1970 College Basketball Recap
Pete Maravich may have been the greatest college basketball player since Hank Luisetti never to play in the NCAA tournament. The 1970 Player of the Year was certainly the most exciting player to miss the Big Dance.
In the three years Maravich played varsity ball at LSU, the Tigers were only 49–35 and never won the SEC, but “Pistol Pete” led the nation in scoring each year—averaging 43.8 as a sophomore, 44.2 as a junior and 44.5 as a senior. He was the college game's all-time scoring machine, throwing in 3667 points in just 83 games for a career average of 44.2 points a game—10 points better than anyone else—ever.
Meanwhile, back at the NCAAs, UCLA became the first team to win four consecutive titles. Lew Alcindor was gone, but John Wooden dusted off the zone press and the Bruins wrapped up the season beating 7-2 Artis Gilmore and high-scoring Jacksonville (100.3 ppg), 80–69.
No.3 St. Bonaventure reached the Final Four for the first time, but when star Bob Lanier tore up his right knee in the East Regional final the Bonnies' chances went down with him.
No.8 Marquette and No.9 Notre Dame made their presence felt in the postseason. The Warriors passed up an NCAA bid for the NIT and won the tournament for the first time, beating St. John's by 12 in the final. And Austin Carr of the Irish scored 61 points against Ohio University in the first round of the NCAAs to break Bill Bradley's single game record of 58.
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