We can hear it now: Who's Kevin Bradshaw and what is US International?
Let's answer the first question first. Kevin Bradshaw was a 6'4" guard who played high school ball with Vernon Maxwell, spurned Florida to play at Bethune-Cookman, dropped out to join the Navy and start a family, played with David Robinson on a military all-star team while both were in the service and then resumed his college career at US International in San Diego.
Bradshaw's 1990-91 season was noteworthy because it shouldn't even have happened. USIU declared bankruptcy in December 1990 and immediately suspended all athletic programs. Men's basketball was reinstated, but only after coach Gary Zarecky was forced to let go of nearly his entire coaching staff.
Within two weeks of the reinstatement, the up-tempo Gulls met their frenetic counterparts from up the road in Los Angeles, the Loyola Marymount Lions. The previous season, LMU had set an NCAA scoring record in a 181-150 victory over US International, despite Bradshaw pouring in 54 points.
In the rematch, Loyola broke its own mark and won 186-140. Just as noteworthy, though, was Bradshaw setting an NCAA record of his own. He scored 72 points, setting a new standard for a single game against a Division I opponent. The old record was held by The Pistol himself, Pete Maravich, who had scored 69 against Alabama in 1970.
Bradshaw actually drew hate mail for eclipsing the great Maravich's record, but he simply kept shooting. By season's end, his scoring average stood at 37.6 points per game, the highest since Portland State's Freeman Williams posted 38.8 in 1976-77. Only Purdue's Glenn Robinson and Long Island's Charles Jones have even averaged 30 since then.
Because it allowed 105 points per game, USIU won only two games all season. Bradshaw's pyrotechnics ensured that even if the school's final campaign wasn't successful, it would at least be entertaining.
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