wyoming	5.63	Sr	6'7"	-1.47	1%
8	Warren Washington	Nevada	5.47	Jr	7'0	-2.02	1%
9	Matt Bradley	San Diego St.	5.16	Sr	6'4"	-1.95	5%
10	AJ Walker	Air Force	4.7	Sr	6'2"	0.21	1%
11	Grant Sherfield	Nevada	4.7	Jr	6'2"	-0.47	10%
12	Trey Pulliam	San Diego St.	4.64	Sr	6'3"	-1.99	1%
13	Anthony Holland	Fresno St.	4.56	Jr	6'5"	-1.46	1%
14	Tyson Degenhart	Boise St.	4.54	Fr	6'7"	-1.14	1%
15	Graham Ike	Wyoming	4.46	So	6'9"	-1.17	1%
NBA	Nathan Mensah	San Diego St.	4.32	Sr	6'10"	-4	5%
NBA	Keshad Johnson	San Diego St.	3.61	Jr	6'7"	-1.66	5%
NBA	Aguek Arop	San Diego St.	1.02	Sr	6'6"	-0.95	5%
NBA	Emmanuel Akot	Boise St.	2.27	Sr	6'8"	-0.16	48%
NBA	Victor Iwuakor	UNLV	0	Jr	6'7"	0.09	5%
NBA	Eoin Nelson	Wyoming	0.22	Jr	6'10"	0.95	5%