Sizzling Scorer: Nova's Jalen Brunson Leading Scorer Among Final Four Teams
In 2016, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, the nation's runner-up in scoring with 25.4 points per game, came close to duplicating one of the most overlooked achievements in NCAA Tournament history. In 1951-52, Clyde Lovellette of champion Kansas became the only player to lead the nation in scoring average (28.4 ppg) while competing for a squad reaching the NCAA tourney title game. Final Four luminaries averaging more than 30 ppg include Elvin Hayes (36.8/Houston '68), Oscar Robertson (33.7/Cincinnati '60 and 32.6/Cincinnati '59), Rick Mount (33.3/Purdue '69), Elgin Baylor (32.5/Seattle '58), Bill Bradley (30.5/Princeton '65) and Len Chappell (30.1/Wake Forest '62).
Lovellette, an 11-year NBA center who passed away last year, served as sheriff of Vigo County in his native Indiana (noted for raid on Terre Haute brothels). Villanova fans would be ecstatic if the leading scorer among this campaign's national semifinalists - guard Jalen Brunson - raided the Final Four by joining Lovellette as the only other player cracking the 30-point plateau in the national semifinals and championship contest in the same season (33 against both Santa Clara and St. John's).
Hield was the first Final Four player since Georgia Tech's Dennis Scott to average in excess of 25 ppg. Only two other Final Four players notched higher scoring averages than Hield since the playoff field expanded to at least 32 teams in 1975 - Larry Bird (28.6 ppg for Indiana State '79 and Glen Rice (25.6 for Michigan '89). Brunson, posting the fifth-highest scoring average by a Final Four player in the last 15 seasons, joined the following list of individuals in the last 28 years amassing the highest scoring average from a Final Four club since Scott's mark of 27.7 ppg in 1989-90: