USC’s Jordan McLaughlin Tops 1st Value Add Rankings

Jordan McLaughlin AP
AP/Ben Margot

The top-ranked Value Add player in the country signed with USC six months after USA Today splashed a picture of USC Song Girls welcoming coach Andy Enfield as their new head basketball coach accompanied by these words: “Andy Enfield’s model wife, Amanda Marcum was there. As were the USC Song Girls. If ever there was a single image that could help USC recruit star high school basketball players, this is it.”

Life is good for Enfield, who previously launched a healthcare company now worth $100 million, married the supermodel wife, and now coaches the most valuable player in the country in Jordan McLaughlin, according to the first Value Add Basketball rankings of the 2015-16 season.

The system (explained here) shows hat McLaughlin adds 9.65 points a game to USC’s final score and takes -1.99 points away from the Trojan’s opponents, meaning USC would be 11.64 points worse per game if he were replaced by a borderline player. In past years adjustments were made by position since the ratings of power forwards and centers were much higher due to rebounds, but so far this year the “freedom of movement” rules and 30-second shot clock have enabled guards and front-line players to be just as valuable to their teams—so the position adjustment was dropped.

The stats are based on just four games, and McLaughlin will not keep up his pace of 10 of 19 three-point shots, 19 assists and nine steals, but his ranking estimates that the Trojans 90-82 win over New Mexico would have been an 80-84 loss if he had not recovered from shoulder surgery that cut his freshman season short.

Another hot player is Kyle Hittle of Incarnate Word, who lit up the 11th best defense in the country (Purdue, www.kenpom.com) by shooting 5-for-6 from behind the arc and adding three steals to temporarily shoot near the top as often happens when a low major has a great game against a power team before the big school stars rise to the top.

However, this year some National Player of the Year candidates—LSU’s Ben Simmons, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and Michigan’s Caris LeVert—debuted in the top 10.

Here are the top 51—to include Utah’s superstar center at No. 51.

Rnk Player Team Con Ht Yr Off Def Value Add
1 McLaughlin, Jordan 11 USC P12 6′ 1″ So 9.65 -1.99 11.64
2 Payton, Gary 1 Oregon St. P12 6′ 3″ Sr 6.64 -4.76 11.40
3 Hittle, Kyle 4 Incarnate Word Slnd 6′ 5″ Sr 7.13 -3.67 10.80
4 Hield, Buddy 24 Oklahoma B12 6′ 4″ Sr 8.84 -1.94 10.78
5 Walton, Derrick 10 Michigan B10 6′ 1″ Jr 6.86 -3.91 10.77
6 Simmons, Ben 25 LSU SEC 6′ 10″ Fr 7.32 -3.14 10.46
7 Simmons, Rayshawn 4 Central Michigan MAC 6′ 4″ Sr 12.02 1.57 10.45
8 LeVert, Caris 23 Michigan B10 6′ 7″ Sr 6.59 -3.61 10.20
9 McClellan, Sheldon 10 Miami FL ACC 6′ 5″ Sr 9.46 -0.25 9.71
10 Robinson, Justin 12 Monmouth MAAC 5′ 8″ Jr 7.47 -2.11 9.58
11 Walker, David 4 Northeastern CAA 6′ 6″ Sr 9.49 -0.08 9.57
12 Naar, Emmett 3 Saint Mary’s WCC 6′ 1″ So 7.91 -1.54 9.45
13 Hinds, Jabarie 5 Massachusetts A10 5′ 11″ Sr 8.39 -0.86 9.24
14 McMillan, Malcolm 1 Canisius MAAC 6′ 0 Sr 9.97 0.80 9.17
15 Kingsley, Moses 33 Arkansas SEC 6′ 10″ Jr 6.10 -3.08 9.17
16 Rafferty, Matt 32 Furman SC 6′ 8″ Fr 7.72 -1.45 9.16
17 Gibson, Percy 24 Oakland Horz 6′ 9″ Sr 7.35 -1.59 8.94
18 Fuller, JC 14 Western Illinois Sum 6′ 4″ Sr 8.71 -0.20 8.91
19 Brundidge, Carlton 4 Detroit Horz 6′ 2″ Sr 5.46 -3.41 8.87
20 Moore, Dallas 14 North Florida ASun 6′ 1″ Jr 10.78 1.93 8.85
21 Young, Michael 2 Pittsburgh ACC 6′ 9″ Jr 8.00 -0.82 8.81
22 Artis, Dominic 1 UTEP CUSA 6′ 3″ Jr 6.86 -1.83 8.69
23 Johnson, Ronnie 3 Houston Amer 6′ 0 Jr 8.98 0.37 8.61
24 Allen, Terry 15 Richmond A10 6′ 8″ Sr 6.47 -2.11 8.58
25 Moon, Xavier 22 Morehead St. OVC 6′ 2″ Jr 8.60 0.06 8.55
26 Rahon, Joe 25 Saint Mary’s WCC 6′ 2″ Jr 4.04 -4.43 8.47
27 Thompson, Mikey 1 Boise St. MWC 6′ 4″ Sr 9.86 1.47 8.39
28 Loveridge, Jordan 21 Utah P12 6′ 6″ Sr 10.12 1.81 8.32
29 Moore, Ben 0 SMU Amer 6′ 8″ Jr 7.91 -0.37 8.28
30 Woodard, Jordan 10 Oklahoma B12 6′ 0 Jr 6.40 -1.86 8.26
31 Chrabascz, Andrew 45 Butler BE 6′ 7″ Jr 6.96 -1.25 8.21
32 Konchar, John 4 IPFW Sum 6′ 4″ Fr 8.06 -0.14 8.20
33 Dunn, Kris 3 Providence BE 6′ 4″ Jr 2.70 -5.48 8.18
34 Major, Jeremy 3 Pepperdine WCC 5′ 10″ Jr 5.11 -2.98 8.08
35 Graves, Marcus 0 Sacramento St. BSky 6′ 0 So 8.05 0.07 7.98
36 Allen, Grayson 3 Duke ACC 6′ 5″ So 8.12 0.17 7.96
37 Pollard, Devonta 24 Houston Amer 6′ 8″ Sr 6.09 -1.77 7.86
38 Milton, Malik 1 SMU Amer 6′ 5″ Fr 6.58 -1.19 7.77
39 Webb, James 23 Boise St. MWC 6′ 9″ Jr 5.83 -1.93 7.76
40 Valentine, Denzel 45 Michigan St. B10 6′ 5″ Sr 7.62 -0.11 7.74
41 Jackson, Antino 55 Akron MAC 5′ 11″ So 7.20 -0.51 7.71
42 Haas, Isaac 44 Purdue B10 7’2″ So 6.03 -1.67 7.70
43 Douvier, Bryce 23 Texas A&M Corpus Chris Slnd 6′ 7″ Sr 7.74 0.04 7.70
44 McCaw, Patrick 22 UNLV MWC 6′ 7″ So 6.41 -1.24 7.66
45 Petrasek, Luke 33 Columbia Ivy 6′ 10″ Jr 7.02 -0.55 7.57
46 Wilson, Anton 1 Detroit Horz 6′ 5″ Sr 6.51 -1.02 7.53
47 Rabb, Ivan 1 California P12 6′ 11″ Fr 6.08 -1.41 7.49
48 Long, Shawn 21 Louisiana Lafayette SB 6′ 9″ Sr 6.16 -1.33 7.49
49 Ochefu, Daniel 23 Villanova BE 6′ 11″ Sr 5.64 -1.83 7.47
50 Beech, Beau 2 North Florida ASun 6′ 9″ Sr 6.06 -1.40 7.46
51 Poeltl, Jakob 42 Utah P12 7′ 0 So 6.40 -1.00 7.41

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