Sports Reference Blog

Thanks to some recent data expansions, we have vastly improved the coverage of seasons on our men's college basketball leaderboards on the Sports Reference College Basketball site. This will make the most comprehensive online archive of college basketball statistics even more robust. One thing to note is that in some cases this allows for our leaderboards to be even more comprehensive than what is included in the NCAA Record Book. This is because many schools tracked statistics such as blocks, steals and assists long before they became 'official' NCAA categories. Below is a breakdown of some of these changes.

Points: Our points leaders now go back to 1947-48, rather than 1985-86. So our single-season points leader is now listed as Pete Maravich (1,381 in 1969-70) rather than Bo Kimble (1,131 in 1989-90). Kimble is now 6th on the updated leaderboard (behind three Pistol seasons and one each from Elvin Hayes and Frank Selvy). Our career scoring leaderboards previously went back to 1948-49, but now have one added season of coverage. Notably, 1947-48 was the first season schools sent their stat sheets to NCAA headquarters for compilation of 'official' leaderboards.

Rebounds: Our rebounding leaders now extend back to 1951-52 rather than 1985-86. This means our single-season leader is now Walter Dukes (734 in 1952-53) rather than Oscar Tshiebwe's 2021-22 season. And Tom Gola (2,201 rebounds) is the new career leader, rather than Kenneth Faried (1,673).

Offensive Rebounds: Our offensive rebounding leaders now extend back t0 1999-00 rather than 2009-10. Kenneth Faried (200 in 2010-11) remains the single-season leader and is also now the career leader with 602, surpassing James Thompson (575).

Defensive Rebounds: Our defensive rebounding leaders now extend back t0 1999-00 rather than 2009-10. Egidijus Mockevicius remains the single season leader with 389 in 2015-16 and Shawn Long remains the career leader with 984.

Assists: Our assists leaders now extend back to 1973-74 rather than 1985-86. Mark Wade remains the single-season leader with 406 in 1986-87 and Bobby Hurley remains the career leader with 1,076. Assists were were not permanently added as an NCAA category until 1983-84, so we have significantly more coverage than the record book.

Blocks: Our blocks leaders now extend back to 1979-80 rather than 1985-86. David Robinson remains the single-season leader with 207 in 1985-86, but he is now joined atop that leaderboard by Hakeem Olajuwon with 207 in 1983-84. Jarvis Varnado remains the career leader with 564, but with the additional seasons of coverage The Admiral has moved up to third with 516. The new data has also added fellow number one overall draft picks Patrick Ewing, Ralph Sampson and Olajuwon to the top ten. Blocks were not recognized as an official NCAA category until 1985-86, so our leaderboard has significantly more coverage than the record book.

Steals: Our steals leaders now extend back to 1979-80 rather than 1985-86. Desmond Cambridge remains the single-season leader with 160 in 2001-02. Jacob Gilyard remains the career leader with 466. The new data shows Chipper Harris with 450 career steals, which would have been the record before Gilyard, but the NCAA did not 'officially' recognize steals during his career (1980-81 through 1983-84). Steals were not recognized as an official NCAA category until 1985-86, so our leaderboard has significantly more coverage than the record book.

Field Goals:  Our field goals made leaders now extend back to to 1947-48 rather than 1985-86. Our field goals attempted leaders now extend back t0 1948-49 rather than 1985-86. This means Pete Maravich (522 in 1969-70) is the new single-season FGM leader and also the career leader with 1,387. Pistol Pete is also the single-season leader in attempts (1,168 in 1969-70) and the career leader (3,166).

Free Throws: Our free throws made and attempted leaderboards now extend back t0 1947-48 rather than 1985-86. Frank Selvy (355 in 1953-54) is the new single-season leader in makes, while Tyler Hansbrough remains the career leader with 982. Selvy is also the new single-season leader in attempts (444 in 1953-54), while Dickie Hemric is the new career leader in attempts with 1,359.

Turnovers: Our turnovers leaderboards now extend back to 1979-80 rather than 2007-08. Josh Sharkey remains the single-season leader with 177 in 2019-20 and also the career leader with 535, but new addition Bobby Hurley is a close second with 534.

Minutes Played: Our minutes leaderboards now extend back to 1979-80 rather than 2007-08. Kemba Walker's 1,543 minutes in 2010-11 remains the single-season leader. Jacoby Gilyard remains the career leader with 5,747. Excluding players who got extra seasons during the pandemic, Lionel Simmons is the leader with 5,045 minutes played.

Games: Our games leaderboard now extends back t0 1948-49 rather than 1985-86. The single-season record remains 41, shared by many players, while the career record remains 179 by Jordan Bohannon.

We hope you enjoy these improvements. We would like to thank Dave Quinn for his exhaustive research in helping us present this information.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2023 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Announcement, CBB at Sports Reference, Data, Features, History, Leaders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.