List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
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In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws and field goals.[1] The National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I scoring title is awarded to the player with the highest points per game (ppg) average in a given season. The NCAA did not split into its current divisions format until August 1973.[2] From 1906 to 1955, there were no classifications to the NCAA nor its predecessor, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS).[2] Then, from 1956 to 1973, colleges were classified as either "NCAA University Division (Major College)" or "NCAA College Division (Small College)".[2] The NCAA's official men's basketball media guide recognizes scoring champions beginning with the 1947–48 season; from 1935–36 to 1946–47, "unofficial" scoring champions were compiled from the annual National Basketball Committee Official Basketball Guide.[2][3]
Pete Maravich of LSU holds the all-time NCAA Division I records for career scoring(3,667) and average(44.2).[3][4][5] His three consecutive scoring titles from 1968 to 1970 are also the three highest single-season averages in NCAA history.[3]
Many of the scoring champions from the 1986–87 season and earlier could have added significantly more points if the three-point line had been instituted. It wasn't until the 1987–88 season that the NCAA standardized the line and accounted for three-point field goals in its official record book.[3][14] The only player since they were instituted to have not made a single three-point shot in his scoring title season is Gathers, who instead made 419field goals and 177free throws en route to scoring 1,015points and averaging 32.7points per game.[3][12]
One prolific college basketball scorer who was not an NCAA scoring champion was Notre Dame's Austin Carr. Carr averaged 38.2ppg as a junior in 1969–70 (tied for eighth highest in NCAA history) and 38.0ppg as a senior in 1970–71 (tenth highest).[3][15][16] Unfortunately for Carr, he happened to accomplish these feats while playing at the same time as Maravich, whose 44.5ppg in 1969–70 is the highest in Division I history,[3] and as Johnny Neumann, whose 40.1ppg in 1970–71 is the fifth highest average.[3] While finishing second in the scoring races each of his last two seasons, Carr is the only player on the NCAA's top ten single season scoring averages list who never won an NCAA scoring title.[3]
Denotes the number of times the player had been the scoring leader up to and including that season
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Except as specifically noted, all teams are listed under their current athletic brand names, which do not always match those used by a given program in a specific season.
Unofficial
George Mikan (#99) was the first center to lead the nation in scoring, albeit unofficially.
Between 1935–36 and 1946–47, there were no "official" NCAA scoring champions. The statistics during that era were compiled from the National Basketball Committee Official Basketball Guide, which was not regulated by NCAA authorities. Therefore, the following players are included in the annual NCAA men's basketball media guide, but are listed as unofficial season scoring leaders.[3]
At the time, Long Island University operated two separate athletic programs—the Division I Long Island Blackbirds (later rebranded as the "LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds"), representing the school's Brooklyn campus, and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers, representing the Post campus in Nassau County, New York. After the 2018–19 school year, the university merged its athletic programs, creating the current LIU Sharks. The Sharks inherited LIU Brooklyn's Division I and Northeast Conference memberships, as well as the history and records of all sports that the Brooklyn campus sponsored at the time of the merger.
Foster, Dan (20 March 2006). "Darrell Floyd (2006)". North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.