Jones on pace for USF freshman scoring mark

Bulls guard Dominique Jones, fresh off his third Big East Rookie of the Week honor, is closing in on USF's freshman scoring record, set by B.B. Waldon in 1998-99.

With five games to play, Jones has 418 points, putting him 37 behind Waldon's record of 455. At his current average, he'll finish with 498 points, so the more interesting watch is to see whether he can get to 500 on the season. He'll need a real strong finish to crack the top 10 scoring seasons in USF history -- the cut to make that list is 533 points, so Jones would have to average 23 points the rest of the way.

Tonight's bar-bet trivia question is a doozy, and again, no looking it up in media guides: Counting conference games only, who holds the Big East freshman records for total points in a season, scoring average, and points in a game? (Clue: It's three different guys, two of which you should know.)

Other obscure statistical milestones to keep an eye on in the next few weeks: center Kentrell Gransberry is on pace to have the second-highest total rebounds in any USF season. Gransberry has 274, so he needs three rebounds to crack the all-time top 10 seasons, but he's on pace for 329, which would finish second behind the 383 Hakim Shahid had in 1989-90. Gransberry's current average of 11.0 would rank third, behind his 11.4 average last season, and Shahid's 12.4 in '89-90.

And if you want really obscure, pull for Solomon Bozeman to get to the free throw line at least 22 times in the last five games. Bozeman's shooting 87.5 percent at the line (35 of 40), which would be the third-best season in USF history, but to make the cut, a player has to average two free throws per game. In a 31-game season, that means 62 attempts. The good news? Bozeman can miss one of those 22 attempts and still get the highest free-throw percentage in school history. That record? Who could forget Cal Glover's 88.9 percent in 1976-77? Bozeman barely missed Glover's mark as a freshman last season, hitting 88.4 percent -- yes, by making just one more out of 147 attempts last season, Bozeman would have the best season in school history.

And, getting back to the freshman phenom Jones: Barring a ridiculous finish to his season, he will not be the Big East Rookie of the Year. That honor will go to Syracuse's Donte Greene, who has averaged about two more points per game for a more successful team, while ranking among the league leaders in rebounds (7.2) and blocks (1.8). Jones is a solid runner-up and a lock for any league all-freshman team. During the ESPN Regional broadcast Saturday, Mike Jarvis called him one of the best freshmen in the nation. Hard to argue with that ...

Comments

[Herman Momart]

Greg, on that question I will guess Carmelo Anthony, Pat Ewing and Chris Mullin.

I have no idea if any of those are right but i have the most confidence in the Carmelo guess.

I heard jarvis say that about Jones, that was pretty cool.

[Bull Hooper]

Iverson might be one of the answers! Isnt he "The Answer?"

[Ken]

Great column. Thanks. If we should know only two of them, then at least one of the above must be wrong.

[DELdaBULL]

AI has to be one of the three. There is no doubt about that. He was a scoring machine at Georgetown.

[DELdaBULL]

Speaking of G-town, they are winning the same way now as they used to back in the 80s and early 90s - bludgeoning you to submission.

[G.A.]

I'll give a few more hours to see if anybody somehow knows the third, but yes, you guys have mentioned the two you should have mentioned ...

[DELdaBULL]

Is the last guy Pinkney?
Obviously, the last guy is someone we have not heard of or would most likely forget. This is really tough. It is even tough to look up.

[Reality]

One fine sunday afternoon on CBS back in the heyday of Seton Hall basketball while playing Pittsburgh, at that time known as PITT, a young lad who had not done much prior and didnt do much later, lit up the Panthers for 41 points that fine day. Marco Lokar was his name.

Sadly, his career for the Pirates was ruined by an ugly set of incidents that followed his refusal to wear the american flag on his jersey. An Italian, but of Slovak heritage, he was not happy about the war. He refused to wear the flag, and then his whole family was harrassed, until the point he quit and went home.

I am sure I am one of the few people in Tampa that knows this bit of old school big east trivia. I am glad he could find his way into a Greg Auman blog.

When it comes to old school Big East ask Reality.....if it involves Seton Hall, even a better chance I know:)

Look forward to seeing the Pirates next week!

[G.A.]

Wow. Reality either really knows his stuff, or did some serious Googling. Impressive, either way.

Yes, Marco Lokar has the Big East freshman record with 41 points in a conference game. Carmelo Anthony had the highest freshman scoring average in league play at 21.4 points per game, and Allen Iverson had the most points in a conference season.

I'm wondering, if only for a moment, if in a wild coincidence, Reality is Marco Lokar. Can't prove it, but I'm fairly certain I've never seen them in the same place at the same time.

[Bull Hooper]

i think Reality is Tony Soprano, who said he briefly attended Seton Hall. Both Reality and Tony S. also occasionally need psychotherapy, prozac etc. just kiddin. kinda.
If the Bulls can continue the effort they've put together the last two games at Cincy, they have a great shot to win.

[Reality]

I have been considered part of the "family"........

I wish some of you would realize that before you give me such grief.

I know people that can take care of issues.

Marco's story is really sad though, and having been involved with the program in some regard, it is a shame what happened. Maybe Greg could do a story on Marco before next Tuesday's game. Very timely with the issues of Obama not wearing the flag pin, and the parallel to Marco.

This was the biggest mistake PJ ever made at SHU, or second, depending on how you view the Assaf Barnea incident. I know to a non-SHU person, none of this makes sense, but if you think Heath is hard on anybody, you should have seen PJ. There is yelling, then there is PJ.

[Reality]

PS, I am not sure the story of Marco is even available on Google, it was not a big deal, and things that happened back in 91 are not as readily available on the net, as the stories of today are. Shame they didnt have blogs back then to bring these things up.

[Reality]

ok, I was wrong, if you do some googling it is out there, and there are some really good stories on it.

Sorry to pull traffic away from your site, Greg.

I thought it would have not been found, as it didnt get the national attention it deserved, as the only story from back then that I remember getting huge press was the Chris Jackson refusing to stand for the
national anthem.

[G.A.]

No problem, Reality. I'm really just posting this so you don't have the shame of four consecutive posts on the same thread. :)

[Herman Momart]

Its that PJ yelling that got him choked out in the NBA.

Was he still considered Chris Jackson or Maqmuud Abdul Rauf (sp?) when he did that? I used to love that Nuggets team. Laphonso Ellis was the man.

[Reality]

He technically was Mahmoud Abdul Rauf at that time, but I always call him by the name his mother gave him. If she wanted him to be Mahmoud, she would have named him such.

PJ was a notorious screamer. He seems to have learned to calm down since the Latrell incident. He could yell at college kids, and they were just going to put up with his crap, or leave. Pros were not going to take it and Latrell was not stable and you see the result.