OT: Should Detroit Mercy Pay $50,000 for an Extra Game so Antoine Davis Can Set Scoring Record?
I've seen some mention on the board of this story but not an entire thread. It deserves one. Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy is just three points shy of Pete Maravich's all-time Division 1 scoring record of 3,667 points, which Maravich accomplished in just three seasons and without the three-point line. Davis scored 3,664 points in five seasons.
Davis came up just short when Detroit Mercy lost in its Horizon League tournament game, but now the fleabag CBI tournament is considering extending a bid to UDM, even though it had a losing record this season (14-19). It would cost UDM a $27,500 entry fee to play in the tourney. When you add in travel expenses, it'll be about $50,000.
The only reason UDM would do this is so that Davis could set the record. What say you? I say that if it happens, that record should not just get an asterisk; it should be put in an entirely different book.
LINK.
Talk about your soft-ass awards...
Yeah, so now he needs 61 additional games? May as well go for 62.
I don't know. Maybe Antoine should pay for it.
Pay ME $50,000 and I'll go on Wikipedia to write that he DID beat the record, and that claim will last as long as official records.
Good to see Pistol Pete's mom has an account on MGoBlog.
DOROTHY MARAVICH IS A SAINT
For those who might not have gotten the reference.
Friends of Scott Frost's mom?
Every record ever should have asterisks with all the situational variables. Anyone claiming to actually care about this is lying or should probably touch grass.
Yes on the variables, but paying for an extra game just so you can set the record is a variable I hadn’t heard of before.
Playing +1 is one thing.
But this apples to oranges comparison is quite another.
Not to shit on Davis but Maravich: 1, didn't have a 3 point line and 2, did it in 83 games. Davis has played in 143 games thus far.
Yep. If he gets this award, it is one of the softest, most-manipulative bullshit of an award ever.
With no shot clock and in three seasons vs five seasons w the Covid year.
This is a situation when I impressive 2nd place showing is way more honorable than a weaseled 1st place.
The games played disparity is so great that I was rooting for him to come up short. I wish him all the best outside of achieving the record, hope he has a prosperous pro career.
If game count was reversed and Pete reached his total due to playing 60 more games, then I would be in favor of the school paying to get Davis an extra game.
If game count was reversed and Pete reached his total due to playing 60 more games, then I would be in favor of the school paying to get Davis an extra game.
100% me too.
So we asterisk all the NFL records since expanded leagues and expanded seasons?
That's not to say I disagree with you but we should remember sports are arbitrary creations, rules of all sports are arbitrary, and changes made—either because of early improvements to games or later financial benefits to owners—are arbitrary.
Mr. Davis had 2 full seasons, game wise, to break the record, and still could not do it.
Why does he need another game?
Plus his dad is the coach so he never has to sit on the bench!
To be fair, Maravich also played for his dad.
But yeah ... playing five seasons vs. three is a huge difference. The extra Covid season is destroying the record book all over the place.
Cal Ripken also never had to sit because his dad was the coach....I'm sensing a pattern here. How many assists did Jett have this year?
Because the asterisk is huge in this case.
Do I have a problem with Jamaal Williams breaking the greatest running back of all time's club single season rushing TD record?
Just because of 1 more game played?
No. No problem with it all and as you suggest, records are made to be broken.
But the discrepancy of number of games played is so ridiculous otherwise in this case.
Says guy taking time to post on sports blog. I think we’re all aware of how any sports anything is meaningless when compared to life and the big picture. So yeah, let’s just stop discussing anything arbitrary. You’re fun.
Nearly twice as many games. There's no comparison. And this was a COVID year for Davis so it wasn't even like he did it in more games with just normal eligibility. Under normal circumstances no one gets more than 4 years to accumulate totals. Haven't done the math but I 'd be willing to bet the effect of the rule change to add the three point line was negligible relative to the extra games.
He also play in a segregated SEC... calling that D1 is questionable
Exactly. Give Pete an asterisk for chucking it 40 times a game.
If Pete Maravich is on your team it would be coaching malpractice not to have him chuck it 40 times a game.
Nah, it was bad basketball, he was in inefficient ball hog who had a cool nickname and some nice highlights. Not a coincidence his teams never won anythin, he played losing basketball.
I pass on grass.
Of course they should do it. Why do they have a basketball program to begin with? If the answer is exposure, this will get them way more of it than any other $50k their program has ever spent.
IMO, the most correct answer here. It's PR. Going forward, Detroit Mercy would always be mentioned as regards college basketball's highest scoring player.
Pay the $50K. Who knows, maybe they go on a run in the tournament too.
Yes.
But only if they go back through all of Pistol's game tape and superimpose a three-point line and recalculate his totals.
In this age of 1 million "sports sites & reporters" I'm surprised that hasn't been done already. It would be very interesting to see what the number is
I bet it doesn't change a ton. There was very little incentive to shoot from so far away back then so I doubt he did it much.
Perhaps not but I bet you could find enough extra points in there to make one extra game for UDM absolutely meaningless.
Dale Brown did it.
“According to LSU’s former coach Dale Brown, the number would’ve been 57 points per game had the shots from the three-point range counted as three points. Brown is a reputable source on the matter as he charted every shot Maravich took throughout a game.”
https://thegamehaus.com/nba/the-legend-of-pistol-pete-maravich/2020/06/03/?amp=1
I always wondered what the conversion would have been if Maravich had the three point line and now I know. Thanks for the info, great stuff!
Yes, it was a much different era in college hoops back then.
That’s just straight up nonsense. That would mean that 13 of Maravich’s 16.7 made FGs per game were 3-pointers. Zero chance that is true.
Don’t hate the player hate the research.
It would be interesting to see how he'd have done with a 3-point line.
At the same time, if we're going to revise history we might as well look at the entire context of those seasons, when the national scoring average was something like 78 ppg, there was limited racial integration, league composition and travel requirements were different, etc.
Also, go back and check out some of the all-time records for other college status. The rebounding title was set in the 1950s by a 6' 6", 205 lb guy called Tom Gola. He was a solid NBA player but my guess is that record was set in a league, and against opponents, who are significantly different than the current one, or even the one Maravich played in. In fact, the top 4 all-time rebounders all played in the 1950s.
My opinion is whatever. People can be annoyed but nobody is really going to be hurt and it would be cool for Davis and UDM to get the record. And at some point some guy is going to break Davis's record after they introduce the Rock & Jock 50-point shot and we'll do this all over again.
a 6' 6", 205 lb guy called Tom Gola
You put some respect on the name of La Salle University's Tom Gola Arena!!
I would unironically love to see points scored from beyond half court be worth 4 points
The only basketball player from Michigan that should be compared to Pistol
Teske was fine but not that fine.
Never mind the record for a moment. Playing in a postseason NCAA basketball tournament after a season with a 42% winning percentage doesn't make sense. Paying to do so? Even worse.
Separately, the universe where Davis joins Michigan for this season is an interesting one. It's hard to imagine him taking a lesser role, but he can definitely shoot well in tight spaces for such a little guy.
But it makes sense to get into football playoffs with a .500 record?
I agree with most here who have decided this example goes too far.
However, insisting on precedents or historical practice or any ancient criteria seems to me to ignore that it's all arbitrary. In sports we're making it ALL up.
Oh, there's definitely arbitrariness going on here. College football teams play in bowl games with 5-7 records, which isn't much better than 14-19. (That's also a bad financial situation, but it's another story.)