Many of the players on the MaxPreps National High School Boys Basketball Record Book list of rebound leaders for a single season played prior to the 1980s.
This single-season rebounds list includes former NBA players Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Walton, Bill Cartwright, Bill Bridges, Dwight Jones, John Drew, Othella Harrington and Joe Kleine.
While there are a number of players on the latest record book list from the past 40 years, very few played in the 21st century. Many of the players, in fact, played around 1970. The question is, what can account for this?
Take a look the evolution of rebounding and shooting percentages in the NBA. Of the top 100 single-season rebounding averages, only six have occurred since 2000. In fact, only 13 have happened since 1980.
On the flip side, shooting percentages have gone way up. Only 17 players among the top 100 single-season shooting percentage record holders made the list prior to 2000, and Wilt Chamberlain (3 times), Artis Gilmore (4) and Charles Barkley (4) make up 11 of those players.
In 1971, eight players in the NBA shot over 50 percent. In 1972, it was 10. Ironically, shooting percentages increased with the introduction of the 3-point shot in the late 1970s. After 1979, at least 40 players shot over 50 percent from the field every year. Thus, there were fewer rebounds to be had. As a result, rebounding totals diminished in the NBA around 1980.
So under the assumption that high school trends mirror NBA trends, that could be one reason why high school players gathered so many rebounds in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Another reason could be the outlawing of the dunk in the late 1960s. With players unable to dunk, they would have to attempt lower-percentage shots which would lead to rebounds. The dunk was re-established in the mid-1970s.
Teams also ran much faster-paced offenses in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A look at the teams with the most 100-point games finds multiple teams from that era in the National Federation of High Schools record books. Faster pace means more shots, which means more rebounds.
Playing more games also is a factor. Louisiana and Texas teams played close to 50 or 60 games every year. There are likely a multitude of players from those two states who have over 1,000 rebounds in a season because their teams played close to 60 games every year. That's one reason why the all-time leader, Bruce Williams of
Florien (La.), is the No. 1 player on the list with 1,139 rebounds and that Texas has so many players on the list.
Louisiana has since lowered the number of allowable games in a season, so Williams' record will likely never be broken. In fact, no other player on the list has come within 400 rebounds in the last 30 years.
The MaxPreps list was culled from state association record books, the NFHS record book, Cal-Hi Sports by Mark Tennis and Nelson Tennis, Bob Springer's Texas Basketball Records and research on newspapers.com and the MaxPreps leaderboards.
Any corrections or additions? Contact kevinaskeland65@gmail.com.
