Resuming with All-Time Great Basketball Teams

With ABC featuring a top 25 match-up of Duke vs. Purdue to compete with the NFL Sunday afternoon, we turned to a couple of All-Time Top 10 Duke team in the Value Add Basketball Game. We are focused on trying teams who have only played one or two games to see if they move up or down in our All-Time standings (click for game log and ratings). 

In the table of upcoming games below, a red line indicates the game has been played and the team lost (e.g. Cincy lost to Ohio State), and green means the team won. A bolded game means an All-Time Top 25 match-up, while italics means a top 50 all-time match-up from the 135 all-time great basketball teams.

Four Top 10 teams that we felt needed to justify their rankings because they had fewer than 3 games were; then #10 Cincinnati that was replaced by Ohio State 1960 after losing to them; #9 Duke 1992 that fell out of the Top 10 with an OT loss to UConn 2004; #3 Kentucky 2006 that will face an SEC test against #35 Arkansas 1994; #4 Duke 2001 that will be tested by #16 UNLV 1991; 

We were sidetracked from resuming the basketball games this week due to some great improvements from a user to the all-time great Statis-Pro Baseball teams (click on instructions to the game as well as great new sheets of pitchers and batters for those 60 all-time great teams.

Red equals team lost game - Green equals teams won game - Black equals not yet played

Team	Year	Player You Might Know	Opponent	Opp Yr
#35 Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	#67 LSU	1992
#35 Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	#3 Kentucky	2006
#21 Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	#10 Ohio St.	1960
#30 Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	#56 San Francisco	1956
#19 Connecticut	2004	Ben Gordon	#9 Duke	1992
#71 Dayton	2020	Obi Toppin	#64 Purdue	1969
#9 Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	#30 Connecticut	1999
#4 Duke	2001	Shane Battier	#16 UNLV	1991
#91 Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	#64 Purdue	1969
#48 Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	#40 Iowa	2021
#40 Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	#48 Indiana	1981
#40 Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	#70 Kansas	1957
#59 Jacksonville	1970	Artis Gilmore	#56 San Francisco	1956
#70 Kansas	1957	Wilt Chamberlain	#40 Iowa	2021
#3 Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	#35 Arkansas	1994
#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	#47 Michigan	1989
#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	#75 St. John's	1985
#67 LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	#35 Arkansas	1994
#67 LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	#72 Marquette	1971
#72 Marquette	1971	Jim Chones	#67 LSU	1992
#106 Marquette	2011	Jimmy Butler	#75 St. John's	1985
#47 Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	#10 Ohio St.	1960
#47 Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963
#10 Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	#21 Cincinnati	1960
#10 Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	#47 Michigan	1989
#64 Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	#71 Dayton	2020
#64 Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	#91 Georgia Tech	1990
#56 San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	#30 Connecticut	1999
#56 San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	#59 Jacksonville	1956
#75 St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	#106 Marquette	2011
#75 St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	#51 Loyola-Chicago	1963
#16 UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	#4 Duke	2001

Lucas' Ohio State Face the Big O's Cincy and Michigan

In our updated rankings of the top 25 all-time college basketball teams, you will notice several have only one or two games played. We decided we will focus on those teams now - particularly the teams in our Top 75 that only have one game played. We set up "doubleheaders" for each of them to see if they hold or can even improve their rankings.

The most intriguing double header we set up heading into the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game this weekend, was letting Jerry Lucas 1960 Buckeyes National Champs play the 1989 Champs from Michigan - but also the game that never happened - a 1960 National Championship between them and the Cincinnati Bearcats as the warm up for Michigan.

In 1960, the Bearcats were ranked 1st all year behind Oscar Robertson, the Big O, and both the Bearcats and Buckeyes made the Final 4. The Bearcats lost in the semifinals for the third straight year with the Big O, this time to a great Cal team - which ironically had left the Pac-12 that year only to later return, so Oscar Robertson did not face Jerry Lucas for the championship.

The really ironic part of the story is the Big O then went to the NBA, and the two years after he left, Cincinnati not only won the national title, but did it by beating Jerry Lucas and Ohio State. The were then national runner-ups in 1963, to make it six straight years in the Final Four. Cal interrupted what would have been three straight national title rematches between the two teams from the same state. Those two teams were in the middle of a 98 year stretch during which they never played on each others campuses, so they could only meet in tournaments. 

Bearcats fans may ask why I included their 1960 team instead of one of the national champs the next two years. Well, that is because I look at both the greatest teams ever but also the greatest players ever to choose who gets a team in the game. The Big O was the only player who went onto the NBA from this Bearcats team in the game, and no player from the National Champs went onto the NBA.

Click on the game to play yourself - it contains everything you need to play the Value Add Basketball game, which lets you pit any of 136 great all-time college teams against each other. To pick your two teams it is best to click on this Google doc and print the pages of the teams you want (each team is one page). I track my games on this google sheet, but play your own for free!

 

Team	Year	Player You Might Know	Opponent	Opp Yr
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	LSU	1992
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	Kentucky	2006
Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	Ohio St.	1960
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	San Francisco	1956
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	Duke	1992
Dayton	2020	Obi Toppin	Purdue	1969
Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	Connecticut	1999
Duke	2001	Shane Battier	UNLV	1991
Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	Purdue	1969
Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	Iowa	2021
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Indiana	1981
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Kansas	1957
Jacksonville	1970	Artis Gilmore	San Francisco	1956
Kansas	1957	Wilt Chamberlain	Iowa	2021
Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	Arkansas	1994
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	Michigan	1989
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	St. John's	1985
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Arkansas	1994
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Marquette	1971
Marquette	1971	Jim Chones	LSU	1992
Marquette	2011	Jimmy Butler	St. John's	1985
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Ohio St	1960
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Loyola	1963
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Cincinnati	1960
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Michigan	1989
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Dayton	2020
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Georgia Tech	1990
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Connecticut	1999
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Jacksonville	1956
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Marquette	2011
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Loyola	1963
UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	Duke	2001

If Key and Young Out for Ohio State, Michigan Becomes Favorite (and 30 other teams missing key players)

At www.kenpom.com, Wyoming is favored 64-60 in a huge game with Fresno State. However, Hunter Maldanado is listed as questionable, and if he does not play www.valueaddbasketball.com calculates that costs Wyoming 9 points - changing the projections from a 4-point win to a 5-point loss.

The costs of a player missing the game is calculated as follows at www.valueaddbasketball.com. If the missing player is not listed as one of the seven most valuable players on the team, then the impact is very small. However, if the player is one of the team's seven best, then you take his Value Add and subtract the Value Add of the 8th best player on the team. In this case Maldonado ranks near All-American level at a 9.44 Value Add and Wyoming's 8th best player is worth only 0.08 (they are not a deep team) so him being missing costs the team 9.36. 

Kenny Foster is also out, but he has been out all but a few games, so at this point they've mainly played without him anyway - so the current ratings is almost exactly correct. 

The team hurt the second most by missing layers would be Ohio State, if Kyle Young and Zed Key are gone. If they are both out their +4 points projected at www.kenpom.com drops to a projected -4.0 for a loss.

The following are the 30 teams most hurt by current injuries. As you can see, some just appear to be minor and making a player questionable for their next game, but others are season long injuries that will alter a team's ability to win games in March Madness.

Here is the same table in another format.

Rnk	Team	Player	Pos	Injury	Value	3rd off Bench	Team Hurt
1	Wyoming	H. Maldonado	G	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	9.44	0.08	9.36
		K. Foster	G	Out indefinitely - Ankle	0.35	0.08	0.27
2	Ohio St	K. Young	F	Ques Sun - Illness	5.29	0.67	4.62
		Z. Key	F	Ques Sun - Ankle	4.54	0.67	3.87
		J. Sueing	F	Out indefinitely - Abdominal	1.23	0.67	0.56
3	Davidson	F. Loyer	G	Ques Sat - Lower Body	7.54	0	7.54
4	Middle Tennessee St.	J. Jefferson	G	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	7.94	0.63	7.31
5	Florida State	M. Osborne	F	out for season - Ankle	4.05	1	3.05
		C. Mills	G	Out indefinitely - Ankle	3.46	1	2.46
		C. Fletcher	G	out for season - Thumb	2.57	1	1.57
6	Illinois	J. Grandison	G	Ques Sun - Shoulder	6.88	1.65	5.23
		R. Melendez	G	Out indefinitely - Appendix	2.9	1.65	1.25
		B. Bosmans-Verdonk	F	Ques Sun - Concussion	1.96	1.65	0.31
7	VCU	V. Williams Jr.	F	Ques Sat - Ankle	6.86	1.12	5.74
		M. Tsohonis	G	Ques Sat - Concussion	1.32	1.12	0.2
8	Kansas State	M. Nowell	G	Out Sat - Undisclosed	6	0.07	5.93
9	Purdue	S. Stefanovic	G	Ques Sat - Finger	7.49	1.7	5.79
10	Temple	J. Williams	G	Ques Sun - Undisclosed	3.53	0.69	2.84
		K. Battle	G	out for season - Foot	2.77	0.69	2.08
		J. Forrester	F	Out indefinitely - Illness	1.45	0.69	0.76
11	Baylor	J. Tchamwa Tchatchoua	F	out for season - Knee	5.76	2.16	3.6
		L. Cryer	G	Mid March - Foot	4.18	2.16	2.02
12	Syracuse	J. Edwards	C	out for season - Wrist	5.29	0	5.29
		S. Torrence	G	Ques Sat - Concussion	0.28	0	0.28
13	UCLA	J. Juzang	G	Ques Sat - Ankle	7.51	2.17	5.34
14	California	A. Kelly	F	out for season - Ankle	6.61	1.53	5.08
15	Tulane	J. Cook	G	Ques Sun - Hamstring	5.3	0.5	4.8
16	UMBC	K. Kennedy	G	Ques Sun - Undisclosed	3.15	0.39	2.76
		D. Rogers	G	Ques Sun - Undisclosed	1.92	0.39	1.53
17	Clemson	P. Hall	F	Ques Sat - Foot	4.79	0.94	3.85
18	Columbia	J. Odunowo	F	out for season - Undisclosed	1.62	0.09	1.53
		L. Murphy	F	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	1.59	0.09	1.5
		I. Nweke	F	Ques Sat - Illness	0.56	0.09	0.47
19	Duquesne	T. Williams	C	out for season - Knee	2.26	0	2.26
		L. Ayers III	G	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	0.92	0	0.92
		A. Rotroff	F	Mid March - Foot	0.32	0	0.32
20	Central Florida	B. Mahan	G	Out indefinitely - Foot	4.72	1.25	3.47
21	Florida International	T. Brewer	G	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	4.03	0.59	3.44
22	Florida	A. Duruji	F	Ques Sat - Ankle	4.12	1.52	2.6
		J. Jitoboh	C	out for season - Eye	2.21	1.52	0.69
23	Utah St.	S. Ashworth	G	Doub Fri - Undisclosed	4.86	1.87	2.99
24	Hartford	H. Marks	F	out for season - Undisclosed	2.94	0.04	2.9
25	Chattanooga	S. De Sousa	F	Ques Wed - Abdominal	3.3	0.49	2.81
26	Seton Hall	B. Aiken	G	Out indefinitely - Concussion	5.52	2.78	2.74
27	Boston College	T. Bickerstaff	F	Out indefinitely - Calf	2.73	0	2.73
28	Vanderbilt	J. Mann	G	Ques Sat - Knee	3.58	1.29	2.29
		R. Chatman	G	Mid March - Hamstring	1.68	1.29	0.39
29	Oregon St.	W. Alatishe	F	Ques Sat - Undisclosed	2.36	0.01	2.35
		X. Malone-Key	G	Out indefinitely - Back	0.06	0.01	0.05
30	SIU Edwardsville	R. Taylor	G	out for season - Knee	2.41	0.03	2.38