50 for 50 – Len Bias’ Golden Moments #16…Leveled Expectations

Through Nov. 18, Len Bias’ 50th birthday, the Born Ready Blog will provide each day a new item that helped define Len’s legacy, 50 in total.

A Dubious Start to a Senior Season

As Bias began his senior season, Maryland returned three starters from its NCAA Sweet 16 team and was ranked No. 19 in the country. But, ominously, Bias sprained an ankle in a pickup game in late October and missed a few days of practice. In a season-opening win against Northeastern, Bias fouled out, but came back emphatically the next game with a career-best 33 points in a one-point win over George Mason.

He scored 29 points in a seven-point win over Hawaii Pacific in late December and, after he scored 28 in a loss to No. 3-ranked Duke in early January, he had tallied at least 20 points in 10 of Maryland’s 12 games. But while Adrian Branch as a senior the previous season could rely on Bias to pick up the scoring slack if he had a bad night, Bias had no such support. He commented in a Washington Post report that a lack of scoring balance was becoming a concern. “Everyone isn’t looking for their shot,” he said. “They’re depending too much on one person.”

Excerpted from the book, Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Learn about the Born Ready Project that teaches life skills, using Len’s legacy as a teaching tool.

Find out about the Born Ready Hoops Festival  Nov. 22-24, that will honor Len’s legacy as a basketball player.

50 for 50 – Len Bias’ Golden Moments #13…A Rising Junior

Through Nov. 18, Len Bias’ 50th birthday, the Born Ready Blog will provide each day a new item that helped define Len’s legacy, 50 in total.

Bias Becomes a Dominant Force During his Junior Season

During a three-game stretch in early January of his junior year that included four ACC games against teams ranked among the top 20 in the country – including No. 2 Duke and No. 5 North Carolina – Bias started to show why he would be named the top player in the ACC that season. He led Maryland in scoring in a two-point win over 17th-ranked N.C. State (17 points), a one-point loss to North Carolina (23 points), and in its next game five days later, a two-point overtime win over Duke (24 points).

Against Duke, Bias scored 16 second-half points to erase a 14-point deficit, causing Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to lament afterward how many of Bias’s shots bounced around the rim before sliding through the net. Krzyzewski thought Bias was a lucky shooter until he reviewed the game tape and realized that Len’s soft touch helped him make the shots. Two weeks after the Duke game, Bias scored 30 points in a three-point win over 14th-ranked Villanova, the eventual national champion.

In late January, he scored 24 points in a win over Old Dominion, and converted Maryland’s last two free throws in the final seconds of the Terrapins’ one point win over N.C. State in late February. At the end of the regular season, Bias led the ACC in scoring with 19 points per game on 53 percent shooting from the field and led Maryland with an average of 6.8 rebounds. In a Washington Post feature about Bias the day before Maryland was to meet Duke in the first round of the ACC tournament, Indiana Pacers personnel director Tom Newell said: “Len Bias has a chance to become one of the best players to ever play his position. I don’t mean one of the best now, I mean one of the best ever. He’s replaced Newton’s theory of gravity with Michael Jordan’s theory of gravity – which is that there is none. He just climbs up there and hangs.”

Excerpted from the book, Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Learn about the Born Ready Project that teaches life skills, using Len’s legacy as a teaching tool.

50 for 50 – Len Bias’ Golden Moments #11…Sophomore Surge

Through Nov. 18, Len Bias’ 50th birthday, the Born Ready Blog will provide each day a new item that helped define Len’s legacy, 50 in total.

A Sophomore Surge and an ACC Tourney Triumph

Maryland ended the Bias’ sophomore season at 24-8, finishing second in the ACC regular season standings with a 9-5 conference record. Despite his impressive numbers – he finished the year second on the team in points (15.2) per game and third in rebounds (4.5) per game – Bias was not selected for the all-ACC team when it was announced in early March.

The snub provided added motivation. Brian Waller, Bias’ close friend and high school teammate, remembers receiving a phone call from Bias: “You see the paper today? I didn’t even make the second team. You see the dudes they got in front of me? That’s alright, I’m gonna go down to the ACC and win the MVP of the tournament.”

Maryland made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament after winning the ACC tournament title for only the second time up to that point and the first since 1958. In the ACC tourney, Bias had 15 points and 7 rebounds in a first-round, six-point win over N.C. State, and scored 15 points, including 10 in the first half, in a two-point semi-final win over Wake Forest that saw him make a free throw with one second remaining. In the final game, against Duke, Bias scored 26 points, converting 12 of 17 field goals – 10 of which came on a 24-3 run that erased an eight-point Duke lead early in the second half. It was enough to convince voters to name him the tournament MVP, just as he had proclaimed.

 

Excerpted from the book, Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Learn about the Born Ready Project that teaches life skills, using Len’s legacy as a teaching tool.

Find out about the Born Ready Hoops Festival  Nov. 22-24, that will honor Len’s legacy as a basketball player.