The simple story is that three college basketball players were much better than the other 4,000. Each of those was worth more than 11 points a game to his team than what a replacement player would have provided, while no one else was worth even 10 additional points.
You can now click www.valueaddbasketball.com to search the rating of 4,000-plus players.
| Rnk | Player | Team | Off | Def | Pos | Value Add | NBA% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wright, Delon 55 | Utah | 6.84 | -4.2 | PG | 11.88 | 63% |
| 2 | Towns, Karl-Anthony 12 | Kentucky | 5.92 | -5.38 | PF | 11.39 | 93% |
| 3 | Kaminsky, Frank 44 | Wisconsin | 8.41 | -2.92 | C | 11.09 | 79%t |
With no other players even in the top 75, Utah likely would not have even made the tournament without Delon Wright. Wright not only led them into the top 10 for a bit of the season, but made Utah one of only two teams to almost beat Duke in the tournament. Wisconsin fell five points short, Utah lost by six, and no one else came within 14 points. In fact, Utah might have pulled the upset if Wright did not get two very early fouls and have to pull back on his aggressive style (he still had three steals). He finished No. 2 last year when Shabazz Napier passed him during the Final Four.
Karl-Anthony Towns is the best NBA prospect in the group and was the most balanced. He was worth 5.92 points on offense and took away 5.38 on defense—the latter a much stronger figure than Jahlil Okafor of Duke. In fact, we believe even the scouts are finally seeing Towns is a better player than Okafor and he may become the No. 1 pick, after all.
Finally, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin was the Breitbart Sports player of the year. When you add Kaminsky was by far the best offensive player in the country (8.41 was well over a point better than second place Jerian Grant) and when you add that to his decent defense (-2.92) his total is actually the best in the country. He is passed by the other two only because center is an easier position to play so you lose slightly more by needing a mediocre point guard/shooting guard to replace Wright then you do by having a mediocre center to replace Kaminsky.
Congrats to all three on being so far ahead of any other player in the country. Any of the three would be a worthy National Player of the Year.