John Pudner

The depth and balance of San Diego State, Virginia and St. Louis may get them very high seeds – however depth can be less important in the tournament where have three strong players can be more important to a run.

If the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee were choosing teams for a 3-on-3 tournament, Alabama, NC State and Utah would be enticing choices due to dominant point guards, while Green Bay, Canisius and Georgia State could also be first upset

The search for a surprise opening round upset can start with finding a low-seed with a few players that can contend with a high seed. If UC Santa Barbara wins the Big West they pose the biggest threat with the

The legendary Al McGuire always said a team needed 3 ½ stars to win a title, and if that is true then two of the five contenders face off at 9 p.m. Saturday when Florida visits Kentucky. Louisville, Syracuse, and

Forget preseason hype, the charges of East Coast bias or Los Angeles bias, the charges of players at small schools beefing up numbers against weaker competition or counter charges of small school stars being overlooked because few see them on

If you go with the more precise Offensive only Value Add (see other post), then your Player of the Year is Doug McDermott, while the less precise but more inclusive Overall Value Add rates UConn’s Shabazz Napier No. 1. Michigan

Doug McDermott ranks as the third best offensive player at www.valueaddbasketball.com for the third straight year. This year his Creighton team is thinking national championship because of the help he has from Ethan Wragge (44th of 4000 players after going

If you are mulling over Warren Buffet’s offer to pay you $1 billion if you can fill out a perfect bracket, you may want to look at the 15 biggest surprises of the year and decide if you believe they

With Warren Buffet now offering $1 billion if anyone can fill out a perfect bracket, you may want to look at the 11 teams that Value Add calculates were really at least eight points better than they have played so

Guess I can’t get away from sports even when I’m submerged in politics. Walking around near a State Capitol today four people stopped me out of the blue to ask me who would win March Madness, and each asked about

Creighton’s Doug McDermott is one of the five best offensive Value Add players for a third straight season–no other player has done that even twice. However, since Christmas he has only been the second best coach’s son, as Billy Baron has

Computers rank the Big Ten as the best basketball conference from top to bottom. However, if each conference had to put their Top 10 players on the court for a game, the Value Add Predictor gives the Pac12 an 83-74

In New York, the Mid American’s top five players went toe-to-toe with the SEC for a 41-41 tie due to double digit outings for Karrington Ward (Eastern Michigan) and Richaun Holmes (Bowling Green). However, the SEC’s second team of Chris

In Anaheim, the Pac12 pulled out the only overtime game of the tournament with an 86-85 win over the ACC. UCLA’s Jordan Adams and Utah’s Delon Wright gave the Pac12 a big edge in the starting backcourt, and Arizona State’s

In Indianapolis, shooting guard Kevin Pangos has a game-high 14 points to lead the WCC, but the more balanced Big Ten prevailed 87-82 behind the defense of Aaron Craft (Ohio State) and double digit scoring from their other four starters

In Orlando, Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein held his counterpart to only two points and Trevor Releford (Alabama) and Casey Prather (Florida) both scored in double figures to give the 6-seed SEC at 78-66 win over the Big South. They will travel

In Buffalo, opposing power forwards Doug McDermott (Creighton) and Jacob Parker (Stephen F. Austin) both led their teams in scoring as the 3-seed Big East barely survived a challenge from the 30-seed Southland 70-68. Despite the low rating for the

In St. Louis, UConn shooting guard Shabazz Napier, Cincinnati small forward Sean Kilpatrick and Memphis center Shaq Goodwin dominated their three positions to help the 7-seed American Athletic beat an otherwise very tough Big Sky team. They will stay close

In San Antonio, Oklahoma St. Point Guard Marcus Smart held his counterpart to only three points, while Smart’s teammate Markel Brown won the battle at small forward with 12 points. The 2-seed Big 12 beat the MEAC 80-58 to advance

In San Diego, the 5-seed Pac12 rolled to the second biggest win in any Round 1 game, as surprise newcomer Delon Wright (Utah point guard) joined the four better-known starters in double figures. They will travel to Anaheim to meet

In Raleigh, the 4-seed ACC registered by far the most lopsided victory of the opening round with a 95-56 win over the American East. The ACC will advance to Anaheim to play the 20-seed Sun Belt, which stunned the Ivy

In Spokane, Nine of 10 Atlantic 10 players bested their counterparts from the Atlantic Sun, with UMass Center Cady Lalane outscoring Mercer’s Daniel Coursey 10-4 in an easy 74-57 win. The 8-seed A10 team advances to Indianapolis to play the

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin was too much for Texas Southern’s Aaric Murray as the 1-seed Big Ten All-Conference team beat the 32-seed SWAC team 81-64. The Big Ten will advance to Indianapolis to play the 17-seed

The two most common questions I receive when updating ratings for college basketball players regard: 1) Sports Information Directors who want to explain the value of their star player and 2) people who want to understand how much the absence