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Pete Maravich’s son, Jaeson, is blasting the current chase for the college basketball scoring record. He posted a fiery message on Facebook with his thoughts on the potential of his father’s mark being broken.
For those not familiar, Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis is just three points shy of tying Maravich’s seemingly unreachable total. The star guard averaged more than 28 points a game this year to pull within one shot of the record.
Through five seasons with the Titans, Davis has amassed 3,664 points while leading his team in scoring in each campaign. He’s the only player in NCAA history to come within even 400 points of Maravich’s insane mark.
But while the feat is impressive, it’s also come with criticism. Davis has had two extra seasons to get to this point as he benefitted from the NCAA COVID year. Maravich, meanwhile, scored his 3,667 points in three years.
During “Pistol Pete’s” time on the court, freshmen were not eligible to play for the varsity teams. He also didn’t have the three-point shot or shot clock to help him. Still, he averaged a ridiculous 44.2 points per game over his career.
Initially, it appeared that Davis had fallen short of the NCAA scoring record after Detroit Mercy’s loss in the Horizon League conference tournament. The Titans lost to Youngstown State, with Davis scoring 22 points.
At 14-19, a postseason bid looked nearly impossible. The NIT and NCAA Tournament are certainly out of the running, but another option is coming to the forefront.
The CBI is reportedly interested in adding Detroit Mercy, if for nothing other than the opportunity to see Davis make history. It would certainly make sense for the tournament as they’d figure to have a few more eyes on that first game.
But many question whether the Titans are deserving of an invite given their losing record. Making things worse, Detroit Mercy would have to pay a $27,500 entry fee to land a bid, which rubs fans the wrong way.
With Davis having already had an extra season and the recent conference tournament to break the record, many don’t believe he should receive yet another shot. One of those people was Jaeson Maravich.
The son of “Pistol Pete” took to social media to blast what he calls a “sham” of a race for the title.
I have never posted on Facebook but maybe 3 times in my life I’m not into social media at all, but this needed to be addressed because of my feelings for my dad. I have a lot of friends on here I don’t even know because they were just huge fans of my dad and I have no problem with that. I am very proud of my dad and very protective of his legacy which continues today as strong as ever.
This situation deals with his all-time NCAA scoring record being in jeopardy. I want to be clear this is not a shot at this kid Antoine Davis at all. From everything I have heard, he is a great kid with a strong faith. This is about a BS tournament called the CBI college basketball invitational which is basically an AAU tournament where teams can pay $50,000 to get in or they can be invited, and it still counts towards their statistics from the regular season. It has nothing to do with the NCAA or NIT.
I feel like this record he is about to break of my dad’s is being given to him, and not earned, which is just like society today. Things are not earned; they are just given. This supposed joke of a tournament had 16 teams in it last year and not one team with a losing record was invited yet now they will invite Detroit Mercy who has a record of 14 and 19. I wonder why they are being invited at all, but we really know why. The idiot running the tournament wants the publicity.
I have been doing interview after interview for the last 2 weeks and was nothing but respectful and classy, but at this point, I really think this is completely overboard and not being earned. I’m not going to get into the comparisons with my dad. (Played 3 years, [Davis] played five because of covid; he’s played in 60 more games yada yada yada.)
I feel like he had his chance in the Horizon League conference tournament to break the record and he didn’t do it. Now that their season is over, he’s still given another opportunity to play in a tournament that is totally meaningless. The whole thing stinks. It’s a sham and it makes me sick to my stomach.
Harsh words from Jaeson.
Many in the comments section agree, and they believe that Antoine Davis had his chance to set the NCAA scoring record and came up just short.
It is worth noting that the CBI has yet to extend an invite to Detroit Mercy, though administration is open to accepting a bid. If the Titans do get in, college basketball will undoubtedly see a new points leader. Whether or not that total comes with an asterisk will depend on who you ask.