Caitlin Clark is one step away from breaking the record for the most career points in NCAA women’s basketball. However, that’s not the only record at risk. The legendary Pete Maravich’s men’s record is also in jeopardy, and his son, Jaeson, has something to say about it.
“Pistol Pete”Maravich is a college and professional basketball legend. During his time with the Louisiana State Tigers of the NCAA, the player demonstrated his talent and left a record that has remained unbeatable for 54 years: his 3,667 career points.
Clark, on the other hand, made an immediate impact on the Iowa Hawkeyes, and her talent at the rim has led her to accumulate 3,462 points. This number puts the Iowa star just 65 points away from surpassing Kelsey Plum’s women’s mark of 3,527.
Averaging 28.1 points per game, experts expect Clark to break Plum’s record in the Feb. 15 game against the Michigan Wolverines. If she maintains this pace, Clark would have just enough time to surpass Maravich in her final game of the regular season, on March 3 against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Not so fast: Jaeson Maravich
In an interview with Nola.com’s Reed Darcey, Jaeson Maravich, son of the immortal “Pistol Pete,” considered that his father’s time in the NCAA was entirely different. “I look at my dad’s record, and if someone breaks it, it’s almost like two totally different records,” he stated.
He explained that the circumstances and rules of college basketball have changed significantly since 1970, Maravich’s last year of eligibility.
Primarily, players’ freshman years did not count toward statistics at that time; only the three years of varsity did. Therefore, Maravich only had 83 games to establish his mark. “I think they had said if he had played four years, he would have had close to 5,000,”Jaeson said.
It would be like comparing apples and oranges
In addition to the reduced number of games, Maravich established his record without other game-speeding benefits that favor offenses, such as the shot clock and the three-point line.
Regarding this, Jaeson recalled, “I said this last year: It’s kind of like an apple-to-orange comparison. And then if you’re talking about the women’s record, I mean, to me, that’d be two totally separate records.”
Despite everything, Maravich’s son wished Clark the best: “If she ends up breaking my dad’s record, kudos to her. But I always look at it as two totally different records just because there were so many disadvantages as far as what my dad dealt with as opposed to today.”