NIT Wild Elite 8 Games: UNCW 116-114, NIA 94-92

Coming off the lowest scoring game of our first 350, with Bobby Knights' Indiana defeating Michael Jordan, we proceeded to have the two wildest games decided at the buzzer.

Northern Iowa Edges Winthrop. We the non-power Conferences playing for automatic bids, we thought we would shift back to out NIT of all-time non-power champs, and the first game was between our two biggest non-power champs, with Winthrop 2007 vs. Northern Iowa 2015. In their real MVC tournament this year Northern Iowa is not in the title game due to being upset by Valpo in the quarter finals.

Seth Tuttle drew a foul in the closing seconds and hit both free throws for a 94-92 win to advance to our All-Time NIT Final 4. He has made Northern Iowa perhaps the biggest surprise so far i the game - as a blowout win over Bobby Hurley's Rhode Island, stunning upset of the 1960 Ohio State champs and then respectable loss against a Kentucky team make them 4-1 with this win and in our top 50. IN real MVC action 

Winthrop also lost their real tournament title game today to end up runner up in the Big South tournament.

UNC Wilmington over Stephen F Austin in double OT Despite 4 starters fouling out. The next game would be the second highest scoring game of our 350 Value Add Basketball Games played to date. The average score in our first 350 games has been 78-68. Ironically the lowest scoring game was played right before these two games, as Bobby Knight's Indiana beat Michael Jordan's UNC 53-46 in a matchup of perhaps the best two defensive teams in teh game.

Rnk	Highest Scoring Games	Player	Score	Allow	Pts	Opponent
1	Loyola Marymount 1990	Bo Kimble	138	116	254	Kentucky 1970
2	UNC Wilmington 2003	Devontae Cacok	116	114	230	Stephen F. Austin 2016
3	Holy Cross 1950	Bob Cousy #34	108	106	214	Duke 1986
4	Michigan St. 2000	Mateen Cleaves	108	104	212	Miami FL 1965
5	North Carolina 1998	Vince Carter	104	101	205	Loyola Marymount 1990
6	Illinois 1989	Nick Anderson	105	98	203	Loyola Marymount 1990
7	Miami FL 2023	Norchad Omier	99	98	197	Washington 2006
8	Texas 2023	Marcus Carr	97	96	193	Indiana St. 1979
9	Michigan 1965	Cazzie Russell	95	94	189	Stephen F Austin 1965
10	Marquette 2023	Tyler Kolek	94	93	187	Creighton 2023
Drop	UCLA 1967	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3	93	92	185	Baylor 2021

That was topped in our second game which sets all kinds of records starting with both teams being the first to score 100 points besides games  in which Loyola-Marymount was not playing.  Stephen F. Austin drew a record 33 fouls to get a record 47 foul shots attempted. Four of five UNC Wilmington starters fouled out, but the remaining player - Denzel Ingram - hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the end of the 2nd overtime to advance to our NIT Final 4 with a 116-114 win.

While we ranked Thomas Walkup as the best player in the country when we ran our Value Add Basketball rankings, it was Demetrious Floyd hit an all-time game high seven 3-pointers in the losing effort.

Pos	Stephen F Austin 2016	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Summary
	UNCW 116, SFA 114
1-PG	Trey Pinkney	6	0	2	2	4	5	2	0	2	5'9	2.7 Pts, 1.8 Reb
2-SG	Demetrious Floyd	28	7	1	5	7	1	3	1	3	5'11	13.8 Pts, 1.5 Reb
3-SF	Thomas Walkup	31	0	8	15	16	11	7	1	4	6'4	18.1 Pts, 6.9 Reb
4-PF	Ty Charles	21	1	7	4	9	7	4	0	3	6'5	9.4 Pts, 4.8 Reb
5-C	T.J. Holyfield	14	0	3	8	11	10	0	2	1	6'8	7.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb
1-PG	Jared Johnson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'0	6.0 Pts, 0.9 Reb
2-SG	Dallas Cameron	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3	3.5 Pts, 1.0 Reb
3-SF	Nathan Bain	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6	2.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb
4-PF	Clide Geffrard	6	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'5	13.3 Pts, 5.9 Reb
5-C	C.J. Williams	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2	2.4 Pts, 2.7 Reb
	Turnovers 14	114	8	28	34	47	39	16	4	18
Pos	UNC Wilmington 2017	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Summary
1-PG	Denzel Ingram	33	4	9	3	4	3	1	0	3	6'0	14.6 Pts, 2.2 Reb
2-SG	Ambrose Mosley	5	1	1	0	0	2	1	0	5	6'2	8.2 Pts, 2.9 Reb
3-SF	Chris Flemmings	13	1	5	0	0	2	0	1	5	6'5	15.8 Pts, 5.6 Reb
4-PF	C.J. Bryce	24	1	7	7	10	3	0	0	5	6'5	17.4 Pts, 5.4 Reb
5-C	Devontae Cacok	12	0	6	0	0	13	0	2	5	6'7	12.3 Pts, 9.8 Reb
1-PG	Jordon Talley	14	1	5	1	2	1	0	0	2	6'0	7.6 Pts, 1.7 Reb
2-SG	JaQuel Richmond	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'1	4.6 Pts, 1.2 Reb
3-SF	Jaylen Fornes	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	6'3	3.1 Pts, 1.0 Reb
4-PF	Marcus Bryan	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	6'7	2.2 Pts, 2.7 Reb
5-C	Chuck Ogbodo	9	0	4	1	1	2	0	0	3	6'9	1.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb
	Turnovers 21	116	8	40	12	17	30	3	3	33
	Previous game
Pos	Winthrop 2007	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Summary
	N IA wins 116-114
1-PG	Michael Jenkins	12	2	3	0	0	2	3	0	2	6'3	14.8 Pts, 3.8 Reb
2-SG	Chris Gaynor	14	2	4	0	0	1	0	0	2	5'10	7.8 Pts, 3.2 Reb
3-SF	Taj McCullough	16	3	2	3	3	4	0	0	1	6'7	7.9 Pts, 3.8 Reb
4-PF	Phillip Williams	8	2	1	0	0	5	0	0	2	6'8	8.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb
5-C	Craig Bradshaw	16	1	6	1	2	5	0	2	2	6'11	13.5 Pts, 6.3 Reb
1-PG	DeAndre Adams	7	0	3	1	1	3	0	1	3	5'8	2.1 Pts, 1.1 Reb
2-SG	Antwon Harris	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'4	5.5 Pts, 3.3 Reb
3-SF	Kyle Moore	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3	1.9 Pts, 0.8 Reb
4-PF	Mantoris Robinson	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	6'5	2.4 Pts, 2.6 Reb
5-C	Torrell Martin	13	3	2	0	0	3	1	0	2	6'5	14.5 Pts, 5.7 Reb
	Turnovers 13	92	13	24	5	6	27	4	3	18
Pos	Northern Iowa 2015 (MVC)	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Actual Season
1-PG	Deon Mitchell	11	1	4	0	0	2	1	0	1	6'1	7.5 Pts, 2.0 ^ 2.5 Ast
2-SG	Matt Bohannon	9	1	1	4	4	2	3	3	1	6'4	5.7 Pts, 1.7 ^ 0.9 Ast
3-SF	Jeremy Morgan	11	2	2	1	1	4	0	0	1	6'5	5.6 Pts, 3.1 ^ 0.9 Ast
4-PF	Marvin Singleton	10	0	4	2	2	4	0	0	1	6'6	4.7 Pts, 4.9 ^ 0.7 Ast
5-C	Seth Tuttle	25	4	4	5	5	4	0	2	3	6'8	15.3 Pts, 6.9 ^ 3.3 Ast
1-PG	Wes Washpun	10	2	1	2	4	2	0	1	2	6'1	7.6 Pts, 2.5 ^ 2.6 Ast
2-SG	Wyatt Lohaus	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'2	3.8 Pts, 1.2 ^ 0.7 Ast
3-SF	Paul Jesperson	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	6'6	5.9 Pts, 2.3 ^ 0.3 Ast
4-PF	Nate Buss	9	2	1	1	1	2	0	0	1	6'9	7.7 Pts, 2.7 ^ 0.1 Ast
5-C	Bennett Koch	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	1.4 Pts, 0.6 ^ 0.0 Ast
	Turnovers 12	94	13	20	15	17	25	4	6	13

Tuttle's N. Iowa Edges Fareid's Morehead State at Buzzer

Northern Iowa's 2015 team pulled one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Value Add Basketball Game behind the All-American and most valuable player in the country that year in our ratings - Seth Tuttle as Northern Iowa shot all the way up to 43rd in our game to sneak past Larry Bird's 1979 Indiana State as the Missouri Valley Conference representative in our all-time NIT tournament between one team from 20 non-power conferences. The best team from all 21 non-power conferences was the ASun's Jacksonville with Artis Gilmore, so they played in our higher NCAA tournament.

If you look at our all-time game log, you will see that preseason we actually had Bird's Indiana State ranked as the 48th greatest team in the game and the 2015 Northern Iowa team as 159th, but a great 2-1 start including that upset moved them way up and to the No. 1 seed in this NIT. Tuttle may not look at impressive at 15 ppg, but the Value Add rating system calculated that him shooting over 60 percent from the floor and being part of a defense that allowed less than 55 points per game made those points valuable and explain why voters picked him as All-American and we calculated him as No. 1.

However, they went from the hunter to the hunted in this game, as 11-point underdog Morehead State 2011 representing the Ohio Valley Conference (we only count where current colleges play, so none of the great Belmont or Murray State great OVC teams were considered). That meant a match-up of two 6'8 centers among the greatest non-power conference players this century as Tuttle had to face the great Kenneth Faried. 

Faried not only grabbed an astounding 14.5 rebounds per game, but he went onto an 8-year NBA career that included coming in No. 3 in Rookie of the Year voting the next year and then finishing in the top 20 in defensive player of the year voting the year after, as Bleacher Report picked him as one of the top 10 Mid-Major players in the NBA.

This one was a thriller until the end as Terrance Murray his a 3-pointer to put Morehead State ahead 77-76 with less than a minute to go. Jerry Morgan then drew a 5th foul on Faried and completed a 3-point play to give Northern Iowa back a 79-77 lead with each team only have one possession left (this would have been the end of the game if he had just scored and was not fouled - so a 78-77 win - but a foul or steal and fast break create and extra possession, so Morehead State had another chance.

Lamont Austin, only in the game because both Faried and Ty Proffitt had fouled out, then hit a 3-pointer to give Morehead State the 80-79 lead.

This game down to the last trip and the ball went to 3-point specialist Matt Bohannon on the 8-sided die roll of "2." The 20-sided die roll of 15 would have been a miss, but the defensive die roll of "53" was within the "dunk" range meaning the offense creates a defensive rebound, Northern Iowa had two choices in the game. Since Bohannon has an almost unheard of 1-6 three-point made range, he normally would take the "try 3-point shot" option in the dunk range which would have meant in the rules a 1-15 was a made 3-pointer while a 16-20 would have been a missed 3-pointer. However, because the option in the dunk range is to take an automatic two points, and Northern Iowa only needed two points to win, for one of the only times in his life Bohannon took the sure thing game-winning lay-up at the horn and our No. 1 seed Northern Iowa avoids the massive upset to advance to the NIT Elite 8. They face 8-seed Winthrop, which looked very good in their debut blowout of South Dakota State.

Besides 1-0 Winthrop 2017, the only undefeated teams besides UCLA 1972 and 1975 (tied in 1st of 258 teams) are Texas Southern, which stunned Niagra but will now face Bob Cousy and Holy Cross 1950 from the Patriot League, and UNC Wilmington 2003, which upset Wofford to improve to 2-0 and now has a chance to make it 3-0 since they draw the other big NIT Sweet 16 upset winner in 2016 Stephen F. Austin.

Below is the box score, scoresheet and updated bracket. This was the NIT prelim for the NCAA showdown between Bill Walton and Bill Russell.

Pos	Morehead St. 2011	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Actual Season
1-PG	Demonte Harper	13	0	4	5	6	5	2	0	2	6'4	15.5 Pts, 5.0 ^ 3.4 Ast
2-SG	Terrance Hill	21	3	4	4	5	3	4	0	2	6'1	10.7 Pts, 2.3 ^ 1.4 Ast
3-SF	Sam Goodman	8	0	4	0	0	5	0	0	4	6'2	8.3 Pts, 4.0 ^ 1.7 Ast
4-PF	Ty Proffitt	14	2	3	2	2	3	0	0	5	6'4	7.9 Pts, 2.1 ^ 1.7 Ast
5-C	Kenneth Faried	14	0	5	4	5	8	0	4	5	nba,6'8	17.3 Pts, 14.5 ^ 1.1 Ast
1-PG	Lamont Austin	6	1	1	1	2	3	0	0	2	5'11	2.9 Pts, 0.9 ^ 1.9 Ast
2-SG	Arthur McMillan	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6	1.7 Pts, 1.2 ^ 0.1 Ast
3-SF	Drew Kelly	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6	5.0 Pts, 4.1 ^ 0.7 Ast
4-PF	Only 8 Player Cards
5-C	Only 8 Player Cards
	Turnovers 12	80	6	23	16	20	29	6	4	22
Pos	Northern Iowa 2015 (MVC)	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Actual Season
1-PG	Deon Mitchell	6	0	3	0	0	2	1	0	2	6'1	7.5 Pts, 2.0 ^ 2.5 Ast
2-SG	Matt Bohannon	11	1	4	0	0	2	1	0	3	6'4	5.7 Pts, 1.7 ^ 0.9 Ast
3-SF	Jeremy Morgan	7	1	1	2	2	5	0	0	1	6'5	5.6 Pts, 3.1 ^ 0.9 Ast
4-PF	Marvin Singleton	9	0	4	1	2	6	0	0	2	6'6	4.7 Pts, 4.9 ^ 0.7 Ast
5-C	Seth Tuttle	20	1	5	7	8	8	0	1	3	6'8	15.3 Pts, 6.9 ^ 3.3 Ast
1-PG	Wes Washpun	5	0	2	1	2	2	0	0	3	6'1	7.6 Pts, 2.5 ^ 2.6 Ast
2-SG	Wyatt Lohaus	6	0	3	0	0	1	1	0	1	6'2	3.8 Pts, 1.2 ^ 0.7 Ast
3-SF	Paul Jesperson	5	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	3	6'6	5.9 Pts, 2.3 ^ 0.3 Ast
4-PF	Nate Buss	10	1	3	1	2	4	0	0	2	6'9	7.7 Pts, 2.7 ^ 0.1 Ast
5-C	Bennett Koch	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	1.4 Pts, 0.6 ^ 0.0 Ast
	Turnovers 13	81	5	27	12	16	33	3	1	21

Here is the bracket.

And here is the scoresheet.

Hurley's 2017 Rhode Island and Northern Iowa 2015 Added to Value Add Basketball Game

While we want to add teams for schools not yet in the Value Add Basketball Game, we decided on the criteria. The school must either put have two years within four years in which they win a tournament game or go Final 4 in the NIT, or have a team that makes an Elite 8 run.

In setting this up for new potential teams, we actually realized we missed two teams - Dan Hurley's last two Rhode Island teams both won a tournament game in 2016 and 2017, and we added the 2017 team - while we added the 2015 Northern Iowa team. The following are their players and then the team in sheet form that will be added.

Northern Iowa is ranked as the 139th greatest team in our game. Their rating is -4, meaning they are about4 points worse than the average great team in the game, which is typically an Elite 8 team that was also ranked around 8th.

Rhode Island is ranked as the 177th greatest team in our game. Their rating is -7.

 

Northern Iowa 2015	Ht	ppg	Pos
Deon Mitchell	6'1	7.5ppg	1-PG
Matt Bohannon	6'4	5.7ppg	2-SG
Jeremy Morgan	6'5	5.6ppg	3-SF
Marvin Singleton	6'6	4.7ppg	4-PF
Seth Tuttle	6'8	15.3All-Am	5-C
Wes Washpun	6'1	7.6ppg	1-PG
Wyatt Lohaus	6'2	3.8ppg	2-SG
Paul Jesperson	6'6	5.9ppg	3-SF
Nate Buss	6'9	7.7ppg	4-PF
Bennett Koch	6'9	1.4ppg	5-C
Off 107 Def 94 Rating -4	Rnk 139
Rhode Island 2017	Ht	ppg	Pos
Jeff Dowtin	nba,6'3	5.5ppg	1-PG
Jared Terrell	nba,6'3	12.6ppg	2-SG
EC Matthews	6'5	14.9ppg	3-SF
Hassan Martin	6'7	13.6ppg	4-PF
Kuran Iverson	6'9	9.6ppg	5-C
Jarvis Garrett	6'0	6.0ppg	1-PG
Christion Thompson	6'4	2.5ppg	2-SG
Stanford Robinson	6'4	8.4ppg	3-SF
Nicola Akele	6'8	2.9ppg	4-PF
Cyril Langevine	6'8	3.2ppg	5-C
Off 109 Def 99 Rating -7	Rnk 177