NBA MVP Rankings - 30 Dec

The top 5 spots in the MVP race are all extremely close, with Jokic still holding a slight lead over the other 2 recent MVPs, while a couple of young newcomers are also in the conversation. Here are my current MVP and Rookie of the Year rankings, as well as 5 changes in the All-Time Player rankings:

Most Valuable Player

1 (1) Nikola Jokic - C - DEN

26.1 Pts (#13), 12.3 Reb (#1), 9.2 Ast (#3), 1.2 Stl, 0.8 Blk, .555 FG% (#15), .333 3P%, .817 FT%

2 (4) Giannis Antetokounmpo - PF - MIL

30.9 Pts (#4), 11.1 Reb (#6), 5.5 Ast, 1.3 Stl, 1.2 Blk, .608 FG% (#6), .216 3P%, .674 FT%

3 (2) Joel Embiid - C - PHI

35.0 Pts (#1), 11.7 Reb (#5), 6.0 Ast, 1.2 Stl, 2.0 Blk (#9), .540 FG% (#19), .350 3P%, .893 FT% (#10)

4 (3) Luka Doncic - PG - DAL

33.7 Pts (#2), 8.4 Reb (#20), 9.2 Ast (#4), 1.4 Stl (#12), 0.6 Blk, .489 FG%, .384 3P%, .785 FT%

5 (5) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - PG - OKC

31.4 Pts (#3), 5.7 Reb, 6.3 Ast (#16), 2.7 Stl (#1), 0.8 Blk, .548 FG% (#17), .313 3P%, .913 FT% (#5)

6 (6) Tyrese Haliburton - PG - IND

24.7 Pts (#20), 4.0 Reb, 12.4 Ast (#1), 1.0 Stl, 0.6 Blk, .502 FG%, .423 3P%, .847 FT%

7 (8) Trae Young - PG - ATL

27.9 Pts (#8), 3.0 Reb, 11.2 Ast (#2), 1.4 Stl (#11), 0.2 Blk, .432 FG%, .381 3P%, .870 FT%

8 (7) LeBron James - PF - LAL

25.1 Pts (#17), 7.6 Reb, 7.4 Ast (#10), 1.4 Stl (#14), 0.7 Blk, .539 FG%, .413 3P%, .744 FT%

9 (NR) Damian Lillard - PG - MIL

25.9 Pts (#15), 4.4 Reb, 6.8 Ast (#13), 1.0 Stl, 0.2 Blk, .439 FG%, .374 3P%, .922 FT% (#4)

10 (9) Anthony Davis - C - LAL

24.9 Pts (#19), 12.3 Reb (#2), 3.1 Ast, 1.1 Stl, 2.5 Blk (#5), .548 FG% (#16), .393 3P%, .809 FT%

Honorable Mention - Domantas Sabonis - C - SAC, Jayson Tatum - PF - BOS, Tyrese Maxey - PG - PHI, Kevin Durant - PF - PHX, Anthony Edwards - SG - MIN, De'Aaron Fox - PG - SAC

Rookie of the Year

1 (1) Victor Wembanyama - PF - SAS

18.8 Pts, 10.4 Reb (#9), 3.0 Ast, 1.3 Stl, 3.2 Blk (#1), .440 FG%, .285 3P%, .790 FT%

2 (2) Chet Holmgren - C - OKC

17.7 Pts, 7.7 Reb, 2.5 Ast, 0.7 Stl, 2.7 Blk (#3), .539 FG%, .392 3P%, .844 FT%

3 (3) Dereck Lively II - C - DAL

8.9 Pts, 7.5 Reb, 1.2 Ast, 0.6 Stl, 1.5 Blk (#15), .734 FG%, .000 3P%, .538 FT%

4 (5) Keyonte George - PG - UTA

10.6 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 5.0 Ast, 0.5 Stl, 0.1 Blk, .355 FG%, .318 3P%, .763 FT%

5 (4) Ausar Thompson - SF - DET

9.3 Pts, 7.4 Reb, 2.3 Ast, 0.9 Stl, 1.1 Blk, .461 FG%, .158 3P%, .695 FT%

All-Time Player Rank Changes

James Harden has passed Oscar Robertson to move up to #21

Giannis Antetokounmpo has passed Patrick Ewing to move up to #34

Nikola Jokic has passed Rick Barry to move up to #37

Kawhi Leonard has passed Reggie Miller to move up to #62

Joel Embiid has passed Shawn Kemp, Walter Davis, and Vince Carter to move up to #95

NFL Predictions - 28 Dec thru 31 Dec

Upset picks are in italics.

Thursday

NY Jets at Cleveland - Browns by 10.5

Saturday

Detroit at Dallas - Cowboys by 5.5

Sunday

Arizona at Philadelphia - Eagles by 11.5

New England at Buffalo - Bills by 14.5

Atlanta at Chicago - Bulls by 2.5

Las Vegas at Indianapolis - Colts by 2.5

LA Rams at NY Giants - Rams by 8.5

New Orleans at Tampa Bay - Buccaneers by 4.5

San Francisco at Washington - 49ers by 18

Carolina at Jacksonville - Jaguars by 12.5

Miami at Baltimore - Ravens by 8

Tennessee at Houston - Texans by 4

Pittsburgh at Seattle - Seahawks by 4

LA Chargers at Denver - Broncos by 1.5

Cincinnati at Kansas City - Chiefs by 6

Green Bay at Minnesota - Vikings by 4

Results

NFL: 9-7 (.563) 143-97 overall (.596)

Upsets: 0-3 (.000) 19-34 overall (.358)

NCAA Basketball Rankings - 25 Dec

There is a new #1 team in the land this week, after Arizona suffered a loss for the second week in a row, dropping them to #2 this week, with the undefeated Houston Cougars taking over at the top. FAU entered the top 10 after beating Arizona, with Iowa State also scooting up a couple of spots to join the owls among the elite. Here are my full current rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L
1	2	Houston	-19.54	12	0
2	1	Arizona	-19.4	9	2
3	3	Purdue	-18.51	11	1
4	4	BYU	-17.09	11	1
5	7	Illinois	-15.29	9	2
6	10	Tennessee	-14.3	9	3
7	5	UConn	-14.29	11	2
8	9	Auburn	-14.03	9	2
9	11	Iowa State	-13.9	10	2
10	14	Florida Atlantic	-13.77	10	2
11	6	Marquette	-13.63	10	3
12	12	Clemson	-13.47	10	1
13	8	Princeton	-13.02	11	1
14	27	North Carolina	-12.85	8	3
15	17	Colorado State	-12.79	11	1
16	22	Duke	-12.67	8	3
17	16	Alabama	-12.58	7	5
18	37	Villanova	-12.3	9	4
19	13	Oklahoma	-12.26	10	1
20	21	James Madison	-12.21	12	0
21	20	Wisconsin	-12.13	9	3
22	30	Colorado	-11.94	9	2
23	15	Creighton	-11.88	9	3
24	25	New Mexico	-11.73	11	1
25	38	Kentucky	-11.71	9	2
26	26	Mississippi St	-11.64	10	2
27	19	Texas A&M	-11.53	8	4
28	28	TCU	-11.32	10	2
29	40	Dayton	-11.23	9	2
30	39	Utah	-11.13	9	2
31	18	UC Irvine	-11.12	7	5
32	24	Indiana State	-11.09	11	1
33	36	Ohio State	-10.95	10	2
34	29	Gonzaga	-10.92	9	3
35	33	Kansas	-10.75	11	1
36	42	Florida	-10.67	9	3
37	23	Memphis	-10.53	10	2
38	31	Cincinnati	-10.49	10	2
39	47	Michigan State	-10.38	7	5
40	32	Utah State	-10.35	12	1
41	60	Nevada	-10.03	12	1
42	41	Baylor	-9.71	10	2
43	35	Grand Canyon	-9.647	10	1
44	34	San Diego State	-9.557	10	2
45	48	McNeese	-8.982	10	2
46	44	Louisiana Tech	-8.944	9	4
47	63	Liberty	-8.86	10	3
48	53	San Francisco	-8.785	10	4
49	84	St. John's	-8.498	8	4
50	86	SMU	-8.483	9	4
51	49	Washington	-8.436	8	3
52	46	Texas	-8.419	9	2
53	56	Washington St	-8.404	9	2
54	74	Wake Forest	-8.335	8	3
55	51	Michigan	-8.33	6	6
56	82	UMass	-8.301	8	3
57	66	Pittsburgh	-8.222	9	3
58	45	Virginia	-8.168	9	2
59	55	Iowa	-7.921	7	5
60	61	Xavier	-7.776	7	6
61	73	UMass Lowell	-7.73	8	4
62	90	USC	-7.725	6	5
63	59	Saint Joseph's	-7.671	9	3
64	71	UNC Wilmington	-7.653	9	2
65	62	Texas Tech	-7.649	9	2
66	68	Cornell	-7.634	9	2
67	52	Evansville	-7.553	10	2
68	85	Providence	-7.542	11	2
69	58	Fort Wayne	-7.272	11	2
70	57	Longwood	-7.252	12	2
71	43	Appalachian St	-7.217	9	3
72	77	Virginia Tech	-7.086	9	3
73	70	Drake	-7.049	11	2
74	125	Samford	-7.042	11	2
75	75	South Carolina	-6.963	11	1
76	64	Nebraska	-6.771	10	2
77	65	Marist	-6.714	7	3
78	87	Boston College	-6.622	9	3
79	88	Oregon	-6.577	8	3
80	67	Syracuse	-6.486	9	3
81	69	Rutgers	-6.403	7	4
82	50	Duquesne	-6.309	8	3
83	79	Butler	-6.249	10	3
84	100	St. Bonaventure	-6.157	8	3
85	89	High Point	-6.023	10	4
86	91	Weber State	-6.001	7	4
87	78	West Carolina	-5.953	10	2
88	104	Missouri State	-5.934	9	4
89	80	NC State	-5.931	9	3
90	83	Hofstra	-5.765	7	5
91	54	Delaware	-5.757	8	4
92	111	Ole Miss	-5.713	12	0
93	93	Minnesota	-5.673	9	3
94	98	UCF	-5.38	8	3
95	107	Northwestern	-5.292	9	2
96	81	Drexel	-5.145	7	6
97	72	Oakland	-5.122	6	7
98	113	Saint Mary's	-5.101	8	6
99	97	Youngstown St	-5.072	10	3
100	103	Southern Illinois	-5.051	8	4
101	76	Richmond	-5.047	7	5
102	95	George Mason	-5.031	10	2
103	106	Yale	-4.966	7	6
104	143	Louisiana	-4.945	7	5
105	120	Miami	-4.908	9	2
106	105	Morehead State	-4.895	9	4
107	128	Northern Iowa	-4.882	6	7
108	133	Maryland	-4.803	8	4
109	139	North Texas	-4.693	6	5
110	119	Seton Hall	-4.615	8	5
111	170	Vermont	-4.604	9	5
112	117	Radford	-4.593	10	4
113	92	Akron	-4.358	8	3
114	123	Canisius	-4.305	6	6
115	112	Charlotte	-4.214	6	5
116	122	Boise State	-4.12	8	4
117	196	Jacksonville St	-4.112	6	7
118	130	New Hampshire	-4.099	8	4
119	136	Northeastern	-4.043	5	7
120	114	Long Beach St	-3.936	8	4
121	94	UIC	-3.927	7	5
122	160	Montana	-3.847	7	4
123	102	Davidson	-3.841	9	3
124	145	Florida State	-3.777	6	5
125	151	Santa Clara	-3.769	9	5
126	124	UNC Greensboro	-3.763	9	3
127	99	Texas State	-3.751	6	6
128	108	Oklahoma St	-3.641	6	5
129	134	Winthrop	-3.564	8	6
130	155	UNLV	-3.562	5	5
131	179	Stetson	-3.515	7	6
132	132	Seattle	-3.446	7	5
133	101	Tulane	-3.442	8	3
134	131	Arkansas	-3.425	8	4
135	181	The Citadel	-3.409	7	5
136	138	VCU	-3.33	7	5
137	153	Bryant	-3.322	8	6
138	152	Kansas State	-3.283	9	3
139	121	Missouri	-3.271	7	5
140	135	Lipscomb	-3.226	8	6
141	186	Eastern Wash	-3.191	4	7
142	109	Stephen F Austin	-3.156	7	5
143	178	Georgia	-3.072	9	3
144	171	CSU Northridge	-2.947	9	3
145	206	Georgia Tech	-2.904	8	4
146	141	St. Thomas	-2.903	8	5
147	118	Colgate	-2.852	6	6
148	115	Maine	-2.818	8	6
149	137	Southern	-2.794	5	7
150	110	Denver	-2.709	8	5
151	116	Harvard	-2.684	8	3
152	147	Kent State	-2.493	7	4
153	146	Belmont	-2.483	9	4
154	157	Portland State	-2.459	9	3
155	127	Tarleton	-2.425	8	4
156	169	Penn State	-2.423	6	6
157	140	Wichita State	-2.372	8	4
158	175	Wofford	-2.36	6	6
159	190	South Florida	-2.273	6	4
160	149	Bradley	-2.269	7	5
161	162	Kennesaw St	-2.198	9	4
162	164	San Jose State	-2.117	7	6
163	165	Indiana	-2.084	9	3
164	96	UCLA	-2.077	5	6
165	222	Fairfield	-2.013	6	6
166	188	Mt. St. Mary's	-1.979	5	7
167	215	Norfolk State	-1.919	9	6
168	180	West Kentucky	-1.915	10	3
169	183	Stanford	-1.905	5	5
170	194	N Carolina Cent	-1.887	7	7
171	232	UC San Diego	-1.807	6	6
172	156	Charleston	-1.735	8	4
173	266	Quinnipiac	-1.723	9	3
174	172	Georgia State	-1.589	5	6
175	208	Merrimack	-1.58	6	7
176	184	Central Conn	-1.576	5	7
177	167	Cleveland State	-1.498	8	5
178	148	Southern Utah	-1.497	4	8
179	163	Columbia	-1.464	8	3
180	212	LSU	-1.441	7	5
181	150	UT Arlington	-1.406	6	6
182	174	Loyola Marymount	-1.251	7	6
183	197	Furman	-1.249	6	6
184	159	Chattanooga	-1.199	8	4
185	213	Penn	-1.072	8	5
186	168	Boston U	-1.064	4	8
187	199	UC Santa Barbara	-1.016	7	3
188	195	Albany	-0.959	7	6
189	203	Wright State	-0.942	6	6
190	161	George Washington	-0.873	10	2
191	129	North Illinois	-0.867	6	5
192	173	Troy	-0.775	6	6
193	187	Tulsa	-0.769	8	3
194	237	Iona	-0.726	5	7
195	224	UNC Asheville	-0.674	8	6
196	211	Nicholls	-0.659	4	8
197	142	Saint Peter's	-0.614	5	5
198	154	Air Force	-0.594	7	5
199	216	East Tennessee St	-0.584	7	5
200	198	Howard	-0.555	4	9
201	207	Ohio	-0.515	6	5
202	126	Toledo	-0.492	6	6
203	210	North Dakota St	-0.348	7	6
204	202	Loyola-Chicago	-0.347	7	5
205	204	North Alabama	-0.335	6	7
206	189	Monmouth	-0.288	7	5
207	166	Prairie View A&M	-0.235	5	6
208	176	North Kentucky	-0.223	7	6
209	217	Sam Houston St	-0.214	6	7
210	191	Bowling Green	-0.174	9	3
211	231	Towson	-0.145	6	6
212	221	Arkansas State	-0.086	4	8
213	144	Lamar	-0.079	5	7
214	177	North Arizona	-0.074	6	6
215	226	La Salle	-0.052	9	3
216	219	Utah Tech	0.0247	5	7
217	205	Rice	0.0972	6	7
218	248	Western Illinois	0.1859	7	6
219	201	Arizona State	0.204	6	5
220	185	Idaho State	0.2299	4	7
221	240	Navy	0.256	3	7
222	182	Binghamton	0.2957	7	5
223	192	UT Martin	0.3227	7	6
224	241	North Dakota	0.3784	8	5
225	234	Texas A&M-CC	0.4128	6	6
226	209	Utah Valley	0.6577	6	6
227	257	Gardner-Webb	0.6713	5	9
228	223	Miami (OH)	0.6791	5	6
229	236	Jacksonville	0.7342	8	5
230	158	Temple	0.8236	7	6
231	229	Ball State	0.8937	8	4
232	247	Georgetown	0.9148	7	6
233	284	North Colorado	1.0205	5	6
234	200	Hawaii	1.032	8	4
235	261	Wyoming	1.0486	7	5
236	220	Bellarmine	1.0827	4	10
237	245	UL Monroe	1.0841	4	6
238	279	Incarnate Word	1.0862	4	7
239	238	Jackson State	1.1204	4	8
240	250	Tennessee St	1.1237	7	6
241	242	Stony Brook	1.1355	6	6
242	228	CSU Fullerton	1.2082	7	5
243	258	SIU-Edwardsville	1.2948	7	6
244	233	Omaha	1.3238	6	7
245	235	Austin Peay	1.4426	7	7
246	218	Oral Roberts	1.4438	5	6
247	260	Illinois State	1.4821	8	4
248	249	Abilene Christian	1.5063	5	7
249	255	UTEP	1.5704	8	5
250	227	Marshall	1.5795	5	8
251	256	Green Bay	1.5813	6	7
252	297	East Carolina	1.5865	7	5
253	239	New Orleans	1.5871	5	7
254	193	South Dakota St	1.6106	6	7
255	252	Elon	1.6415	6	6
256	214	Delaware State	1.8161	6	9
257	244	Cal Baptist	1.8332	7	4
258	251	UMKC	1.8669	5	8
259	225	Brown	1.886	4	9
260	298	S Carolina Upstate	1.9123	4	8
261	283	Texas A&M-Com	2.0595	6	6
262	281	CSU Bakersfield	2.0607	5	6
263	243	South Dakota	2.0681	7	6
264	274	Lehigh	2.0844	2	8
265	288	Rider	2.1016	3	9
266	262	Idaho	2.1259	6	6
267	253	Alabama State	2.2403	4	7
268	246	SE Louisiana	2.2583	4	8
269	295	West Virginia	2.2836	5	7
270	285	Saint Louis	2.3171	7	6
271	268	American	2.3768	5	7
272	275	California	2.4057	4	7
273	272	Le Moyne	2.4323	5	8
274	280	Bethune-Cookman	2.5374	5	6
275	271	Presbyterian	2.5801	7	7
276	276	Southern Miss	2.5893	6	6
277	291	UC Riverside	2.611	5	7
278	286	Sacred Heart	2.6956	5	9
279	294	UAB	2.705	7	5
280	277	Eastern Illinois	2.7739	6	7
281	278	Fordham	2.8087	5	7
282	259	UC Davis	2.8418	5	6
283	254	Queens	2.9733	6	8
284	265	Rhode Island	3.0405	5	7
285	282	San Diego	3.0799	9	4
286	270	William & Mary	3.1261	5	7
287	290	Bucknell	3.236	3	9
288	289	Eastern Kentucky	3.3095	4	8
289	292	Old Dominion	3.3508	4	8
290	296	Robert Morris	3.3703	4	9
291	316	New Mexico St	3.3934	5	9
292	309	Wagner	3.4753	5	6
293	303	Manhattan	3.4998	4	6
294	230	Murray State	3.5836	3	9
295	300	Campbell	3.5987	6	6
296	301	Pepperdine	3.6842	6	8
297	299	North Florida	3.7518	7	7
298	269	Notre Dame	3.7727	5	7
299	302	Fresno State	3.9047	6	6
300	287	Florida Intl	3.9211	5	9
301	312	South Alabama	3.9466	7	5
302	311	Oregon State	3.9616	8	3
303	307	Florida Gulf Coast	4.0638	5	9
304	264	UT San Antonio	4.1294	5	7
305	263	Texas Southern	4.2088	1	9
306	267	Sacramento St	4.3727	3	8
307	310	Montana State	4.3837	5	6
308	321	Dartmouth	4.4101	4	8
309	304	Lindenwood	4.4898	6	7
310	305	Portland	4.5703	6	9
311	319	Grambling	4.657	2	10
312	320	Ark-Pine Bluff	4.7765	5	8
313	315	Loyola (MD)	4.7846	2	10
314	317	Milwaukee	4.7974	5	7
315	323	Hampton	4.8162	4	8
316	273	Little Rock	4.9008	6	7
317	335	Army	5.1342	3	9
318	293	Fairleigh Dickinson	5.1513	6	7
319	324	Central Michigan	5.2322	5	6
320	308	Eastern Michigan	5.2727	6	5
321	318	Morgan State	5.3055	4	10
322	306	Louisville	5.4731	5	7
323	314	VMI	5.516	3	10
324	313	Tennessee Tech	5.5294	5	8
325	322	Cal Poly	5.7212	4	8
326	334	Charleston South	5.8183	4	8
327	325	Chicago State	5.885	7	10
328	337	Alcorn State	6.0475	1	12
329	344	Mercer	6.1113	6	6
330	328	Mid Tennessee	6.1212	5	8
331	331	UMBC	6.3468	5	9
332	333	West Michigan	6.379	2	9
333	326	Houston Baptist	6.6969	2	9
334	341	Florida A&M	6.7267	2	8
335	339	Southern Indiana	6.8811	3	10
336	353	Vanderbilt	6.9344	4	8
337	329	Valparaiso	6.9992	4	8
338	332	UT Rio Grande	7.0152	3	9
339	350	Niagara	7.0683	3	8
340	347	South Carolina St	7.1349	4	10
341	336	St. Francis (PA)	7.1436	4	8
342	327	Long Island	7.3844	1	10
343	330	SE Missouri St	7.4218	4	8
344	346	NJIT	7.455	3	8
345	340	Georgia Southern	8.1116	0	12
346	343	Stonehill	8.1795	2	12
347	352	N Carolina A&T	8.4968	2	10
348	345	Detroit Mercy	8.5094	0	13
349	348	Northwestern St	8.8074	2	10
350	338	DePaul	8.8595	2	9
351	342	Central Arkansas	8.9875	3	10
352	351	Holy Cross	9.0849	2	10
353	354	Maryland-E Shore	10.073	2	8
354	355	Miss Valley St	10.521	0	12
355	356	Coastal Carolina	10.566	3	8
356	349	Lafayette	10.8	1	11
357	357	Pacific	10.913	5	9
358	358	Coppin State	11.526	1	12
359	359	Alabama A&M	11.993	1	11
360	361	Buffalo	12.31	1	10
361	360	IUPUI	12.488	4	9
362	362	Siena	14.844	2	10