I get that all the attention is focused on football right now and with good reason. But men's hoops is gearing up for the season too. They have a nice exhibition with Memphis in the Hump on Friday night, and we tip off for real a week from Monday. (Please attend the Memphis game on Friday if you can. I know our NIL would appreciate your presence, right @CharlieWinfield?)
But the real reason for this post is Josh Hubbard. We've been able to watch something special over the last three years, and Josh has a chance to really cement his name amongst college basketball's all-time greatest scorers. He's done this with very little drama and, to be honest, very little help at times.
Through three years, Josh has amassed 1,947 points. That puts him fourth all time at State, but it is just a matter of time before he is #1 on that list. By about our fourth game, he should pass Quinndary Weatherspoon (2,012 points). Maybe the next game he passes Bailey Howell (2,030 points). Then sometime in mid-December, he should pass Jeff Malone (2,142) to become our all-time leading scorer.
That's great, but he's also moving up the national charts. Through three years, Josh has seen has per game average go up each year. As a freshman, it was 17.9, then 18.1 as a sophomore, and up to 22.1 last season. Let's say he duplicates last year's average for this year. Also be aware that college basketball added another game this year so we are guaranteed 33 games. That would be 729 points and take him to 2,676 for his career. Every additional game we play in the SEC Tournament and (hopefully) the NCAA tournament would give him even more of a chance to rise. But if he finishes the season at 2,676 points, that would put him 36th all time in college basketball, just a few points ahead of David Robinson and Wayman Tisdale.
But maybe that's not the end of the story for Josh. If he plays his fifth year, then he can really make a move toward the top. Again just using his junior year average of 22.1 ppg, and again just using 33 games in his fifth year, that takes him just over 3,400 career points. That would move him all the way to the #3 scorer all-time in the history of college basketball. Maravich of course is first at 3,667. Antoine Davis, the son of Mike Davis, is second all time at 3,664. (Antoine played for Mike at Detroit Mercy. Mike is now the new coach at Valley. What a career....from Indiana to Valley.)
This seems like a good time to pause and acknowledge the factors that impact this. I totally get that Maravich at 44.2 ppg was on a completely different level. I was living in Baton Rouge for part of his career, but way too young to remember any of it. He only played three years at LSU because freshmen weren't eligible then. There was no three point shot. They played fewer games in a season. So yeah, not all career numbers are created equally. FWIW, Antoine Davis got a fifth year at Detroit Mercy because of COVID. In 2021, his team only played 22 games. Even one more game in that year, and he would be first on the list, not Pete.
If you are curious what it would take for Josh to pass Davis and Maravich, there are two pathways. The first is to score more per game. If you limit Josh to 33 games in each of the next two years, he would need to average 26.1 ppg across those 66 games. That seems like a lot to ask. The other option is to play more games, which means winning SEC Tournament games and some NCAA Tournament games too. Then he doesn't have to have much of an increase in the per game scoring. Let's say we can get our total up to 73 games over the next two years. Then it only takes an average of 23.6 ppg to surpass Pete Maravich. It's crazy to think that if we win enough that we may be watching college basketball's all-time leading scorer, but that's what is happening right before our eyes.
But the real reason for this post is Josh Hubbard. We've been able to watch something special over the last three years, and Josh has a chance to really cement his name amongst college basketball's all-time greatest scorers. He's done this with very little drama and, to be honest, very little help at times.
Through three years, Josh has amassed 1,947 points. That puts him fourth all time at State, but it is just a matter of time before he is #1 on that list. By about our fourth game, he should pass Quinndary Weatherspoon (2,012 points). Maybe the next game he passes Bailey Howell (2,030 points). Then sometime in mid-December, he should pass Jeff Malone (2,142) to become our all-time leading scorer.
That's great, but he's also moving up the national charts. Through three years, Josh has seen has per game average go up each year. As a freshman, it was 17.9, then 18.1 as a sophomore, and up to 22.1 last season. Let's say he duplicates last year's average for this year. Also be aware that college basketball added another game this year so we are guaranteed 33 games. That would be 729 points and take him to 2,676 for his career. Every additional game we play in the SEC Tournament and (hopefully) the NCAA tournament would give him even more of a chance to rise. But if he finishes the season at 2,676 points, that would put him 36th all time in college basketball, just a few points ahead of David Robinson and Wayman Tisdale.
But maybe that's not the end of the story for Josh. If he plays his fifth year, then he can really make a move toward the top. Again just using his junior year average of 22.1 ppg, and again just using 33 games in his fifth year, that takes him just over 3,400 career points. That would move him all the way to the #3 scorer all-time in the history of college basketball. Maravich of course is first at 3,667. Antoine Davis, the son of Mike Davis, is second all time at 3,664. (Antoine played for Mike at Detroit Mercy. Mike is now the new coach at Valley. What a career....from Indiana to Valley.)
This seems like a good time to pause and acknowledge the factors that impact this. I totally get that Maravich at 44.2 ppg was on a completely different level. I was living in Baton Rouge for part of his career, but way too young to remember any of it. He only played three years at LSU because freshmen weren't eligible then. There was no three point shot. They played fewer games in a season. So yeah, not all career numbers are created equally. FWIW, Antoine Davis got a fifth year at Detroit Mercy because of COVID. In 2021, his team only played 22 games. Even one more game in that year, and he would be first on the list, not Pete.
If you are curious what it would take for Josh to pass Davis and Maravich, there are two pathways. The first is to score more per game. If you limit Josh to 33 games in each of the next two years, he would need to average 26.1 ppg across those 66 games. That seems like a lot to ask. The other option is to play more games, which means winning SEC Tournament games and some NCAA Tournament games too. Then he doesn't have to have much of an increase in the per game scoring. Let's say we can get our total up to 73 games over the next two years. Then it only takes an average of 23.6 ppg to surpass Pete Maravich. It's crazy to think that if we win enough that we may be watching college basketball's all-time leading scorer, but that's what is happening right before our eyes.
