Howard is Second Power-League Player in 3 Years to Lead Nation in Scoring

Beyond Marquette's Markus Howard manufacturing a national-leading 27.8 ppg this season, need another example showing how scoring is down in college basketball? Disregard the freak set of circumstances in 2008-09 when eventual NBA MVP Stephen Curry went scoreless against Loyola (Md.). Unsure if it is a byproduct of doomed civilization stemming from eco-fascist climate change, but no NCAA Division I player averaged in excess of 30 points per game in the 21st Century (since LIU's Charles Jones in 1996-97 with 30.1 ppg) until Campbell's Chris Clemons achieved the feat last season (30.1 ppg).

Five years ago, Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey (23.1 ppg) finished with the lowest average for the national scoring leader since Yale's Tony Lavelli posted 22.4 ppg in 1948-49. As a means of comparison to an era when scorers flourished, an average of 36 players annually posted higher scoring marks than Harvey in a six-season span from 1967-68 through 1972-73, including a high of 44 in 1969-70 when LSU's Pete Maravich nearly doubled Harvey with 44.5 ppg despite the absence of the three-point field goal.

Howard is the second power-conference player in the last three years to lead the country in point production. Glenn Robinson Jr. (30.3 ppg for Purdue in 1993-94) was the only player from a power six league to pace the country in scoring in a 41-year span from 1971-72 through 2011-12 (South Carolina was independent in 1980-81 and TCU was SWC member in 1994-95). Following is a look at the high and low games for players during the season when they led DI in scoring average:

NOTE: Leaders are unofficial from 1935-36 through 1946-47.