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

Colonial Athletic Conference and Return of Value Add Rankings

All-Colonial Athletic Association	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Ben Burnham	Charleston	7.30	118.8	98.7	12-seed, 31-4, Poss 21.4%
Pat Robinson	Charleston	6.75	114	98.7	12-seed, 31-4, Poss 24.5%
Luke House	Drexel	6.50	127.8	102.8	17-15, Poss 14%
Ante Brzovic	Charleston	6.18	109.7	98.7	12-seed, 31-4, Poss 28.9%
Dalton Bolon	Charleston	6.12	111.7	98.7	12-seed, 31-4, Poss 24%
HM-Colonial Athletic Association	Team	Value	AdjO	AdjD	Notes
Maleeck Harden-Hayes	UNC Wilmington	5.89	118	101.2	24-10, Poss 17.2%
Charles Thompson	Towson	5.66	116.7	104.4	21-12, Poss 21.6%
Aaron Estrada	Hofstra	4.49	107.5	102.4	25-10, Poss 29.2%
Jameer Nelson Jr.	Delaware	3.89	105.8	107.7	17-16 (PG), Poss 32.2%

Above is a very late All-Colonial Athletic 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 Jameer Nelson Jr. listed is in fact the son of the very famous Jameer Nelson, and had transferred from Delaware to TCU after the season.

The only realignment this year is Campbell joining the CAA. While the conference has not produced a March Madness upset bid since Charleston let an upset slip away late against Auburn in 2018, it is one of the most balanced conferences with a half dozen solid teams that all seem to have a shot at the title.

Team	2023	2024	2025	Seed23	Rnk24
Campbell	BSth	CAA	CAA		317
Charleston	CAA	CAA	CAA	12	158
Delaware	CAA	CAA	CAA		141
Drexel	CAA	CAA	CAA		134
Elon	CAA	CAA	CAA		296
Hampton	CAA	CAA	CAA		309
Hofstra	CAA	CAA	CAA		114
Monmouth	CAA	CAA	CAA		254
North Carolina A&T	CAA	CAA	CAA		358
Northeastern	CAA	CAA	CAA		211
Stony Brook	CAA	CAA	CAA		282
Towson	CAA	CAA	CAA		191
UNC Wilmington	CAA	CAA	CAA		163
William & Mary	CAA	CAA	CAA		301

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%