Best Pro Prospects Underclassmen, Best College Players Seniors

A glance at the top 50 basketball players according to www.valueaddbasketball.com shows the typical trend—the best NBA prospects are sophomores and freshman, but the best college players are seniors.

LSU freshman Ben Simmons could be the best player since LeBron James. He battles last year’s freshman hero of the title game Grayson Allen of Duke for the top spot. Nine of the 13 players in the top 50 with a better than 2-to-1 chance of making the pros are freshman or sophomores just like Allen and Simmons.

However the rest of the top 10 players—based on how many points each of the 4000+ Division 1 players are worth to their team—are seniors. NBA scouts know that players make a huge jump between their freshman and sophomore seasons and by their senior year are already near their peak—which is why in many drafts most seniors are skipped. However, the three seniors that are both in the top 50 and likely to make it in the NBA play for rival schools, Denzel Valentine of No. 1 ranked Michigan State (whose coach Tom Izzo is famous for not paying AAU coaches to get his talent) and Michigan’s Caris LeVert.

All 4000 players and 351 teams can be searched at www.valueaddbasketball.com, but the top 50 players are listed below and the top 50 team values are: 1. Duke; 2. Virginia; 3. Oklahoma; 4. Purdue; 5. Michigan State; 6. Kansas; 7. Iowa; 8. Vanderbilt; 9. Xavier; and 10. SMU.

Rnk	Player	Team	Ht	Yr	Value Add	NBA?	Con
1	Allen, Grayson 3	Duke	6’05	So	13.58	68%	ACC
2	Simmons, Ben 25	LSU	6’10	Fr	12.64	96%	SEC
3	Walker, David 4	Northeastern	6’06	Sr	12.31	38%	CAA
4	Valentine, Denzel 45	Michigan St.	6’05	Sr	12.18	84%	B10
5	Gbinije, Michael 0	Syracuse	6’07	Sr	11.09	46%	ACC
6	Hield, Buddy 24	Oklahoma	6’04	Sr	10.93	57%	B12
7	Uthoff, Jarrod 20	Iowa	6’09	Sr	10.69	3%	B10
8	Walkup, Thomas 0	Stephen F. Austin	6’04	Sr	10.47	2%	Slnd
9	Payton, Gary 1	Oregon St.	6’03	Sr	10.24	54%	P12
10	McClellan, Sheldon 10	Miami FL	6’05	Sr	10.04	11%	ACC
11	Lydon, Tyler 20	Syracuse	6’08	Fr	9.48	74%	ACC
12	McCaw, Patrick 22	UNLV	6’07	So	9.26	70%	MWC
13	Poeltl, Jakob 42	Utah	7’00	So	9.16	88%	P12
14	Morris, Monte 11	Iowa St.	6’03	Jr	8.87	59%	B12
15	Peters, Alec 25	Valparaiso	6’09	Jr	8.82	9%	Horz
16	Jackson, Demetrius 11	Notre Dame	6’01	Jr	8.79	88%	ACC
17	Wiltjer, Kyle 33	Gonzaga	6’10	Sr	8.77	24%	WCC
18	Gibbs, Jack 12	Davidson	6’00	Jr	8.72	10%	A10
19	LeVert, Caris 23	Michigan	6’07	Sr	8.68	73%	B10
20	Scott, Josh 40	Colorado	6’10	Sr	8.66	10%	P12
21	Robinson, Duncan 22	Michigan	6’08	So	8.59		B10
22	Ferrell, Yogi 11	Indiana	6’00	Sr	8.55	16%	B10
23	Jones, Matt 13	Duke	6’05	Jr	8.49	5%	ACC
24	Mockevicius, Egidijus 55	Evansville	6’10	Sr	8.44	10%	MVC
25	Ingram, Brandon 14	Duke	6’09	Fr	8.42	98%	ACC
26	Lee, Damion 0	Louisville	6’06	Sr	8.34	44%	ACC
27	Selden, Wayne 1	Kansas	6’05	Jr	8.32	27%	B12
28	Johnson, Melvin 32	VCU	6’04	Sr	8.29		A10
29	Johnson, Brice 11	North Carolina	6’10	Sr	8.27	45%	ACC
30	Mason, Frank 0	Kansas	5’11	Jr	8.26	10%	B12
31	Niang, Georges 31	Iowa St.	6’08	Sr	8.13	8%	B12
32	Trimble, Melo 2	Maryland	6’03	So	8.11	79%	B10
33	Brown, John 0	High Point	6’08	Sr	8.07		BSth
34	Ware, Gavin 20	Mississippi St.	6’09	Sr	8.05		SEC
35	Warney, Jameel 20	Stony Brook	6’08	Sr	8.05	10%	AE
36	Allen, Terry 15	Richmond	6’08	Sr	8.02	4%	A10
37	Beasley, Malik 5	Florida St.	6’05	Fr	7.94		ACC
38	Dunn, Kris 3	Providence	6’04	Jr	7.78	95%	BE
39	Rabb, Ivan 1	California	6’11	Fr	7.71	75%	P12
40	Miles, Isaiah 15	Saint Joseph’s	6’07	Sr	7.71		A10
41	Sabonis, Domantas 11	Gonzaga	6’10	So	7.69	68%	WCC
42	Robinson, Justin 12	Monmouth	5’08	Jr	7.63	9%	MAAC
43	English, AJ 5	Iona	6’04	Sr	7.63	7%	MAAC
44	Morgan, Jeremy 20	Northern Iowa	6’05	Jr	7.62		MVC
45	Woodard, Jordan 10	Oklahoma	6’00	Jr	7.62	2%	B12
46	Boothe, Nathan 53	Toledo	6’09	Sr	7.61		MAC
47	Young, Michael 2	Pittsburgh	6’09	Jr	7.61	2%	ACC
48	Spangler, Ryan 0	Oklahoma	6’08	Sr	7.58	2%	B12
49	Woodley, Zeek 23	Northwestern St.	6’02	Jr	7.56	10%	Slnd
50	Jefferson, Amile 21	Duke	6’09	Sr	7.56	9%	ACC