After Hundreds of Simulations, It Comes Down to UCLA 1972 vs Indiana 1976

UCLA 1972 — the only back-to-back undefeated team in college basketball history — improved to 8–0 against the greatest Value Add Basketball Game teams of all time and will now face the last remaining undefeated team, Indiana 1976, for our all-time title.

Duke 2001 was a worthy All-Time Final Four opponent. Our recent advanced calculations of the top 50 teams of all time show that Shane Battier is one of only three players to lead two top-10 all-time teams (along with Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Battier’s two free throws with five minutes remaining created an extra possession while pulling Duke within 64–59. Battier scored again with 1:30 to play to cut the lead to 69–63, but Duke could get no closer as UCLA pulled away for a 74–65 win to advance to the all-time championship.

In the end, Bill Walton’s nine blocked shots gave UCLA a decisive edge in the paint. UCLA finished with 28 two-point baskets compared to Duke’s 21, which proved to be the difference in the game. Walton led all scorers with 20 points. In nearly every other phase, Duke played UCLA even. Duke held a slight 5–4 edge in three-pointers, made two more free throws (8–9 shooting), and used strong team rebounding to match UCLA 32–32 on the boards. UCLA had one other very slight edge in forcing 15 turnovers while Duke force 14, and both teams committed 16 fouls, and both rosters featured five future NBA players.

The 1972 UCLA team improves to 8–0 and is now one game away from winning back-to-back titles, having won our original tournament of the first 96 teams created in the Value Add Basketball Game. They are now on the verge of winning the tournament to determine the best team among all 300 teams created to date, five years later.

The 2001 Duke team falls to 5–2 against elite competition, with their only other loss coming in an upset against Paul Pierce’s 1997 Kansas team, alongside five wins over other all-time great teams.

The 1976 Indiana team, which will face UCLA in the all-time title game, features the best defense of any team in our game. Indiana is 6–1, allowing just 54 points per game against the greatest teams in history, with their only loss coming in a 70–68 stunner against Draymond Green’s Michigan State team in the original 96-team tournament.

While Kareem’s UCLA team still ranks as having the best individual cards in the game, these are the top two teams based on the results of hundreds of Value Add Basketball Games played to date, making this a true No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup — with no Cinderella story involved. 

Pos	Duke 2001	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Jay Williams	12	2	3	0	0	2	1	0	2	nba,21.6 Pts, 3.3 reb,6'2
2-SG	Nate James	19	3	5	0	0	3	1	1	2	12.3 Pts, 5.2 reb,6'6
3-SG	Shane Battier	8	0	3	2	2	5	1	6	2	nba,19.9 Pts, 7.3 reb,6'8
4-PF	Mike Dunleavy	4	0	1	2	3	8	1	1	3	nba,12.6 Pts, 5.7 reb,6'9
5-C	Carlos Boozer	10	0	4	2	2	9	0	0	2	nba,13.3 Pts, 6.5 reb,6'9
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Chris Duhon	4	0	1	2	2	1	0	0	1	nba,7.2 Pts, 3.2 reb,6'1
2-SG	Matt Christensen	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.6 Pts, 2.3 reb,6'10
3-SG	Nick Horvath	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.8 Pts, 2.3 reb,6'10
4-PF	Casey Sanders	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.5 Pts, 1.8 reb,6'11
5-C	Andre Sweet	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.1 Pts, 2.6 reb,6'6
	15 Turnovers	65	5	21	8	9	32	4	8	16
Pos	UCLA 1972	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Greg Lee	9	0	4	1	2	1	2	0	1	nba,8.7 Pts, 2.0 Reb,6'4
2-SG	Henry Bibby	7	0	3	1	1	4	3	0	3	nba,15.7 Pts, 3.5 Reb,6'1
3-SG	Larry Farmer	10	1	3	1	2	3	0	0	2	10.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb,6'5
4-PF	Jamaal Wilkes	8	1	2	1	2	5	2	1	2	nba,13.5 Pts, 8.2 Reb,6'6
5-C	Bill Walton	20	0	9	2	3	11	0	9	2	nba,21.1 Pts, 15.5 Reb,6'11
Pos	Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	NBA?,Season Stats, Ht
1-PG	Andy Hill	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.7 Pts, 0.8 Reb,6'0
2-SG	Jon Chapman	5	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1.6 Pts, 1.6 Reb,6'5
3-SG	Tommy Curtis	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.1 Pts, 2.1 Reb,5'11
4-PF	Larry Hollyfield	4	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	2	7.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb,6'4
5-C	Swen Nater	7	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	nba,6.7 Pts, 4.8 Reb,6'11
	14 Turnovers	74	4	28	6	10	32	8	10	16

Larry Bird and 3 Elite 8 Teams from 2023 Vie for Last 2 Sweet 16 Spots

 Larry Bird and 3 Elite 8 Teams from 2023 Vie for Last 2 Sweet 16 Spots

Only two Sweet 16 spots are open in our tournament of new teams in the Value Add Basketball Game. Actually we had an odd number of new teams, so we added one team that we already had in the game, but had only played one game – Larry Bird’s Indiana State.

Since Bobby Knight became only the fourth coach to lead a team to a undefeated title (Indiana 1976), only two teams have made it to the championship game undefeated. Bird’s Indiana State in 1979 and Gonzaga in 2021 – but both lost in the title game. Therefore the only three other coaches to win a title undefeated were Phil Woolpert’s 1956 San Francisco team, Al McGuire’s big brother Frank McGuire 1957 North Carolina, and John Wooden with four UCLA teams (1964, 1967, 1972 and 1973).

Here are the two final 2^nd round games in our tournament to set our Sweet 16 for this tournament, followed by 10-player rosters for each team and images of the finalized team cards (slight adjustments were made to a couple in the dunk/lay-up range before verifying as final).

Indiana 1979 vs. Texas 2023

1-seed Indiana State backed up the seed by crushing Virginia Tech and Oklahoma to make the Elite 8 before needing thrilling two point wins against Arkansas and DePaul to go undefeated into the 1979 championship undefeated for Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson.

2-seed Texas 2023 beat Penn State and Xavier to go to the Elite 8 before losing to Miami.

K-State 2023 vs. Miami 2023

3-seed Kansas State beat Kentucky and Michigan State to make Elite 8 before being upset by 3 points by Florida Atlantic.

5-seed Miami crushed Indiana and Houston to make the Elite 8, then beat Texas to go Final 4 before losing to eventual champ UConn.

Indiana St. 1979	Height	Summary
Carl Nicks	6'1	19.3 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 5.0 Ast
Bob Heaton	6'5	7.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Larry Bird	6'9	28.6 Pts, 14.9 Reb, 5.5 Ast
Leroy Staley	6'4	7.0 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Alex Gilbert	6'7	9.6 Pts, 6.1 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Steve Reed	6'3	5.0 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 7.0 Ast
Rich Nemcek	6'6	1.7 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Scott Turner	6'5	2.1 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Brad Miley	6'8	5.7 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Tom Crowder	6'5	1.9 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Texas 2023	Height	Summary
Marcus Carr	6'2	15.9 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 4.1 Ast
Tyrese Hunter	6'0	10.3 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 2.5 Ast
Sir'Jabari Rice	6'4	13.0 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Timmy Allen	6'6	10.5 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 3.5 Ast
Dylan Disu	6'9	8.8 Pts, 4.4 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Dillon Mitchell	6'8	4.3 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Brock Cunningham	6'5	4.6 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Arterio Morris	6'3	4.6 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Christian Bishop	6'7	6.6 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Alex Anamekwe	6'5	1.5 Pts, 0.7 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Kansas State 2023	Height	Summary
Markquis Nowell	5'7	17.6 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 8.3 Ast
Desi Sills	6'1	8.7 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Camryn Carter	6'3	6.5 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Keyontae Johnson	6'5	17.4 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 2.1 Ast
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	6'10	10.4 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Dorian Finister	6'5	2.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Ismael Massoud	6'8	5.4 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 0.5 Ast
David N'Guessan	6'9	6.4 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Tykei Greene	6'4	2.7 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Abayomi Iyiola	6'9	3.4 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Miami 2023	Height	Summary
Nijel Pack	6'0	13.6 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 2.3 Ast
Isaiah Wong	6'3	16.2 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 3.2 Ast
Jordan Miller	6'6	15.3 Pts, 6.2 Reb, 2.7 Ast
Wooga Poplar	6'5	8.4 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Norchad Omier	6'7	13.1 Pts, 10.0 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Bensley Joseph	6'1	5.3 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Harlond Beverly	6'5	3.5 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Anthony Walker	6'9	2.8 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast
AJ Casey	6'9	0.9 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Favour Aire	6'11	0.6 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.0 Ast

Here are the team cards for the game.

Here are the sweet 16 games

1-UConn 2023 vs. 17-Duke 2022

8-Gonzaga 2023 vs 9-Kansas 2022

20-Indiana State 1979-13-Texas 2023 winner vs. 4-Tennessee 2023

12-K-State 2023-21-Miami 2023 winner vs. 5-Colorado 2021.

18-Stanford 2008 vs. 2-Rutgers 1976

7-SMU 2017 vs. 10-Xavier 2023

19-UNC 2022 winner vs. 3-Houston 2021

11-Marquette 2023 vs. 6-Duke 2015