bearister said:
If Matt plays for 4 years, there are some interesting possibilities:
1. His career scoring average to date is 13.1 pts; this season his avg to date is 17.7 pts;
2. Jerome Randle has the Cal All Time Scoring Record with a 13.9 pts avg over 4 years;
3. UCLA's Don MacLean has the league All Time Scoring Record with a 20.5 pts avg over 4 years; and
4. Santa Clara's Kevin Foster has the SF Bay Area Div. 1 All Time Scoring Record with a 18.2 scoring avg over 4 years.
Matt Bradley is an elite college player with a very good 3 point shot and a very powerful drive and finish to the hoop. He has to be in the conversation with regard to knocking on the door of a couple of these records.
I agree that Bradley has a good shot at setting all time scoring records at Cal.
When we talk about career scoring records, it should be mentioned that these records are for total points, not for career average. It does not account for the fact that players of old did not play as many games on average per season as today's players. And it does not account for the fact that many players of old played during the years when freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity, and thus could have a maximum of 3 years, virtually putting them out of the running for all time career scoring records. Don McLean, for example, played 4 years and averaged 20.5 points. But Kareem Abdul Jabbar was allowed to play varsity for only 3 years, and averaged 26.4 points per game. So who was the best scorer in the conference?
Similarly, at Cal, our all-time leader in points was Randle, averaging 13.9 points. Bob McKeen also played 4 years, and averaged 15.5 points, but played fewer games than Randle. Here are some players we had who played 4 years but played fewer games than Randle:
Leonard Taylor, 15.5 points
Brian Hendrick, 14.7 points
Ricky Hawthorne, 14.4
Sean Lampley, 14.4
Kevin Johnson, 14.0
Here are some Cal players who were only allowed to play 3 years:
Russ Critchfield, 19.4 points
Jackie Ridgle, 17.9
Ansley Truitt, 17.3
John Coughran, 15.8
Larry Friend, 14.9
Charles Johnson, 13.9
For the Bay Area, Kevin Foster was a 4-year player, averaging 18.2 points, but Santa Clara also had Dennis Awtrey, who was allowed to play only 3 years and averaged 19.9 points. At Stanford, their leading scorer is Chason Randle at 16.5 points, but players who played less games and averaged better were Todd Lichti, 18.8 points, and Adam Keefe, 18.6 points. They also had players allowed to play 3 years only, Claude Terry, at 20.6, and Tom Dose at 19.2. At USF, the leading scorer is Bill Cartwright, averaging 19.1 points, but Bill Russell, who was allowed only 3 years to play, averaged 20.7 points. At St Marys, the leading scorer is Matthew Dellavadova, at 14.2 points, but Steve Gray, who was allowed only 3 years of varsity ball, averaged 18.5.
I think Bradley has a chance to break both Cal's all time record for points and for average, and a couple of the other records are well within reach, especially if he can develop a few more shots for his arsenal.