03-25-2012, 06:35 PM
The numbers are beyond staggering.
3,667 career points â most ever.
44.2 points per game â most ever.
28 games with 50 points â most ever.
56 games with 40 points â most ever.
30 FTs in one game (off 31 attempts) â most ever.
For most players, those stats would tell the story, finish the story, and cement the legacy.
But with Pistol Pete, they are only scratching the surface.
Pete was a guy who legendarily laughed at his opponents after he broke them down off the dribble. Magic Johnson admitted that he stole the phrase âShowtimeâ from Maravich.
The guy even inspired Bob Dylan songs!
And really, without a whole lot of imagination, those numbers could look like this:
5,822 career points â BY FAR the most ever.
57.2 points per game â RIDICULOUS.
Who knows what else?
We are only left to ponder, What if�
What if the NCAA Tournament had been different when the Pistol played?
When Maravich was at LSU, the NCAA Tournament only featured from 22-25 teams. Beyond that, only one team from each conference was allowed to go to the dance.
Sharing a league with Kentucky in the late sixties was not the best way to get to the tournament.
This rule didnât affect just Pete Maravich. There were several instances when many people thought that the two best teams in the nation were in one conference, but they couldnât both go to the Dance. However, just think about what might have been had Pete been able to play in the Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament, as we know, is so often decided by good guard play. Would LSU have had a chance to be successful with Pistol Pete running the show? Most definitely.
The other characteristic of the Tourney is that it so often rewards a team that gets hot at just the right time. Is it at least plausible that Pete may have been able to lead his team to one or two Final Fours? Of course it is.
Now, we canât get carried away too much. Pete happened to play during UCLAâs incredible run of dominance. To insinuate that he might have been able to win a championship is probably a stretch. But wouldnât his legend be that much greater if he had led LSU on a few tournament runs even if they ended with the Maravich Tigers being knocked out by UCLA a few times? He could always say, âThe greatest team of all time was the only thing standing between me and a championship,â rather than a poorly structured NCAA Tournament.
And boyâ¦what if he had been able to knock off UCLA just once? Wow.
With todayâs rules, what could Peteâs records possibly look like?
One of the most remarkable things about Pete is that he was only allowed to play for three full seasons, yet he still holds the all-time record for scoring. And he probably always will.
If a player played 30 games a year for all four years, he would need to average 30.56 points per game for his entire career in order to break Peteâs scoring record. Interestingly enough, nobody has even approached this average for a single season since 1991.
Add to that the fact that if a freshman did come in averaging 31 points a game, he would most assuredly leave college after only one or two seasons.
Letâs just agree that Pistolâs scoring record is safe.
But could it have been even more safe?
As you probably know, Pete played before the 3-point line had been invented. In the 60s, long shots were âbad shotsâ even if you made them. Why would anybody shoot from 25-feet when it counted the same as a layup?
Well, Pistol Pete helped to crush that âlogic.â
For years, the legend of Pistol Pete just grew and grew. Players, coaches, and old fans would laud his amazing shooting ability, even quipping that he might have averaged 60 points a game had there been a three-point line.
Finally, former LSU Coach Dale Brown wanted to put such talk to rest.
He watched every single game of Pistol Peteâs career, and charted every single shot he ever took. What he found out will absolutely blow you away.
Brown discovered that with a three-point line of 19â9″ (the distance it was for over 20 years), Maravich would have averaged 13 three-pointers a game.
Let me quickly point out that the college record for three-pointers in one game is 15, held by a guy named Keith Veney in 1996. The Pistolâs average would have only been two below the all-time record.
So by adding an additional 13 points per game to Pistolâs average, heâs now averaging over 50 points per game for his entire college career.
We hold Wilt Chamberlainâs NBA-record 50.4 points per game as an untouchable standard of scoring excellence. Pete would have shattered thatâ¦in college games that were eight minutes shorter!
For anyone who has ever played basketball, it is easy to postulate that had there been a three-point line, than teams would have been forced to guard him more closely out there, and he would have been able to get around his opponents even more easily.http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2012/03...-maravich/
3,667 career points â most ever.
44.2 points per game â most ever.
28 games with 50 points â most ever.
56 games with 40 points â most ever.
30 FTs in one game (off 31 attempts) â most ever.
For most players, those stats would tell the story, finish the story, and cement the legacy.
But with Pistol Pete, they are only scratching the surface.
Pete was a guy who legendarily laughed at his opponents after he broke them down off the dribble. Magic Johnson admitted that he stole the phrase âShowtimeâ from Maravich.
The guy even inspired Bob Dylan songs!
And really, without a whole lot of imagination, those numbers could look like this:
5,822 career points â BY FAR the most ever.
57.2 points per game â RIDICULOUS.
Who knows what else?
We are only left to ponder, What if�
What if the NCAA Tournament had been different when the Pistol played?
When Maravich was at LSU, the NCAA Tournament only featured from 22-25 teams. Beyond that, only one team from each conference was allowed to go to the dance.
Sharing a league with Kentucky in the late sixties was not the best way to get to the tournament.
This rule didnât affect just Pete Maravich. There were several instances when many people thought that the two best teams in the nation were in one conference, but they couldnât both go to the Dance. However, just think about what might have been had Pete been able to play in the Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament, as we know, is so often decided by good guard play. Would LSU have had a chance to be successful with Pistol Pete running the show? Most definitely.
The other characteristic of the Tourney is that it so often rewards a team that gets hot at just the right time. Is it at least plausible that Pete may have been able to lead his team to one or two Final Fours? Of course it is.
Now, we canât get carried away too much. Pete happened to play during UCLAâs incredible run of dominance. To insinuate that he might have been able to win a championship is probably a stretch. But wouldnât his legend be that much greater if he had led LSU on a few tournament runs even if they ended with the Maravich Tigers being knocked out by UCLA a few times? He could always say, âThe greatest team of all time was the only thing standing between me and a championship,â rather than a poorly structured NCAA Tournament.
And boyâ¦what if he had been able to knock off UCLA just once? Wow.
With todayâs rules, what could Peteâs records possibly look like?
One of the most remarkable things about Pete is that he was only allowed to play for three full seasons, yet he still holds the all-time record for scoring. And he probably always will.
If a player played 30 games a year for all four years, he would need to average 30.56 points per game for his entire career in order to break Peteâs scoring record. Interestingly enough, nobody has even approached this average for a single season since 1991.
Add to that the fact that if a freshman did come in averaging 31 points a game, he would most assuredly leave college after only one or two seasons.
Letâs just agree that Pistolâs scoring record is safe.
But could it have been even more safe?
As you probably know, Pete played before the 3-point line had been invented. In the 60s, long shots were âbad shotsâ even if you made them. Why would anybody shoot from 25-feet when it counted the same as a layup?
Well, Pistol Pete helped to crush that âlogic.â
For years, the legend of Pistol Pete just grew and grew. Players, coaches, and old fans would laud his amazing shooting ability, even quipping that he might have averaged 60 points a game had there been a three-point line.
Finally, former LSU Coach Dale Brown wanted to put such talk to rest.
He watched every single game of Pistol Peteâs career, and charted every single shot he ever took. What he found out will absolutely blow you away.
Brown discovered that with a three-point line of 19â9″ (the distance it was for over 20 years), Maravich would have averaged 13 three-pointers a game.
Let me quickly point out that the college record for three-pointers in one game is 15, held by a guy named Keith Veney in 1996. The Pistolâs average would have only been two below the all-time record.
So by adding an additional 13 points per game to Pistolâs average, heâs now averaging over 50 points per game for his entire college career.
We hold Wilt Chamberlainâs NBA-record 50.4 points per game as an untouchable standard of scoring excellence. Pete would have shattered thatâ¦in college games that were eight minutes shorter!
For anyone who has ever played basketball, it is easy to postulate that had there been a three-point line, than teams would have been forced to guard him more closely out there, and he would have been able to get around his opponents even more easily.http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2012/03...-maravich/
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