No. 1 ranked Buddy Hield outscored No. 2 ranked Ben Simmons 32-14 to lead No. 1 Oklahoma to a last-second 77-75 road win at LSU.
Hopefully, the Panthers-Broncos Super Bowl next week will be closer than the 32-14 margin of Saturday’s college basketball “Super Bowl” matching the top two players in the country. Despite the margin, matching the best football conference against the best basketball conference, the contest between Oklahoma and LSU played as a midseason thriller.
Two of the top five teams in history—Kansas and Kentucky—matched up, but the real treat for Value Add basketball fans was the showdown of the top two players in the country.
As lopsided as the scoring between the two best players in the country looks, the game played out as a thriller. Yes, Hield was amazing again in hitting 8 of 15 three-pointers, including one with 1:49 left to finally give the Sooners the lead after trailing by double digits. But Simmons made 6 of 7 shots, dished five assists and grabbed nine rebounds to look every bit the No. 1 draft pick—including the incredible drive and reverse, over-the-head dunk at the beginning of ESPN’s highlights.
Hield came into the night calculating as worth 11.01 points per game to Oklahoma, so they almost certainly would have lost without him. Simmons should stay the clear No. 2, building on his 9.91 per/game point Value at the www.valueaddbasketball.com website. The Big 12 is the best conference, but the SEC once again has the most top players, including seven of the Top 40.
| Nat’l | SEC/B12 Top 50 | Team | Pts/Gm | NBA% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hield, Buddy 24 | Oklahoma | 11.01 | 57% |
| 2 | Simmons, Ben 25 | Louisiana St. | 9.91 | 96% |
| 7 | Punter, Kevin 0 | Tennessee | 9.12 | 0% |
| 9 | Morris, Monte 11 | Iowa St. | 9.06 | 59% |
| 11 | Frazier, JJ 30 | Georgia | 8.77 | 10% |
| 17 | Moody, Stefan 42 | Mississippi | 8.34 | 4% |
| 33 | Woodard, Jordan 10 | Oklahoma | 7.72 | 2% |
| 34 | Ware, Gavin 20 | Mississippi St. | 7.71 | 0% |
| 35 | Kingsley, Moses 33 | Arkansas | 7.7 | 10% |
| 38 | Ulis, Tyler 3 | Kentucky | 7.6 | 58% |
| 41 | Taylor, Isaiah 1 | Texas | 7.48 | 55% |
| 43 | Niang, Georges 31 | Iowa St. | 7.42 | 8% |
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.