Challenges in College RAPM Estimation
1) Sparse Data Sets : College-level possession data is significantly limited; even in the best-case scenarios, we are often working with only ~2,500 possessions.
2) Most other RAPM with Opinionated Priors are wrong: Many existing college RAPM estimates are fundamentally flawed because they use non-diffuse priors. These priors tend to use BPM derived metrics as as opposed to allowing the data to speak for itself.
3) High Statistical Noise: Due to the shorter season and limited lineup rotations, college RAPM is inherently noisier than its NBA counterparts.
4) Non-Standard Data: RAPM requires scraping of possession by possession level data. I scraped data from 860,625 possessions, over 6,135 Div games with 4,894 college players to calculate this for the very good people of RealGM.
5) Lack of Standardized Estimators: Because of the technical and conceptual hurdles mentioned above, "proper" college RAPM is rarely produced, making it a difficult metric to calculate accurately.
Here are the top 50 players; some class labels may be wrong in case that player played Div II/JUCO. You can blame ESPN for this as their API doesn't correctly label class. I manually overwrote Yexel fyi.
Code: Select all
# Player Yr RAPM Poss
--------------------------------------------------
1 MJ Collins Jr. Sr +5.95 2,497
2 Keaton Wagler Fr +5.39 2,558
3 Yaxel Lendeborg Gr +5.39 2,422
4 Cameron Boozer Fr +4.64 2,663
5 Ja'Kobi Gillespie Sr +4.56 2,653
6 Henri Veesaar Sr +4.55 2,325
7 Bennett Stirtz So +4.54 2,848
8 Greedy Williams Sr +4.51 2,166
9 Rafael Castro Sr +4.43 1,772
10 Joshua Jefferson Sr +4.43 2,724
11 Devin McGlockton Sr +4.39 2,093
12 Johann Grunloh Fr +4.36 1,513
13 Motiejus Krivas Jr +4.31 2,118
14 C.J. Cox So +4.29 1,984
15 Mark Mitchell Sr +4.27 2,615
16 Cameron Carr Jr +4.18 2,549
17 Rueben Chinyelu Jr +4.17 2,257
18 Alex Karaban Sr +4.17 2,465
19 Armani Mighty Sr +4.13 2,415
20 Joshua Dent So +4.11 2,644
21 Aday Mara Jr +4.10 1,909
22 Paulius Murauskas Jr +4.10 2,440
23 Houston Mallette Gr +4.08 1,805
24 Oscar Cluff Jr +4.06 1,966
25 Nolan Winter Jr +4.02 2,121
26 Duke Brennan Sr +3.97 2,126
27 Chris Cenac Jr. Fr +3.96 2,015
28 Jaxon Kohler Sr +3.90 2,081
29 Mario Saint-Supery Fr +3.87 1,804
30 Baba Miller Sr +3.85 2,440
31 Boogie Fland So +3.81 2,616
32 David Green Jr +3.81 1,979
33 Caleb Wilson Fr +3.78 1,871
34 Evan Mahaffey Sr +3.78 2,188
35 Brayden Burries Fr +3.77 2,582
36 Quentin Jones Jr +3.73 2,092
37 Themus Fulks Gr +3.72 2,589
38 Somtochukwu Cyril So +3.70 1,832
39 Pablo Tamba Gr +3.66 2,111
40 Tyon Grant-Foster Gr +3.63 1,759
41 Braden Smith Sr +3.62 2,918
42 Trey McKenney Fr +3.53 1,706
43 Killyan Toure Fr +3.52 2,001
44 Dillon Mitchell Sr +3.52 2,198
45 Jaden Bradley Sr +3.52 2,662
46 Trevor Mullin Jr +3.52 1,728
47 Jeremy Fears Jr. Jr +3.51 2,331
48 Koa Peat Fr +3.51 2,243
49 Michael Osei-Bonsu So +3.51 1,973
50 Flory Bidunga So +3.49 2,538
Here are the Tankathon top 30 mock
Code: Select all
Pick Player Yr RAPM Poss
------------------------------------------------------
1 AJ Dybantsa Fr +0.49 2,871
2 Darryn Peterson Fr -0.16 1,581
3 Cameron Boozer Fr +4.64 2,663
4 Caleb Wilson Fr +3.78 1,871
5 Kingston Flemings Fr +1.74 2,621
6 Keaton Wagler Fr +5.39 2,558
7 Nate Ament Fr +0.18 2,190
8 Darius Acuff Jr. Fr +3.45 3,090
9 Mikel Brown Jr. Fr +2.05 1,552
10 Labaron Philon Jr. So +2.23 2,578
11 Hannes Steinbach Fr +1.73 2,540
12 Braylon Mullins Fr -0.43 1,784
13 Patrick Ngongba II So +2.01 1,509
14 Yaxel Lendeborg Gr +5.39 2,422
15 Brayden Burries Fr +3.77 2,582
16 Jayden Quaintance So -0.51 161
17 Thomas Haugh Jr +3.27 2,853
18 (Karim López — intl)
19 Bennett Stirtz So +4.54 2,848
20 Christian Anderson So +2.54 2,915
21 Tounde Yessoufou Fr +0.22 2,438
22 Koa Peat Fr +3.51 2,243
23 Chris Cenac Jr. Fr +3.96 2,015
24 Joshua Jefferson Sr +4.43 2,724
25 Aday Mara Jr +4.10 1,909
26 Cameron Carr Jr +4.18 2,549
27 Morez Johnson Jr. So +2.59 2,117
28 Tyler Tanner So +3.20 2,741
29 Amari Allen Fr +1.64 2,119
30 Ebuka Okorie Fr +2.74 2,474
Previous list, sorted
Code: Select all
Pick Player Yr RAPM Poss
------------------------------------------------------
6 Keaton Wagler Fr +5.39 2,558
14 Yaxel Lendeborg Gr +5.39 2,422
3 Cameron Boozer Fr +4.64 2,663
19 Bennett Stirtz So +4.54 2,848
24 Joshua Jefferson Sr +4.43 2,724
26 Cameron Carr Jr +4.18 2,549
25 Aday Mara Jr +4.10 1,909
23 Chris Cenac Jr. Fr +3.96 2,015
8 Darius Acuff Jr. Fr +3.45 3,090
17 Thomas Haugh Jr +3.27 2,853
22 Koa Peat Fr +3.51 2,243
15 Brayden Burries Fr +3.77 2,582
4 Caleb Wilson Fr +3.78 1,871
28 Tyler Tanner So +3.20 2,741
27 Morez Johnson Jr. So +2.59 2,117
20 Christian Anderson So +2.54 2,915
30 Ebuka Okorie Fr +2.74 2,474
10 Labaron Philon Jr. So +2.23 2,578
9 Mikel Brown Jr. Fr +2.05 1,552
13 Patrick Ngongba II So +2.01 1,509
29 Amari Allen Fr +1.64 2,119
5 Kingston Flemings Fr +1.74 2,621
11 Hannes Steinbach Fr +1.73 2,540
1 AJ Dybantsa Fr +0.49 2,871
7 Nate Ament Fr +0.18 2,190
21 Tounde Yessoufou Fr +0.22 2,438
2 Darryn Peterson Fr -0.16 1,581
12 Braylon Mullins Fr -0.43 1,784
16 Jayden Quaintance So -0.51 161
18 (Karim López — intl)
For context, here are the percentiles, a 4.16 puts a player in the top 1% in college in impact. This estimator has a lot more signal than I thought.
Code: Select all
p1 : -3.22
p10 : -1.62
p25 : -0.71
p50 : +0.30
p75 : +1.38
p90 : +2.43
p99 : +4.16









