Ive watched basketball for over 50 yrs. watched some of the greatest,love MJ,Julius erving,wilt chamberlan,oscar robertson,bill russell,walton,magic but of all the ball players this guy could do things no one else could do and even today would kick ass in a game of horse, watch his games here on utube playing other pros.The best ball handler ive ever seen,pure shooter,he could have scored alot more .If they had 3 point play he would have averaged 57 points a game in college! incredible player!

Everybody mentions no 3 point shot during Maravich days. But there was also no shot clock. The opposing team could keep the ball for a minute or longer if they wanted to. Which makes Maravich even more amazing.

First, I'll say that Pete was a unique, entertaining player with immense talent offensively. But one reason he scored such astronomical point totals has a little to do with his coach at LSU. Guy by the name of "Press". ...Press Maravich. The LSU Tigers became a showcase for Press' boy. He took the shots, he scored the points. *No coach other than his **_Dad_** would have let him take 35-40 shots a game.*

My boyhood hero!

Best player to play the game

Here's my top 10 in no particular order: Wilt, Pistol, Bill Russell, Jerry Lucas, Jabbar, Walton, David Thompson, Patrick Ewing, Big O, and Larry/Magic. I feel like someone from Duke should be on the list, probably Laettner, but he just wasn't as dominant as the others even if his teams may have had more success. Also, feel bad about leaving the "Big E" Elvin Hayes off the list.

Jay that's pretty absurd hes a hall of gamer after just 10 seasons. He had a heck of a career. I would love to see u do what Pete did with the ball quit being a critic of a gift u wished u had

janis: Keep in mind that in the late '60s/ early 70's, the college basketball game was loaded with high scorers. Rick Mount of Purdue, Calvin Murphy of Niagra, and Notre Dame's Austin Carr all graduated along with Pistol in the 1970/1971 era and all averaged over 30ppg for their college careers. So the game was much more of an offensive game back then. With the exception of Mount (who didn't do much in the ABA), the other two players had respectable NBA careers but certainly not outstanding.

Here's the justification for including Robertson in the top 3 : recorded a scoring average of 33.8 points per game, the 3rd highest in college history. In each of his 3years, he won the national scoring title, was named an All-American, and was chosen College Player of the Year, while setting 14 NCAA records. Led the Bearcats to a 79-9 overall record during his three varsity seasons, including two Final Four appearances. Played and won a gold medal in '60 Olympics.

Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley, UNLV's Larry Johnson....to mention others

If you read the book " Maravich " which by the way is a fantastic book, they broke down all his games by where he shot the ball from, if there would have been a 3 point line back then like now they said he would have averaged, get this, 57 points per game since a majority of his shots were made from 3 point territory, thats amazing !!

janis: You're right. Oscar's U of Cincinnati Tigers made it to the final four twice ('59 and '60), but lost to California each time. The Bears somehow managed to hold him to 9 for 32 shooting in the two games. The year after Oscar graduated, the U of Cincinnati won the first of back-to-back championships, defeating another college legend Jerry Lucas of Ohio State each time.

I never said he was as good as him. This is THE TOP TEN. In MY OPINION he should be some where on the list.

Crazy stat...if there was a 3-point line he would of averaged 57 ppg. Yep...he averaged 13 3-pointers a game.

I think Jabbar was the greatest college player of all time because his game was flawless at the college level. Maravich was the greatest scorer of all time in college history though. What he did will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER be duplicated in college history. He scored that many points in 3 YEARS and WITHOUT a 3 point shot. I don't think you can even do that in a video game lol

taxi: I wouldn't say he never played with another good player. In his early years on the Hawks, he played with Sweet Lou Hudson, who put up some great numbers during that time. He actually outscored Pete in the 1972-73 season. The center was Walt Bellamy, who is one of the all-time greats. But as a team, the Hawks of the early 70's lacked depth and so were not very competitive with the elite teams.

I had to a little investigation to find out who the main players were on the U of California team that won the '59 championship. One of the key players was not other than Darrall Imhoff. Yes, the same Imhoff who was the starting center for the Knicks the night Wilt went for 100.

If he was a one man team or even the best guy on the team then how come 5 defenders could only hold him to 44 points EVERY GAME?

Heart attack, Rare heart disease

Depends on how you defining "greatest individual player". He had the highest scoring ave. But he did that on teams that were mediocre. LSU, in his 3 varsity years, were 14-12, 13-13 and 20-8. In his final year, LUS made it to the NIT and finished 3rd. His LSU career field goal pct was .438. He scored alot of points but he also took alot of shots. To me, the greatest players are the ones that score/rebound alot on teams that if not win championships, then at least make it to the finals.

@overloadproductions I think your getting it confused with the fact that he drunk during his nba years.. he was an alcholic during his college years and nba years but he never did drugs

All good players, but nowhere near the caliber of the others on my list. Hill ave 14.9ppg, 6.0rpg, and 3.6apg while being named 3rd team All-American (AP) in his junior year and 1st team in his senior year. Also, a defensive player of the year award in his junior year. I wish he had remained healthy in his NBA career. Hurley : 12.4 / 2.2 / 7.7. Like Hill, All American 3rd team junior year and 1st team senior year. Final Four outstanding player his junior year.

G.O.A.T

he shot 43.8% and scored 44 points per game to me that makes him a ballhog

How can you forget about Larry Johnson on the 1990's UNLV team? He has to be top ten, maybe even top 5

Lew Alcindor was a tremendous player at 7-1 and was surrounded by plenty of really good complementary players. Maravich at 6-5 could do things Alcindor couldn't do while Maravich could do what Alcindor could do ... which is score. In addition, Maravich was surrounded by nobody and LSU rose to national prominence due to Maravich. Of course, they were nothing like UCLA at that time, but, again, UCLA had HS All Americans WITH Alcindor.

@BRAVES1976 damn i didnt know bird said that :)

@overloadproductions its not considered a drug

@XxAC130Time1xX2 Don't forget about Jerry West.

when he got to the nba the players litterally made it their goal to hurt him everytime he put the ball on the floor and did a fancy move which is why he got injured which is why he isnt as good as he could have been and is why he retired early and didnt make a great impact in the nba which is bullshit

I saw the list. They forgot Wayman Tisdale.

Pistol was great, but no way is he the top NCAA player of all time. That title goes to either Lew Alcindor (Jabbar), Bill Walton or Oscar Robertson. Those guys won championships. Maravich did not even play in the NCAA tournament. He scored alot of points because the whole team was built to have Maravich score. (Nice to have your father as the coach).

Well deserved

people lets make something quite clear as far as college is concerned winning a championship doesnt mean you are the best player ever for the NBA yea that is a little more reasonable but college isnt the same as the NBA

Where is JJ Redick at???

@XxAC130Time1xX That's college Pros are better than college. Who was the best high school player? Who was the best elementary player? You see, the farther down you go, the less significant it is. Still, I often wonder why Pete didn't have a better NBA career. I think he just wore down earlier then most. This happens to some players. Jordan 1 all time. Kobe 2. Bird 3.

i live in louisiana

He shot 44% in part because his teams were so bad he had to take most of the shots.. and since they were mostly from outside.. and against those old backboards and rims.. it had nothing to do with selfishness.

Off the top of my head, I'd put Dr J ahead of Maravich, especially if you consider his ABA days. LeBron also.

@danielg1818 numbers talk! you think you know better than those who made the countdown?! i don't think so...

He was 6'6"!?!?

Memphis Penny is number 1

@Jakethesnake991 idk where the hell you heard he did drugs..

Pistol

Alcindor is #1.

@superduperball23 hmmmmm I wouldn't go that far. completely different era but Michael Jordan dominated in an even higher fashion at a MUCH high level of competition.

The only player in college dominant enough to challenge Pete as the greatest collegiate is Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Those of you too young to have seen Kareem play while at UCLA have no right to even think your opinion has any validity.

Maravich's game was not a post up game. Could he post up Elvin Hayes? He didn't have to. Could Elvin Hayes stop Maravich as an offensive player? I don't think so. Larry Bird's team was never in the championship game is irrelevant. His team THAT year was a good team. And, you're wrong with the "excuse that Maravich didn't play with a good team is weak. It's the truth. Maravich set the bar for the way players play the game today with the way the ball is handled. Hayes set no bar.

ok? just because lew played on a good team hes automatically better?

JJ Reddick? Are you fucking serious? He's nowhere close to Pete.

Lou Alcinador (Kareem) EASILY #1 ... this is idiotic

Pete #1, what a joke. What did his team win, exactly nothing. Kareem (Lew Alcindor) high school team was #1 in NY State (probably #1 in nation) for 3 years and Lew has 3 NCAA championships. In summary, he lost only 1 game in 5.5 years (sophmore high school to Junior high school) competing at the highest level. Lew's freshman team in college beat the defending national NCAA team by 15 points. Take that same team and remove Lew and put Pete, I doubt they can win. As a freshman, Lew was already best player in NCAA and at worse 4th best player in the world. Pete shoots low 40% and Lew over 60%. Of course his team is going to lose when you shoot low 40% and shoot so much. Let me guess, he missed more shots than anyone else also. If Lew shoot as much as Pete, would average 60 points!

What a joke. A guy that is selfish and shoot under 44% in his college career is ranked in top 3? Basketball is a team sports and it is all about winning championship not indovidual stats

Overrated