One of the most untouchable records in sports very nearly got touched, but Louisiana State University legend “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record will remain the standard-bearer for college hoops for the foreseeable future.
Maravich played three seasons at LSU, the most allowed in his day as first-year students were not allowed to play varsity basketball, and wrapped up his prolific career in Baton Rouge in 1970 with 3,667 points scored.
Notably, Maravich’s output, which saw him top 1,100 points in each of his three seasons, came before the institution of the three-point line.
However, the 53-year-old record came within one of those newfangled three-pointers of being toppled.
Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy came closer than anyone ever has to rewriting one of the most hallowed records in NCAA history. His Titans were eliminated from the Horizon League Basketball Tournament with Davis sitting at 3,664 career points scored.
However, with word that 14-19 Detroit Mercy will not receive an invitation to any postseason tournaments, that’s where Davis will end his five-year college career.
With their record making them ineligible for bids to either the NCAA or NIT tournaments, Davis’s only hope was a spot in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), but that invitation did not come.
In the era of “one-and-done” college basketball stars quickly taking their talents to the NBA, a five-year starter is something of a rarity. Davis was aided by receiving an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Davis closing in on the record though, Maravich’s son went viral with a post on social media decrying the possibility of his late father’s record being broken by what he intimated would have been a disingenuous invite to the CBI.
“I want to be clear this is not a shot at this kid Antoine Davis at all,” Jaeson Maravich wrote on Facebook. “From everything I have heard he is a great kid with a strong faith. This is about a BS tournament called the CBI… which is basically an AAU tournament where teams can pay $50,000 to get in or they can be invited, and it still counts towards their statistics from the regular season.”
With Detroit Mercy’s season coming to an end without a tournament berth, the younger Maravich told BRProud that he is “very relieved this is all over as it’s been a stressful two weeks… Makes me feel like justice prevailed.”
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