College Hoops Best Conference History - ACC (By Far)

 When we played our initial All-Time Great tournament using the first 96 Value Add Basketball Game teams, Michael Jordan led the 1982 UNC Tar Heels all the way to the title game before falling short against Bill Walton's 1972 UCLA Team.

Perhaps nothing indicates the ACC is clearly the top conference historically then the fact that Jordan's team in our game ranks as the 7th best team in the conference so far.

We rank conferences based on the top six teams, and those six in front of Jordan's UNC team have gone 17-7 with an average win margin of 8 points (75-67) against some of the greatest teams of all time. A couple of the Duke teams (2001 and 1992) have only paid two games a piece, so still need to prove themselves in more games. However, the new teams the ACC added included the great 2013 Louisville team and the great Syracuse and Pittsburgh - all from the great Big East years. Add them to the great UVa champs from 2019, the Tim Duncan's 1996 team that already stunned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's team in our game, David Thompson's NC State team that ended UCLA's dynasty.

Despite growing up in Virginia, I adopted the Big East and rooted for them against the ACC from that point forward, but there is no way to argue this is not the top conference in history based on their current roster of teams.

Rnk	Great Team	Year	Key Player	W	L	Pts	Allow	Rate
	Top 6 Other Conf			17	7	74.8	66.9	9.1
1	Duke	2001	Shane Battier	2	0	84.5	74.0	12.8
2	North Carolina	2005	Sean May	3	2	72.2	64.4	9.6
3	Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	1	1	71.5	64.5	9.2
4	Virginia	2019	Kyle Guy	4	1	72.6	65.4	8.3
5	Duke	2010	Jon Scheyer	5	2	74.0	66.7	7.9
6	Louisville	2013	Russ Smith	2	1	74.0	66.3	7.0
7	North Carolina	1982	Michael Jordan	5	1	68.8	65.0	6.7
8	North Carolina St.	1974	David Thompson	2	1	72.0	72.7	5.1
9	Wake Forest	1996	Tim Duncan	2	1	66.0	64.7	3.9
10	North Carolina	1998	Vince Carter	2	1	80.7	83.7	2.7
11	Syracuse	2003	Carmelo Anthony	2	1	76.0	74.0	2.3
12	Syracuse	1987	Rony Seikaly	2	1	72.3	68.7	-0.3
13	Pittsburgh	2009	DeJuan Blair	1	3	60.0	62.3	-0.8
14	Duke	1986	Johnny Dawkins	0	1	106.0	108.0	-1.0
15	Georgia Tech	2004	Jarrett Jack	2	3	62.6	67.4	-1.1
16	Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	0	1	64.0	82.0	-5.2
17	Virginia	1981	Ralph Sampson	0	1	61.0	72.0	-5.4
18	Notre Dame	1981	Orlando Woolridge	0	1	68.0	74.0	-7.0
19	Notre Dame	1970	Austin Carr	1	1	67.0	76.5	-8.2
20	Wake Forest	2005	Chris Paul	0	3	64.3	85.3	-9.3
21	Louisville	1980	Darrell Griffith	0	1	52.0	82.0	-10.4
22	Miami FL	1965	Rick Berry	0	1	104.0	108.0	-14.6

We invented the Value Add Basketball Game, and since then have grown it to to 135 teams of all-time great teams and players. We have played 188 games to date, and 63,000 unique visitors have clicked on the game. 

Seven current conferences have at least six all-time great teams in the game. We decided to rank those conferences based on the average rating of their top six teams so far in our games against other teams.

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!

Top Shooting Guards in College Basketball This Season

 In Value Add Basketball we consider the team's "shooting guard" the player who behind only the team's point guard in assists, but compared to the other three players on the court typically has fewer defensive rebounds, blocked shots and less height. 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 shooting guard's raw value add is increased by multiplying it by 1.10 to get the result you see below and at www.valueaddbasketball.com.

In general, freshmen guards in particular 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 guards. 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 shooting guards in college basketball, starting with the best freshman shooting guard TyTy Washington of Kentucky. His value add of 6.34 indicates there is a better than 50/50 chance Kentucky would have LOST any game that they won by fewer than seven points. 

In his case, he improves the Kentucky's offense by 4.90 points per game, while his defensive rating of -1.44 indicates he takes three to four points more away from the opposing team then a typical replacement shooting guard. Here are the most valuable 10 freshmen power forwards through games of February 15. Arizona's Dalen Terry is one of three Arizona players we would name to our All-American freshmen team - and his defense of -2.35 is by far the best for any shooting guard.

Rnk	Top Freshmen SG	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
15	TyTy Washington #3	Kentucky	6.34	SEC	6'3"	Fr
20	Dalen Terry #4	Arizona	5.65	P12	6'7"	Fr
38	Trevor Keels #1	Duke	4.72	ACC	6'4"	Fr
50	Terquavion Smith #0	N.C. State	4.35	ACC	6'4"	Fr
60	Steele Venters #2	Eastern Washington	4.18	BSky	6'7"	Fr
62	Reyne Smith #2	Charleston	4.06	CAA	6'2"	Fr
65	Nate Heise #0	Northern Iowa	4.02	MVC	6'4"	Fr
67	Malaki Branham #22	Ohio St.	4	B10	6'5"	Fr
71	Brandon Murray #0	LSU	3.95	SEC	6'5"	Fr
73	JD Davison #3	Alabama	3.91	SEC	6'3"	Fr

Top overall SG

One reason we love running these numbers is to find truly elite players who will not be noticed because their team either does not get enough TV coverage or is just not winning enough games to draw attention. The biggest case this year comes from teh 13-10 Washington in the Pac-12. We calculte that Washington would be 4-19 instead of 13-10 if Terrell Brown were not on the team, and for us that makes him the truly deserving 1st team All-American shooting guard who will not get any voters for it.

The race for 2nd and 3rd team All-American shooting buard is much closer.  TyTy Washington should be considered because it is truly unusual for a freshman guard to be anywhere near this high - but K-State, St. John's, BYU, Tennessee and the player who may have improved his team the most this year from last year - Alondes Williams of Wake Forest.

 

Rnk	Top Shooting Guards (2)	Team	VA5	Conf	HtText	Cl
1	Terrell Brown #23	Washington	10.42	P12	6'3"	Sr
2	Nijel Pack #24	Kansas St.	9.39	B12	6'0	So
3	Posh Alexander #0	St. John's	8.8	BE	6'0	So
4	Alex Barcello #13	BYU	8.69	WCC	6'2"	Sr
5	Santiago Vescovi #25	Tennessee	8.65	SEC	6'3"	Jr
6	Alondes Williams #31	Wake Forest	8.15	ACC	6'5"	Sr
7	Garrett Sturtz #3	Drake	7.66	MVC	6'3"	Sr
8	Justin Moore #5	Villanova	7.53	BE	6'4"	Jr
9	Jaden Ivey #23	Purdue	7.05	B10	6'4"	So
10	Brad Davison #34	Wisconsin	6.97	B10	6'4"	Sr
11	Ryan Rollins #5	Toledo	6.72	MAC	6'4"	So
12	JD Notae #1	Arkansas	6.66	SEC	6'2"	Sr
13	Jaden Shackelford #5	Alabama	6.63	SEC	6'3"	Jr
14	Josh Jefferson #11	Middle Tennessee	6.39	CUSA	6'2"	Sr
15	TyTy Washington #3	Kentucky	6.34	SEC	6'3"	Fr
16	Eli Brooks #55	Michigan	6.17	B10	6'1"	Sr
17	Umoja Gibson #2	Oklahoma	6	B12	6'1"	Sr
18	Alfonso Plummer #11	Illinois	5.73	B10	6'1"	Sr
19	Hunter Cattoor #0	Virginia Tech	5.71	ACC	6'3"	Jr
20	Dalen Terry #4	Arizona	5.65	P12	6'7"	Fr
21	Reece Beekman #2	Virginia	5.62	ACC	6'3"	So
22	Buddy Boeheim #35	Syracuse	5.56	ACC	6'6"	Sr
23	Adam Flagler #10	Baylor	5.5	B12	6'3"	Jr
24	Michael Jones #13	Davidson	5.49	A10	6'5"	Jr
25	Grayson Murphy #2	Belmont	5.46	OVC	6'3"	Sr
26	Amorie Archibald #3	Louisiana Tech	5.41	CUSA	6'3"	Sr
27	Gibson Jimerson #24	Saint Louis	5.4	A10	6'5"	Fr
28	Mason Archambault #11	South Dakota	5.25	Sum	6'0	Sr
29	Sean McNeil #22	West Virginia	5.23	B12	6'3"	Sr
30	Rasir Bolton #45	Gonzaga	5.11	WCC	6'3"	Sr
31	Jabari Rice #10	New Mexico St.	5.05	WAC	6'4"	Jr
32	D'Moi Hodge #55	Cleveland St.	5.03	Horz	6'4"	Sr
33	Spencer Jones #14	Stanford	4.96	P12	6'7"	Jr
34	James Reese V #0	South Carolina	4.93	SEC	6'4"	Sr
35	Rudi Williams #3	Coastal Carolina	4.92	SB	6'2"	Sr
36	Desmond Cambridge #4	Nevada	4.88	MWC	6'4"	Sr
37	Cameron Tyson #5	Seattle	4.87	WAC	6'2"	So
38	Trevor Keels #1	Duke	4.72	ACC	6'4"	Fr
39	Davion Warren #2	Texas Tech	4.7	B12	6'6"	Sr
40	CJ Fleming #25	Bellarmine	4.7	ASun	6'0	Sr
41	Joe Bryant #4	Norfolk St.	4.62	MEAC	6'1"	Sr
42	Logan Johnson #0	Saint Mary's	4.54	WCC	6'2"	Sr
43	Demaree King #1	Jacksonville St.	4.52	ASun	6'0	Jr
44	Caleb Grill #2	Iowa St.	4.42	B12	6'3"	Jr
45	Courtney Ramey #3	Texas	4.41	B12	6'3"	Sr
46	Alex Hunter #10	Furman	4.41	SC	5'11"	Sr
47	Isaiah Wong #2	Miami FL	4.4	ACC	6'3"	So
48	Michael Forrest #11	Florida Atlantic	4.37	CUSA	6'1"	Jr
49	Tyler Harris #14	Memphis	4.36	Amer	5'9"	Sr
50	Terquavion Smith #0	N.C. State	4.35	ACC	6'4"	Fr

NBA Finals Stocked with Players from Value Add Basketball Game All-Time Great Teams

Great NBA players did not always have great college careers. Among the players suited up for the NBA Finals, 2-time Bucks MVP Giannis Anteokounmpo, as well as a couple of guys on the bench – his big brother Thanasis Anteokounmpo and the Suns Dario Saric – did not play college.

However, this year's NBA Finals includes some of the highest rated college players in the history of the Value Add Basketball ratings, as well as eight players who also played on one of the all-time great basketball teams included in the popular Value Add Basketball Game. (50,800 visitors have now pulled up the game, which includes these free player cards.)

I happened to just return from Wyoming, whose 1943 team is the earliest in the game due to Kenny Sailor leading the Cowboys to the National Title after inventing the jump shot.

At the bottom of this blog we show the college rating of each NBA Finals player, including five players who ranked as one of the top three players in all of college basketball when they played.

Two of those elite Value Add Basketball 1st Team All-Americans do not have cards in the game:

The Suns' reserve Jevon Carter was the top ranked player in the 2012 season with West Virginia, which is represented in the game by Jerry West's 1959 team and Kevin Jones' 2010 team.

The Suns' Jae Crowder was ranked as the second best player in the country behind Anthony Davis in 2012 when he beat out Jones as Big East Player of the Year while playing for Marquette, across the street from the Buck's home court where he drilled 6 of 7 three-pointers Sunday night for the visitors. Marquette is represented in the game by Al McGuire's National Championship team of 1977, and Dwyane Wade's 2003 Final Four team.

The first three player cards below from the Value Add Basketball Game also finished in the top three - Chris Paul ranked as the third best player of the 4,000+ players in 2005 when he played for Wake Forest, Mikal Bridges ranked as the 2nd best player when on the 2018 Villanova National Champs, and Frank Kaminsky ranked as the third best player in the country in 2015, when we shocked many readers by declaring the Wisconsin Badger the 1st team All-American more than a month before he shocked the undefeated Kentucky team in the Final Four. 

Mamadi Diakite's was rated higher in the 2020 season, but we show his 2019 card below when he was part of the national championship team at the University of Virginia.
(Note: thanks to this great blog for showing how to insert these photos side-by-side in blogger)

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</td><td>photo b

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If we seeded the eight teams of these NBA Finals Players based on the ratings at www.kenpom.com, we would end up with this tournament bracket:

While the eight players shown above were great players on great teams included in the game, many Suns' players and some Bucks' players were also great college players. The following is a table indicating the highest ranked college players now at least suited up for the NBA Finals for either the Suns or Bucks.

We consider any player that finishes in the top 41 players out of 4,000 college players an elite player, since they rate in the top 1 percent of all college players. I suspect this is the first time an NBA Finals has had 15 players who were in the top 1 percent of college players.

Rnk	Best college season	NBA	Game	College	Year
1	Jevon Carter #2	Suns		West Virginia	2018
2	Mikal Bridges #25	Suns	Yes	Villanova	2018
2	Jae Crowder	Suns		Marquette	2012
3	Frank Kaminsky 44	Suns	Yes	Wisconsin	2015
3	Chris Paul	Suns	Yes	Wake Forest	2004
8	Jalen Smith #25	Suns	Yes	Maryland	2020
9	Sam Merrill #5	Bucks	Yes	Utah St.	2020
11	Deandre Ayton #13	Suns		Arizona	2018
13	Ty-Shon Alexander #5	Suns	Yes	Creighton	2020
18	Cameron Payne 1	Suns		Murray St.	2015
19	Bobby Portis 10	Bucks		Arkansas	2015
20	Langston Galloway	Suns		St. Joseph's	2014
23	Cameron Johnson #13	Suns		North Carolina	2019
34	Justin Jackson 44	Bucks		North Carolina	2017
41	Elijah Bryant #3	Bucks		Brigham Young	2018
44	PJ Tucker	Bucks		Texas	2006
47	Jordan Nwora #33	Bucks	Yes	Louisville	2020
49	Devin Booker 1	Suns		Kentucky	2015
63	E'Twaun Moore	Suns		Purdue	2011
73	Jeff Teague	Bucks		Wake Forest	2009
75	Pat Connaughton 24	Bucks		Notre Dame	2015
77	Mamadi Diakite #25	Bucks	Yes	Virginia	2020
101	Brook Lopez	Bucks		Stanford	2008
186	Khris Middleton	Bucks		Texas A&M	2011
190	Torrey Craig	Suns		South Carolina Upstate	2012
214	Bryn Forbes 5	Bucks		Michigan St.	2016
311	Jrue Holiday	Bucks		UCLA	2009
711	Abdel Nader 2	Suns		Iowa St.	2016
	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Bucks		No College
	Thanasis Antetokounmpo	Bucks		No College
	Dario Šarić	Suns		No College