Nick Fazekas: About to Enter an Elite Club
6'11" Nevada senior forward Nick Fazekas entered this season on the verge of entering some very select company. His stats through his first 3 seasons:
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
99 653-1258 .519 418-519 .805 900 114 144 74 1812
Despite playing in only a few games leading up to Thanksgiving, the 2-time-defending WAC Player of the Year is already in mid-season form. His monster numbers through his first 4 games of this season:
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
4 36-55 .655 19-23 .826 59 10 5 2 97
Nevada’s all-time leader in blocked shots entering this season, Fazekas passed Edgar Jones earlier this month to become the school’s career scoring leader, and he will pass Jones in the weeks ahead to become the #2 all-time rebounder. His career totals for points and rebounds now place him squarely at the door to the select 2000-point/1000-rebound club. His career totals (including this season):
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
103 689-1313 .525 437-542 .806 959 124 149 76 1909
However, when you consider shooting accuracy in addition to raw numbers, the club membership gets quite small. My exhaustive research has discovered only 5 members of the 2000-point/1000-rebound club who also shot 50% from the field and 80% from the line during their careers (listed below in alphabetical order):
1. Rick Barry, Miami (Fla.), 1962-1965
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
77 816-1564 .522 666-786 .847 1274 N/A N/A N/A 2298
2. Larry Bird, Indiana State, 1976-1979
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
94 1154-2165 .533 542-659 .822 1247 434 83 240 2850
3. Bill Bradley, Princeton, 1962-1965
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
83 856-1667 .513 791-903 .876 1008 N/A N/A N/A 2503
4. Christian Laettner, Duke, 1988-1992
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
148 834-1452 .574 713-885 .806 1149 273 145 243 2460
5. Keith Van Horn, Utah, 1993-1997
G FG FT Reb A BL ST PTS
122 891-1706 .522 554-651 .851 1074 142 126 87 2542
The first 3 are NBA Hall-of-Famers, and the other 2 are NCAA legends. Only time will tell which category Fazekas will end up in (I hope for the former, but suspect the latter), but now is the time to give thanks for the opportunity to watch a player who I consider to be one of the best-shooting big men in the history of college basketball.
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About Jon Teitel
Columnist
Penn/Ivy League Columnist
Contact
teitel@alumni.upenn.edu
Background
Jon attended college at the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1996) and law school at the University of Arizona (class of 2001), so his 2 favorite college teams are the Quakers and the Wildcats. While at Penn, Jon was the sports director of the school TV station, where he covered their 1994 and 1995 NCAA tournament appearances. He has also worked as a production assistant for ESPN, and a broadcast assistant for CBS during 2 different NCAA tournaments. He currently works as an investigator for the federal government in Washington, DC.
Location
Washington, DC