I want to make a program that can simulate a basketball game based on ratings. I am a huge beginner at coding but know tons about excel, TI-84 coding, and basketball. What program should I use? Python? C++? C? Any other recommended ones?

I mean text based no animation.

Python will work nicely.

C++ is not recommended to start with, it's quite complex and unforgiving. C is simpler, but still not very forgving or helpful for the beginner. Other options are C# or Java. Takes more work to get off the ground than Python, but they are faster in execution.

Note that for a game like you're planning, speed is about the last thing you should worry about.

For additional information, you may want to read the FAQ in this forum as well, which is more like an article with useful information on how to begin programming.