Emails in on Maravich & Bradford

The new emails are in, and it’s a light week, since I’ve been on vacation and haven’t written a column since last Monday. But some interesting stuff came in anyway.

Eddie wrote about my radio bit in which a variety of votes and nominations settled on Pete Maravich’s 44.2 college basketball scoring average as the greatest record in American sport: “Is Pete Maravich the only college player to have a higher scoring average (44.2) than field goal percentage (43.8)? He averaged 38 shots per game.”

I would assume so. No one ever scored like Maravich, so let’s drop it down. Can you imagine someone who scored in the 25-point range shooting 25 percent? No. OK, let’s go down to 15; 15 points and 15 percent? No. No one who shoots 15 percent gets to play enough to score 15 points a game. How about five? Can someone who routinely shoots 1-for-5 be good enough in other parts of the game to play, make a few foul shots and average 5.something points? Doubt it. Maravich reigns.

Craig was not so thrilled with Maravich: “He averaged 50+ against Kentucky in six games (LSU lost them all). Tennessee was the only team that consistently held him under 30. But his dad was the coach and thought he was the second coming when it came to basketball.”

First coming, I’d call it.

Several people wrote about my Sam Bradford leadership column. Jason: “After reading your Bradford article, I think the only question left in college football is: Bradford or Tebow? Who will sit at the right hand of the father throughout eternity?”

I’d say Bradford. Being right-handed, he would have a better angle to play catch.

Jerry: “Nice story on Bradford. I would like to read more about the Selmons and others that served in such a role. It should make for a good story.”

I never get tired of writing about the Selmons. Good to know someone never gets tired of reading about them.

William also wrote about Bradford: “Sam is a true leader, and unfortunately, stories like that are not what sells papers. I’ve seen him several times on campus, and his commitment to academics is really impressive. Especially for someone who has a full-time job.”