Best Racer team ever? (Or at least in the 3-point era)

Ever wondered which Racer basketball team was the best ever? It's fun to ponder but I wanted to take it a step further. How would a tournament of all-time great Racer teams play out if we could somehow get them on the court, in their primes, to find out. Thanks to the computer, we can.  

(Follow the tourney here.)

Sports simulation games have been a hobby of mine since I was a child. Some of you may have played such games yourself. Many of you, I’m sure, have played Strat-O-Matic or similar games sometime in your lives. The beauty of those games is the statistical accuracy: Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds will hit about the same number of home runs as they actually did if you play out a season, for example. While video games like Playstation try to achieve accuracy as well, the guy who handles his controller better will usually come out on top. I wanted to avoid that so I used a text-based computer simulation game for my virtual Racer tournament, a game called ActionPC Basketball (www.dksports.com).

I chose Action not only because of its statistical accuracy, but because it also allows you to create your own teams if you have the proper stats available. Because complete stats get a little iffy before 1980, I decided to include only the best Racer teams of the past 25 years, the Golden Era of Racer basketball, if you will. I also included only teams that played with the 3-point shot, because it seems there would be an unfair advantage for older teams playing a modern team that had the three as an important part of its offense. If I included the 3-point shot in games involving the older teams, I had no way of knowing who on those older teams could have shot the three without any data from the early years.

Also, I started closely following Racer basketball during the 1982-83 season, so I’m pretty familiar with these teams. Maybe you would have picked different teams for this virtual tournament, but I think the ones I selected are pretty representative of the best of the last 25 years.

So here are the eight Racer teams I selected for the tournament, in chronological order:

1982-83

Record: 21-8; Coach: Ron Greene

Leading scorers: Glen Green (20.1), Lamont Sleets (16.9), Ricky Hood (16.7)

Leading rebounder: Hood (10.2)

Leading assists: Sleets (4.0)

While this is the only team in the field not to make the NCAA tournament, it was the first Racer team to play with the 3-point shot, an experimental rule in 1982-83. I also thought a Ron Greene-coached team needed to be in the field. This team started the season 14-1 even after losing starting power forward Vada Martin (6.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg) at the semester break due to academics. It won Alabama-Birmingham’s invitational and seemed a lock to end MSU’s 14-year NCAA tournament appearance drought only to lose a shocking 65-61 OVC tournament semifinal to Akron in Murray. The team was selected to host a National Invitation Tournament game for the only time in Racer history, only to fall 87-80 to Wake Forest.

1987-88

Record: 22-9; Coach: Steve Newton

Leading scorers: Jeff Martin (26.0), Don Mann (17.7), Carl Sias (8.7)

Leading rebounder: Chris Ogden (6.8)

Leading assists: Mann (6.0)

Perhaps MSU’s most well-known team for beating North Carolina State in the NCAA tournament, the Racers’ only victory in the Big Dance, and then giving eventual champion Kansas its closest game in the tournament. The team started the season only 6-7, including an overtime loss at Memphis, but would go on a 15-1 run entering the NCAA tournament. Jeff Martin was among the nation’s leading scorers, and military veteran Carl Sias, a 6-foot-8 center in his only year in a Racer uniform, solidified the inside game.

1990-91

Record: 24-9; Coach: Steve Newton

Leading scorers: Popeye Jones (20.2), Frank Allen (14.1), Greg Coble (13.7)

Leading rebounder: Jones (14.2)

Leading assists: Coble (3.6)

The team started the season winning the Puerto Rico Classic, topping Nebraska in the final, and would open the season 9-2. It won its final nine games entering the NCAA tournament where it fell to Alabama. Popeye Jones led the nation in rebounding, and John “Tree” Jackson provided inside help in a three-guard offense featuring Frank Allen, Greg Coble and Paul King.

1994-95

Record: 21-9; Coach: Scott Edgar

Leading scorers: Marcus Brown (22.4), Vincent Rainey (18.8), William Moore (14.7)

Leading rebounder: Rainey (6.1)

Leading assists: Moore (3.3)

An argument could be made that the 1993-94 team (23-6) was better, but it didn’t make the NCAA field as this one did. This team opened the season with a school record 138 points and exceeded 100 points in six of its first 10 games and went on to average almost 87 points a game. Marcus Brown, Vincent Rainey and William Moore rained 153 threes on opponents and played North Carolina tough in the NCAA tournament.

1997-98

Record: 29-4: Coach: Mark Gottfried

Leading scorers: De’Teri Mayes (21.5), Isaac Spencer (13.8), Chad Townsend (13.8)

Leading rebounder: Spencer (8.3)

Leading assists: Townsend (5.2)

Perhaps the favorite entering this tournament, as it entered the NCAA field seeded ninth and ranked 25^th by the Associated Press, MSU’s first ranked team in 27 years. Along the way, it beat Arkansas and Iowa State at the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic and won 16 of 17 games entering the OVC tournament. After sweeping through three one-sided OVC tourney games, it fell to a red-hot Rhode Island team in the NCAA tournament.

1998-99

Record: 27-6; Coach: Tevester Anderson

Leading scorers: Isaac Spencer (16.0), Aubrey Reese (14.7), Rod Murray (12.3)

Leading rebounder: Spencer (7.1)

Leading assists: Reese (4.9)

I didn’t want to have two teams so close together but how could I leave out this 27-win squad? This team started the season 9-0, including a win at Oklahoma, and entered the NCAA tournament fresh off the momentum of Aubrey Reese game-winning shot against Southeast Missouri in the OVC championship game. But top-scorer Isaac Spencer went down with an injury early in the NCAA game against Ohio State and MSU never recovered.

2003-04

Record: 28-6; Coach: Mick Cronin

Leading scorers: Cuthbert Victor (14.6), Kelvin Brown (12.7), Chris Shumate (11.7)

Leading rebounder: Victor (10.2)

Leading assists: Adam Chiles (4.6)

Tevester Anderson left a full plate for rookie coach Mick Cronin and he made the most of it. This team opened the season with eight straight wins, including a 94-54 shellacking of Southern Mississippi. It would score a school record 224 3-pointers and had five players averaging in double-figure scoring. Late season discipline issues distracted the team as it fell to Illinois in the NCAA tournament.

2005-06

Record: 24-7; Coach: Mick Cronin

Leading scorers: Shawn Witherspoon (10.6), Trey Pearson (10.3), Darnell Hopkins (9.0)

Leading rebounder: Witherspoon  (7.7)

Leading assists: Keith Jenifer (3.4)

This team opened the season with an overtime loss at Cincinnati and took off after a one-sided win over Rice just before the new year. It won 19 of 21 games entering the NCAA tournament, where it dropped a close contest to North Carolina, even after leading scorer and rebounder Shawn Witherspoon was lost after a first-half injury.

So that’s the field. Who will win? I’ll post reports and boxscores over the next few days. Hope you have fun following along.