For most of the season, it looked like Detroit Mercy star Antoine Davis would have a chance to break one of the most impressive records in college basketball history. But after selection Sunday, it’s now official that he has fallen just three points short.
Antoine Davis was chasing the NCAA’s all-time scoring record set by the legendary “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who scored 3,667 points during his three seasons with the LSU Tigers from 1967 to 1970. Davis got extremely close, reaching the career mark of 3,664 points during the team’s Horizon League Tournament loss to Youngstown State last week, but he won’t get a chance to add to that total as the team did not get an invite to any postseason invitational tournament.
This shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise since Detroit Mercy finished the season with a 14-19 overall record and certainly didn’t earn a spot in any postseason tournament. However, it sounded like the CBI was strongly considering allowing Detroit Mercy into the field to allow Davis to chase the record one more time.
“We do take teams that are below .500, depending on the circumstances,” CBI director Rick Giles told Outkick last week. “Not every year, but we have for different reasons. We have invited Power Five teams known for their fan base and tradition and teams with star players. We want a competitive tournament but also one that generates fan interest.”
Here is the 2023 bracket pic.twitter.com/kY7VNLvTOB
— Ro CBI (@CBITourney) March 13, 2023
But when the CBI announced its field on Sunday evening, Detroit Mercy wasn’t among the teams, meaning Davis will finish his career just shy of Maravich’s record.
It’s unfortunate for Davis, but to be fair, his career total would still not be comparable to Maravich even if he did pass him on the all-time scoring list. After all, Maravich set his record in just three seasons at LSU, playing 88 total games, while Davis amassed his total in 144 games throughout five full seasons, getting an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maravich scored all of his points before the introduction of the three-point line.
Maravich’s record has long been considered unbreakable, given that players capable of scoring that many points are unlikely to stay in college long enough to pass his scoring total. And if Davis couldn’t do it even with an entire extra year of eligibility, there’s a real chance it might never be done.
[CBI]
