If Chris Clemons -- or even Mike Daum – is to pass Lionel Simmons (3,217) for third place on the Men’s NCAA Division I Scoring List, they are going to have to do it in the NIT.
Clemons’ Campbell team and Daum’s South Dakota State team were each eliminated from their conference tournaments on back-to-back days over the weekend. Since each school was their league’s regular season champion, they get automatic bids to the NIT, where each could have as many as five games to add to his career point total.
The NIT pairings are announced Sunday evening, March 17. First-round games will be played March 19-21 at campus sites.
Clemons (3,193) is just 25 points shy of passing La Salle’s Simmons and could easily do so in a first-round game. No. 2 on the list is Freeman Williams (3,249), whom Clemons could also pass if the Fighting Camels win a game or two.
Daum will enter the NIT with 3,042 points, ninth on the all-time list, 175 points behind Simmonds. He would have to average 35 points a game and make it to the Finals just to catch Simmons.
St. Peter’s Keydren Clark (3,058) and Texas Southern’s Harry Kelly (3,066) are in his more immediate sights.