The best offensive player on the best offensive team (Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin) scored 23 points against Indiana Tuesday (9-12 from floor, 5-7 from line, 3 assists) to pass the best defensive player on the best defensive team (Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky) as the top center in basketball.
All 4120 players will be updated in the Value Add database today, and the top 25 players are listed below.
Breitbart Sports shocked most by naming the relatively unknown Kaminsky as the top center in the country last February 14 (see All-American list here), more than a month before the 7-footer gained national acclaim by going 27 of 46 in tournament wins over Oregon, Baylor and Arizona—including 40% from behind the arc. Cauley-Stein, also a 7-footer, was an equally surprising selection as the Third Team All-American Center last year because most focus more on offense than defense.
Kaminsky improves Wisconsin by 7.69 points per game on offense and is ranked No. 2 overall on Value Add and No. 1 in the country at www.kenpom.com. He leads an offensive that is also No. 1—scoring 1.25 points per trip down the court. The Badgers are 20-1 with Kaminsky on the court, and in the only game he missed lost to lowly Rutgers.
Cauley-Stein does it on defense—taking 6.62 points a game away from opponents—the best total in the country. He makes Kentucky by far the best defense in the country, as they allow 0.79 points per trip while San Diego is a distant second place at 0.85 points per trip. Cauley-Stein is so quick the NFL wants the 7-footer as a receiver who dominated at the high school level, and he can shut down anyone from the opposing point guard to center. Perhaps the best display of his value occurred when he guarded Providence star LaDontae Henton. Leading up to that game Henton was the hottest offensive player in the country having torched Florida State, Notre Dame, and Yale by scoring 92 points despite only taking 54 shots in the three games (1.7 points per shot taken). Against Cauley-Stein he scored 3 points on 8 shots (0.4 points her shot taken).
The best offensive player and best defensive player in the country are both 7-feet tall. But for the first time this season Kaminsky has edged ahead of Cauley-Stein.
| Rnk | Player | Team | Off | Def | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wright, Delon 55 | Utah | 7.04 | -4.03 | 11.70 |
| 2 | Kaminsky, Frank 44 | Wisconsin | 7.69 | -2.71 | 9.97 |
| 3 | Cauley-Stein, Willie 15 | Kentucky | 3.43 | -6.62 | 9.61 |
| 4 | Payton, Gary 1 | Oregon St. | 2.66 | -6.32 | 9.43 |
| 5 | Walden, Corey 2 | Eastern Kentucky | 5.89 | -2.86 | 9.37 |
| 6 | Grant, Jerian 22 | Notre Dame | 7.50 | -0.86 | 8.99 |
| 7 | Russell, D’Angelo 0 | Ohio St. | 6.09 | -2.39 | 8.91 |
| 8 | Towns, Karl-Anthony 12 | Kentucky | 3.49 | -5.46 | 8.80 |
| 9 | Pangos, Kevin 4 | Gonzaga | 6.51 | -1.56 | 8.70 |
| 10 | Rozier, Terry 0 | Louisville | 4.59 | -3.64 | 8.67 |
| 11 | Caffey, Michael 5 | Long Beach St. | 4.90 | -3.05 | 8.58 |
| 12 | Anderson, Justin 1 | Virginia | 6.43 | -2.04 | 8.54 |
| 13 | Hewitt, Jelani 5 | Georgia Southern | 4.43 | -3.47 | 8.52 |
| 14 | Booker, Devin 1 | Kentucky | 6.04 | -2.00 | 8.48 |
| 15 | Lee, Damion 14 | Drexel | 6.42 | -1.86 | 8.35 |
| 16 | White, Aaron 30 | Iowa | 5.80 | -2.57 | 8.22 |
| 17 | Okafor, Jahlil 15 | Duke | 5.97 | -2.37 | 8.20 |
| 18 | Hawkins, Corey 3 | UC Davis | 6.36 | -1.39 | 8.19 |
| 19 | Forte, Phil 13 | Oklahoma St. | 5.47 | -2.28 | 8.19 |
| 20 | Tarpey, Terry 25 | William & Mary | 4.34 | -3.17 | 8.14 |
| 21 | Harrison, Aaron 2 | Kentucky | 3.67 | -4.02 | 8.13 |
| 22 | Pointer, Sir’Dominic 15 | St. John’s | 3.36 | -4.86 | 8.07 |
| 23 | VanVleet, Fred 23 | Wichita St. | 5.22 | -2.22 | 8.07 |
| 24 | Christmas, Rakeem 25 | Syracuse | 5.31 | -2.86 | 8.02 |
| 25 | Tuttle, Seth 10 | Northern Iowa | 5.11 | -2.83 | 8.01 |
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