Gonzaga's Anton Watson ranked as one of the most valuable players in the country

Advanced metrics website graded Watson at No. 3 in its MVP Rankings for the 2023-24 season

Anton Watson has been the embodiment of a "glue guy" for Gonzaga over the last four seasons. That's not to discredit his skillset as one of the most efficient two-way players in college basketball. It's simply to say without Watson, the Bulldogs would be in a much worse position heading into the 2023-24 season.

The traditional counting numbers might not say so, but the advanced metrics beg to differ.

EvanMiya College Basketball Analytics, which uses its own statistical metric to asses team and player strength, graded Watson at No. 3 in its MVP rankings. The fifth-year senior's MVP score of .916 trailed Purdue's reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey (1.000) and UConn's Donovan Clingan (.980), two candidates for preseason All-American honors. Watson doesn't have that type of buzz, but there's no doubt his impact on both ends of the floor will be crucial for Gonzaga's success in 2023.

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EvanMiya's player ratings reflect the value of each player to his team on both offense and defense. A player’s ratings incorporate the player's individual efficiency statistics, along with his impact on the court for his team, which is assessed by looking at how successful his team was in every possession he played. The ratings also account for the strength of all other players on the floor with that player in each of his possessions that he played. 

The Bayesian Performance Rating is used to quantify the value of a player to his team on both ends of the floor through an offensive BPR and a defensive BPR. Good players will have higher positive offensive and defensive ratings, with the average player having an offensive BPR and defensive BPR of 0. The three main factors contributing to a BPR score are box plus/minus, adjusted team efficiency and average opponent BPR.

Watson posted an offensive BPR of 4.69, the second-highest on the top 10 players list behind Edey. Interestingly enough, that was higher than Watson's 2.61 defensive BPR score.

Watson won't be viewed as a top-three player in the country by most, though it isn't surprising to see him grade so well by a metric that's heavily based on player efficiency. The 6-foot-8 forward led the West Coast Conference in offensive rating (130.1) and was in the league's top five in box plus/minus (8.8). He was also among the conference's leaders in defensive rating (9th), defensive win shares (7th) and player efficiency rating (7th). 

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