History of the Basketball program during The Pistol's days

HERE

Here are the records:

1967-1968 Press Maravich 14-12 8-10
1968-1969 Press Maravich 13-13 7-11
1969-1970 Press Maravich 22-10 13-5 NIT Final Four

There really wasn't a lot of talent with him. The only decent team he had was his senior year. That 6eam would have made the NCAA today, but back then the tournament only invited 25 teams. Kentucky was the only SEC team to make the tournament all three years.

quote:

---

Was he forced to basically carry the entire team on his shoulders?

---

That about sums it up.

I was in school at that time and Pete was a friend. Best overall athlete I ever saw. His ball handling skill were awesome!

Great guy. He liked to party, but his dad really had a tight grip on him.

ps..CJ could probably hold his jock strap..that's about it.

First, you have to put things in proper perspective. In those days only the conference champions were invited to the NC2a tourney each year. Usually the 2nd place teams were all invited to the NIT so it was a much bigger deal than it is now. Had the 64 team field, the additional games against patsies, the SEC tourney, etc. existed at that time, then Maravich probably would have played in two or three NC2a tournies because he was all that nationally. When he lead LSU into the NIT tourney(all games played in NY back then) it was a huge publicity deal for LSU. SI covered Maravich and the team's trip to NYC. With today's media Pete might have been given his on realtiy show. As for as winning a national championship, first you had to win your conference and Kentucky with the Baron, Adolph Rupp leading the way had it on lockdown back then.
Pete lit up Rupps teams twice a year for three straight years but he was sorely lacking in supporting cast. The Tigers were 0-6 against the Cats during that span. The AVERAGE score of the six games was 112-96. Pete averaged 52 ppg against them, including 64 in the 1970 BR game that LSU lost 121-105. Kentucky HOF Dan Issel hit for 51 in that game and it still stands as the most points by foes in a single collegiste game. Anyway, that may help some see those Tigers in the proper context. They were without question one of the top 40 teams in America during all three of Maravich's seasons, even though he was the only guy on the team who could have cracked Kentucky's lineup. Greatest collegiate player ever? Yes, IMO he was but he was so much more than that. He transcended the sport, creating a whole new generation of court kids, black and white, who wanted to emulate his fantastic skills.

Pistol has the ncaa scoring record before there was a 3 pt line. I remember them comparing pete's ncaa record with reddicks acc record and pete still blew his out the water, without a 3 pt line.

He was one of the best college players ever.

quote:

---

Pistol has the ncaa scoring record before there was a 3 pt line. I remember them comparing pete's ncaa record with reddicks acc record and pete still blew his out the water, without a 3 pt line.

---

I wish they could computer generate a 3 pt line in all of the old game clips and see what The Pistol would have had by the end of his career with a 3 point line.

quote:

---

I wish they could computer generate a 3 pt line in all of the old game clips and see what The Pistol would have had by the end of his career with a 3 point line.

---

Dale Brown actually did this by looking at the game shot charts. I think he claims that Pete would have averaged 13 pts/gm more. There is now way to know from the charts if some of the shots were from 19 or 20 feet. That to me seems a little high, but Dale was probably giving Pete the benefit of the doubt on the marginal shots.

I will never forget the no-look passes that would
catch one of his teammates off guard...he was
unbelievable to watch!