The day after the Top 25 teams were released, Tuesday’s release of the Top 25 Value Add players indicates the three hottest players have their teams on top of the Big East and Missouri Valley Conferences. Noone is going to catch Trey Burke as the best player this year, as he has added 11.6% to Michigan’s scoring and defense, but Doug McDermott hit 21 of 23 two-pointers last week to put Creighton atop the Missouri Valley and Otto Porter and Russ Smith have surged to push Georgetown and Louisville past the rest of the Big East.
Value Add’s preseason No. 2 player Doug McDermott was outside the Top 25 because he had not shot quite as well as last year, but he hit an amazing 21 of 23 two-pointers, six of 12 three-pointers, and all 13 Foul Shots in two big wins last week to shoot to No. 14. More important, that included the win over Wichita State in a battle for first place in the Missouri Valley.
During Georgetown’s 11-game winning streak that has propelled them to first place in the Big East, Otto Porter has scored 217 points and has led a great defense that has allowed on 620 points. By himself he is scoring 35% of the points Georgetown needs to win every game. Porter started snow with an injury, but in the past several weeks has surged from outside the Top 25 to now be the 2nd best player in the country behind only Burke.
The Hoyas have only a half-game lead in the Big East though because of Louisville’s Russ Smith. He led the Cardinals to a blowout of Cincinnati, 67-51 Monday to make it seven straight wins. Smith is ranked No. 1 at www.kenpom.com, and has been one of the top few players in the country at both stealing the ball and drawing fouls on his unstoppable drives to the hoop. He has hit 40 of 46 free throws during the winning streak. Here are the Top 25 players, followed by an alphabetical list of others who just missed the list.
| Rnk | Player | Team | Ht | Yr | Value Add | NBA? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trey Burke | Michigan | 6′ 0 | So | 11.57974954 | PG |
| 2 | Otto Porter | Georgetown | 6′ 8″ | So | 10.28107839 | SF |
| 3 | Victor Oladipo | Indiana | 6′ 5″ | Jr | 10.06678822 | SG/SF |
| 4 | Erick Green | Virginia Tech | 6′ 3″ | Sr | 9.986353803 | PG |
| 5 | Shabazz Napier | Connecticut | 6′ 1″ | Jr | 9.465025062 | PG |
| 6 | Cody Zeller | Indiana | 7′ 0 | So | 9.405976549 | PF/C |
| 7 | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | Georgia | 6′ 5″ | So | 9.061956701 | SG |
| 8 | Nate Wolters | South Dakota St. | 6′ 4″ | Sr | 8.889494981 | PG |
| 9 | Bryce Cotton | Providence | 6′ 1″ | Jr | 8.884267792 | |
| 10 | Mike Muscala | Bucknell | 6′ 11″ | Sr | 8.690777996 | |
| 11 | Mason Plumlee | Duke | 6′ 10″ | Sr | 8.582935954 | PF |
| 12 | Russ Smith | Louisville | 6′ 0 | Jr | 8.522748605 | |
| 13 | Ray McCallum | Detroit | 6′ 3″ | Jr | 7.967292253 | PG |
| 14 | Doug McDermott | Creighton | 6′ 8″ | Jr | 7.951906903 | PF |
| 15 | Michael Carter-Williams | Syracuse | 6′ 6″ | So | 7.928256117 | PG/SG |
| 16 | Ben McLemore | Kansas | 6′ 5″ | Fr | 7.846993784 | |
| 17 | Jeff Withey | Kansas | 7′ 0 | Sr | 7.63832728 | |
| 18 | Kelly Olynyk | Gonzaga | 7′ 0 | Jr | 7.618624545 | |
| 19 | Marcus Smart | Oklahoma St. | 6′ 4″ | Fr | 7.498501783 | |
| 20 | Taylor Smith | Stephen F. Austin | 6′ 6″ | Sr | 7.467102544 | |
| 21 | Trevor Releford | Alabama | 6′ 0 | Jr | 7.389941237 | PG |
| 22 | Zeke Marshall | Akron | 7′ 0 | Sr | 7.3785265 | C |
| 23 | Shane Larkin | Miami FL | 5′ 11″ | So | 7.263374339 | |
| 24 | Spencer Dinwiddie | Colorado | 6′ 5″ | So | 7.244264127 | |
| 25 | Jack Cooley | Notre Dame | 6′ 9″ | Sr | 7.205615767 | PF |
Others: Below is an alphabetical list of the other players who have a Value Add of more than 6.5%, meaning they have impacted scores that much through a combination of adding points to their teams scores or preventing opponents from scoring. Most of the 4000 players in the country can be accessed through the database at www.valueaddbasketball.com, though the current Values appear here at Breitbart Sports up to 48 hours before the database is updated:
Jared Berggren, Wisconsin; Kenny Boynton, Florida; Ben Brust, Wisconsin; Reggie Bullock, North Carolina; Quinn Cook, Duke; Allen Crabbe, California; Matthew Dellavedova, St. Mary’s; Davante Gardner, Marquette; Elias Harris, Gonzaga; Joe Harris, Virginia; Richard Howell, North Carolina St.; Jordan Hulls, Indiana; Cory Jefferson, Baylor; Arsalan Kazemi, Oregon; Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati; Derrick Marks, Boise St.; Akil Mitchell, Virginia; Erik Murphy, Florida; Nerlens Noel, Kentucky; Jake Odum, Indiana St.; Romero Osby, Oklahoma; Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh; Juvonte Reddic, Virginia Commonwealth; Andre Roberson, Colorado; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio St.; Tray Woodall, Pittsburgh.
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