Christmas Gift: Wright Tops Ratings Heading into Tough Pac12 Play

Christmas Gift: Wright Tops Ratings Heading into Tough Pac12 Play

Delon Wright gave Utah the biggest Christmas gift this season. In the Utes’ three toughest games (BYU, Boise St. and Fresno St.) his average line has been an incredible 6-7 (2-pointers), 1-2 (3-pointers), 5-6 (FT), 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 steals PER GAME. Value Add calculates he has been the most valuable player in the country, and that the 10-1 Utes have been the 34th best team in the country with him and would be only the 160th best without him. (see top 100 players below)

Jordan Adams (UCLA), Sean Kilpatrick (Cincy) and Shabazz Napier (UConn) are chasing him for Player of the Year. The ratings of all 3500 or so players appear on www.valueaddbasketball.com after leaders are released by Breitbart Sports.

The Deseret News’ prediction early this year that Wright might be a top player this year could not have been more accurate. At the time the 6-foot-5 Wright who was not recruited after high school was playing for the City College of San Francisco. He told the newspaper he was a “last bloomer,” unlike his brother who is in his 10th year in the NBA in a career that started when he was 19.

“I’m really excited about coming down and playing for coach K,” Wright told the newspaper as he greeted Ute players after his signing. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

It turns out it was Coach K (Larry Krystowiak) who should have been looking forward to it even more.

Wright will now have to prove he can keep improving against a much-improved Pac-12, including games against six teams that would go to the NCAA tournament based on the ratings at www.kenpom.com (Arizona, Oregon, Cal, UCLA, Arizona State and Stanford). Utah was the 297th best team two years ago when they joined the Pac12, but the Utes and the conference are much better today.

The change in the way basketball games are called seems to have resulted in lower overall ratings for the top players (see separate post).

Rnk Player Team Ht Yr VA
1 Delon Wright Utah 6′ 5″ Jr 9.40
2 Kendrick Perry Youngstown St. 6′ 0 Sr 9.12
3 Jordan Adams UCLA 6′ 5″ So 8.89
4 Sean Kilpatrick Cincinnati 6′ 4″ Sr 8.61
5 Troy Huff North Dakota 6′ 5″ Sr 8.48
6 Shabazz Napier Connecticut 6′ 1″ Sr 8.43
7 Lamar Patterson Pittsburgh 6′ 5″ Sr 8.36
8 Jacob Parker Stephen F. Austin 6′ 6″ Jr 8.21
9 Brandon Edwards UT Arlington 6′ 6″ Sr 8.12
10 Kendall Williams New Mexico 6′ 4″ Sr 7.93
11 Brad Waldow Saint Mary’s 6′ 9″ Jr 7.85
12 Kevin Pangos Gonzaga 6′ 2″ Jr 7.69
13 Joseph Young Oregon 6′ 2″ Jr 7.68
14 Ron Baker Wichita St. 6′ 3″ So 7.66
15 Marcus Smart Oklahoma St. 6′ 4″ So 7.50
16 Tyler Ennis Syracuse 6′ 2″ Fr 7.41
17 Frank Kaminsky Wisconsin 7′ 0 Jr 7.35
18 Kareem Jamar Montana 6′ 5″ Sr 7.30
19 Larry Nance Wyoming 6′ 8″ Jr 7.14
20 Jerian Grant Notre Dame 6′ 5″ Jr 6.96
21 Cameron Bairstow New Mexico 6′ 9″ Sr 6.92
22 John Brown High Point 6′ 8″ So 6.91
23 Stephen Croone Furman 6′ 0 So 6.88
24 Shawn Long Louisiana Lafayette 6′ 9″ So 6.78
25 TJ Warren North Carolina St. 6′ 8″ So 6.77
26 Marcus Paige North Carolina 6′ 1″ So 6.74
27 Jeremy Ingram North Carolina Central 6′ 3″ Sr 6.65
28 Casey Prather Florida 6′ 6″ Sr 6.60
29 Juwan Staten West Virginia 6′ 1″ Jr 6.59
30 Taylor Braun North Dakota St. 6′ 7″ Sr 6.57
31 Spencer Dinwiddie Colorado 6′ 6″ Jr 6.55
32 Alan Williams UC Santa Barbara 6′ 7″ Jr 6.51
33 KJ McDaniels Clemson 6′ 6″ Jr 6.50
34 Joel Embiid Kansas 7′ 0 Fr 6.49
35 Jalan West Northwestern St. 5′ 10″ So 6.46
36 Jabari Parker Duke 6′ 8″ Fr 6.31
37 Jameel Warney Stony Brook 6′ 8″ So 6.27
38 Rayvonte Rice Illinois 6′ 4″ Jr 6.19
39 Shaq Goodwin Memphis 6′ 9″ So 6.18
40 Russ Smith Louisville 6′ 0 Sr 6.08
41 Willie Cauley-Stein Kentucky 7′ 0 So 6.03
42 Markel Brown Oklahoma St. 6′ 3″ Sr 6.02
43 Aaron Craft Ohio St. 6′ 2″ Sr 5.99
44 Trevor Cooney Syracuse 6′ 4″ So 5.99
45 Davion Berry Weber St. 6′ 4″ Sr 5.98
46 D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera Georgetown 6′ 3″ So 5.97
47 Anthony Hickey LSU 5′ 11″ Jr 5.92
48 Dylon Cormier Loyola MD 6′ 3″ Sr 5.90
49 Deonte Burton (Nevada) Nevada 6′ 1″ Sr 5.90
50 TaShawn Thomas Houston 6′ 8″ Jr 5.88
51 Nick Johnson Arizona 6′ 3″ Jr 5.87
52 George Beamon Manhattan 6′ 4″ Sr 5.86
53 David Nwaba Cal Poly 6′ 4″ So 5.85
54 Xavier Thames San Diego St. 6′ 3″ Sr 5.84
55 Adreian Payne Michigan St. 6′ 10″ Sr 5.79
56 Glenn Cosey Eastern Kentucky 6′ 0 Sr 5.78
57 Trevor Releford Alabama 6′ 0 Sr 5.72
58 Fred Van Vleet Wichita St. 5′ 11″ So 5.71
59 Langston Galloway Saint Joseph’s 6′ 2″ Sr 5.70
60 Tanner Samson Elon 6′ 4″ So 5.70
61 Joe Jackson Memphis 6′ 1″ Sr 5.68
62 Tymell Murphy FIU 6′ 5″ Sr 5.65
63 Austin Tillotson Colgate 6′ 0 So 5.65
64 Richard Carter Drake 5′ 11″ Sr 5.60
65 Jordan Bachynski Arizona St. 7′ 2″ Sr 5.59
66 Keifer Sykes Green Bay 5′ 11″ Jr 5.58
67 Javonte Green Radford 6′ 4″ Jr 5.58
68 Jordan McRae Tennessee 6′ 6″ Sr 5.57
69 Dalton Pepper Temple 6′ 5″ Sr 5.56
70 Elfrid Payton Louisiana Lafayette 6′ 3″ Jr 5.55
71 Richaun Holmes Bowling Green 6′ 8″ Jr 5.55
72 Michael Frazier Florida 6′ 4″ So 5.54
73 Jordan Clarkson Missouri 6′ 5″ Jr 5.53
74 Jamel Waters Alabama St. 5′ 9″ So 5.53
75 Scott Eatherton Northeastern 6′ 8″ Jr 5.53
76 Montrezl Harrell Louisville 6′ 8″ So 5.50
77 Josh Scott Colorado 6′ 10″ So 5.48
78 Cady Lalanne Massachusetts 6′ 10″ Jr 5.46
79 Javon McCrea Buffalo 6′ 7″ Sr 5.45
80 Billy Baron Canisius 6′ 2″ Sr 5.43
81 DaVonte Lacy Washington St. 6′ 4″ Jr 5.43
82 Dustin Hogue Iowa St. 6′ 6″ Jr 5.40
83 Wesley Saunders Harvard 6′ 5″ Jr 5.40
84 Karrington Ward Eastern Michigan 6′ 7″ Jr 5.39
85 Seth Hinrichs Lafayette 6′ 7″ Jr 5.39
86 Kyle Anderson (UCLA) UCLA 6′ 9″ So 5.38
87 Zaid Hearst Quinnipiac 6′ 4″ Jr 5.34
88 Jake Odum Indiana St. 6′ 4″ Sr 5.33
89 Doug McDermott Creighton 6′ 8″ Sr 5.32
90 Briante Weber VCU 6′ 2″ Jr 5.30
91 Quinn Cook Duke 6′ 2″ Jr 5.28
92 Cedrick Lindsay Richmond 6′ 1″ Sr 5.27
93 Anthony Ireland Loyola Marymount 5′ 10″ Sr 5.22
94 Chaz Williams Massachusetts 5′ 9″ Sr 5.20
95 Ben Brust Wisconsin 6′ 1″ Sr 5.20
96 Perry Ellis Kansas 6′ 8″ So 5.17
97 Khem Birch UNLV 6′ 9″ Jr 5.16
98 Shawn Jones Middle Tennessee 6′ 8″ Sr 5.14
99 Augustine Rubit South Alabama 6′ 7″ Sr 5.14
100 Roy Devyn Marble Iowa 6′ 6″ Sr 5.12

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.