Major Improvements to Men’s College Basketball Leaderboards

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…