40 for 34 # 13 - May 28

An MVP Season

Len Bias helped Maryland achieve one of its best seasons ever in 1984

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Len Bias cuts down the net after winning the 1984 ACC tournament.

Maryland ended 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 Most Valuable Player, just as he had proclaimed.

Excerpted from the book,

Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Buy autographed copies

as a Father's Day Gift

The audio for this post was narrated by the author,

Dave Ungrady.

And listen to more about Len's early life in Episode 2 of the narrative podcast series, Len Bias: A Mixed Legacy