MU 192nd Best Team in US Without Fischer; Fischer Deserves All-Big East

Luke Fischer elevates Marquette from being the 192nd best team in basketball to being the 96th best team according to the Value Add team rankings.

Nat'l	Big East	Off	Def	Value Add
1	Villanova	33.41	-13	46.41
20	Xavier	30.81	-9.59	40.4
32	Creighton	29.71	-5.21	34.92
34	Butler	34.11	-0.34	34.45
45	Seton Hall	25.49	-7.2	32.69
50	Providence	22.49	-9.41	31.9
52	Georgetown	26.7	-5.1	31.8
96	Marquette	20	-6.79	26.79
192	MU w/o Fischer	12.57	-5.96	18.53
153	DePaul	20.71	-1.21	21.92
282	St. John's	7.79	-1.15	8.94

MU's Offensive Efficiency Rating of 101.0 points per 100 trips at www.kenpom.com would be 93.57 if Fischer were not on the team - meaning MU would nudge out Alabama State (who beat Buzz) as the 325th best offense in the country without Fischer's 7.43 Offensive Value Add.

I focus on this not to state the obvious that the very inexperienced team is struggling - but rather to point out that if we are going to base All-Big East voting on how much each player improves his team - his Value Add in my terms - then Fischer should be the All-Big East center.

I feel like I am flashing back to trying to convince people early in Jae Crowder's senior season that he was BY FAR Marquette's best player, only to have people push back. Fischer is not Crowder, BUT he is the second Value Add Top 100 player we have had since Crowder. The one thing I always beg readers is to look at the mistakes - missed shots and turnovers - as much as you look at the positive items, and in the last four games Fischer has been astoundingly good on both fronts.

Value Add	Last 4 Games	Made Shots	Missed Shots	Assists	Turnovers
91	Fischer, Luke	18	7	7	4
328	Ellenson, Henry	23	24	6	13

We do not focus on assists to turnovers for big men as we do for guards, but the number of times a big man can kick the ball back out for a three-pointer versus being stripped once catching the ball is huge. Fischer is almost 2-to-1 at 7-to-4, while we see how the great Ellenson is the reverse during those four games with six assists and 13 turnovers. This is just freshman stuff - it will all be cured so that he can maximize his incredible talent, but right now he is a freshman.

Ellenson's shooting has improved during the four games - during which time his eFG% is over 50% even while his overall FG% is slightly under by one shot. However, can we focus on the fact that Fischer has missed SEVEN shots in four games. He is shooting 72% against four Big East teams - unbelievable.

Fischer is in the Top 100 - worth 6.39 points to Marquette's victory margin - and he is now the sixth most valuable player in the Big East and passed Daniel Ochefu as the top center in the conference. He deserves All-Big East recognition, but that is really hard to get when you have a more talented teammate like Ellenson and a slumping team that is struggling to stay in the Top 100 of 351 teams while you are staying in the top 100 of 4000+ players.

Ellenson currently ranks as the top freshman in the conference at 328th overall. He would lead the All-Freshman Big East team comprised of Villanovas Mikal Bridges (330th) and Jalen Brunson (437th), Creighton's Khyri Thomas (539th) and 6-foot-11 Yankuba Sima (583rd), who will not be on the court tonight for St. John's due to a fractured hand.

Nat'l	Big East Top 5; MU	Team	Class	Off	Def	Value Add	NBA%
21	Hart, Josh 3	Villanova	3 Jr	7.83	-2.97	8.13	26%
46	Bentil, Ben 0	Providence	2 So	7.53	-2.19	7.39
50	Smith-Rivera, D'Vauntes 4	Georgetown	4 Sr	8.09	-1.21	7.33
55	Dunn, Kris 3	Providence	3 Jr	5.01	-4.02	7.14	95%
68	Arcidiacono, Ryan 15	Villanova	4 Sr	6.79	-1.69	6.74
91	Fischer, Luke 40	Marquette	3 Jr	7.43	-0.83	6.39
328	Ellenson, Henry 13	Marquette	1 Fr	3.02	-2.51	4.5	92%
541	Cohen, Sandy 5	Marquette	2 So	3.35	-0.85	3.59
647	Wilson, Duane 1	Marquette	2 So	2.91	-0.57	3.18
964	Johnson, JaJuan 23	Marquette	3 Jr	1.38	-0.91	2.28
1096	Cheatham, Haanif 25	Marquette	1 Fr	1.43	-0.36	1.98
1357	Carter, Traci 21	Marquette	1 Fr	0	-1.1	1.48
1524	Ellenson, Wally 22	Marquette	3 Jr	0.37	-0.41	1.23
1907	Anim, Sacar 2	Marquette	1 Fr	0.11	0.39	0.74
2021	Heldt, Matt 12	Marquette	1 Fr	0	0.36	0.7