1971–72 Virginia Squires season

ABA basketball team season August 2023 Virginia Squires ABA 1972 45 39 Eastern 2nd Al Bianchi Norfolk ScopeHampton ColiseumRichmond ColiseumRoanoke Civic Center Lost in Division Finals The 1971–72 Virginia Squires season was the second season of the Virginia Squires in the American Basketball Association, as well as the fifth season of the franchise after previously playing as the Oakland Oaks and Washington Caps. This was the debut season of future Hall of Famer and ABA All-Time MVP Julius Erving, who the team acquired over the New York Nets (the only other ABA team to seriously inquire over his undrafted player rights as a junior college player from the University of Massachusetts) some time after the 1971 ABA draft ended. During the first half of the season, the Squires were 26–16, with a season-high five-game losing streak and a five-game winning streak mixed together in that half. However, in the second half of the season, they went 19–23, with some of those losses relating to them suddenly losing their key co-star, Charlie Scott for the rest of the season through him playing with the rivaling NBA. Just before the season ended, Charlie Scott left the team and joined the NBA's Phoenix Suns due to them completing a trade with the Boston Celtics (who held his original draft rights) for Paul Silas. The Squires finished the season as a team that was second in points scored at 118.9 per game (behind only the Pittsburgh Condors), but ninth in points allowed at 118.0 per game. Scott set the all-time ABA individual single-season scoring record by averaging 34.6 points per game. Despite them being without Charlie Scott as a key co-star to Julius Erving to end the season, in the 1972 ABA Playoffs, the Squires swept "The Floridians" franchise in what turned out to be that franchise's final games ever played (with Game 2 even being broadcast nationally on CBS), but the Squires lost to the New York Nets (who had previously upset a 68–16 Kentucky Colonels in the first round) in the Eastern Division Finals in seven games.https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/VIR/1972_games.html 1971-72 Virginia Squires Schedule and Results After this season ended, the Squires stopped playing in Roanoke, electing to focus on the cities of Norfolk, Hampton, and Richmond only. ABA Draft 1971 ABA draft This draft was the first ABA draft to have a properly recorded historical note of every round in their draft available. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College / Club 1 7 Willie Sojourner PF/C USA United States Weber State College 1 10 Dana Lewis C USA United States Tulsa 3 23 Austin Carr SG USA United States Notre Dame 4 41 Dana Pagett G USA United States USC 5 52 Tom Riker PF/C USA United States South Carolina 6 63 Barry Parkhill SG USA United States Virginia 7 74 Clifford Ray PF/C USA United States Oklahoma 8 85 Bill Gerry F USA United States Virginia 9 96 Jim Chones PF/C USA United States Marquette 10 107 Gil McGregor PF USA United States Wake Forest 11 118 Héctor Blondet F PUR Puerto Rico Murray State 12 128 Luis Grillo PG USA United States Sunbury Mercuries (EBA) This draft would be notable for the Squires for multiple reasons. First, Virginia would join the Denver Rockets as the only other ABA team to have multiple first round draft picks (despite Virginia trading one of the first round picks they first had to Denver) due to Virginia not just keeping their own first round pick at the end of the first round, but also acquiring a first round pick from the Indiana Pacers by a trade with the Kentucky Colonels back when the Squires were originally known as the Washington Caps with deals involving Warren Jabali. Second, the selections of Tom Riker, Barry Parkhill, and Jim Chones were all later considered to be ineligible draft picks by the ABA due to them being college underclassmen at the time of their selections (which was a stipulation that was held by the NBA in order for the originally planned ABA-NBA merger of 1971 to occur that year instead of by 1976 when it actually did happen), with only Parkhill being re-selected by the Squires in a later draft year.https://prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Years/1971-aba.htm 1971 ABA Draft Pick Transactions Pro Sports Transactions December 23, 2024 (Tom Riker would later get selected by the Carolina Cougars as the #2 pick of the 1972 ABA draft, while Jim Chones would ironically sign up with the New York Nets months after the draft ended, though they ended up losing a first round pick in the process the following year afterward.) Third, Héctor Blondet would be the only known foreign-born draft pick in the 1971 ABA draft to play in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, as well as win a silver medal in the 1971 Pan American Games. Fourth, Luis Grillo would be the only player of the ABA draft to be drafted from a different basketball club in the Eastern Basketball Association (now Continental Basketball Association) by the Sunbury Mercuries instead of a regular college or university like every other player in the draft. Finally, the Squires would notably exit the draft months later with the inclusion of junior college underclassman Julius Erving from the University of Massachusetts on their roster, acquiring the future Hall of Famer and ABA All-Time MVP over the New York Nets (the only other team that had serious interest in obtaining him at the time) in exchange for them losing their first round pick in the following year's draft. Roster Virginia Squires 1971–72 #D50032 #FFFFFF #053CA4 #FFFFFF 20 Mike Barrett basketball, born 1943 PG 6 2 155 September 5, 1943 West Virginia Tech 16 Bill Bunting SF 6 8 200 August 26, 1947 UNC 42 Jim Eakins C 6 11 215 May 24, 1946 BYU 32 Julius Erving SF 6 7 210 February 22, 1950 UMass 30 George Irvine basketball SF 6 6 200 February 1, 1948 Washington 24 Neil Johnson basketball PF 6 7 220 April 17, 1943 Creighton 34 Mike Maloy PF 6 7 215 May 10, 1949 Davidson 15 Doug Moe SF 6 5 215 September 21, 1938 UNC 21 Dana Pagett G 6 2 180 March 29, 1949 USC 33 Charlie Scott basketball SG 6 5 175 December 15, 1948 UNC 22 Ray Scott basketball C 6 9 215 July 12, 1938 University of Portland 0 Adrian Smith basketball SG 6 1 180 October 5, 1936 Kentucky 35 Willie Sojourner C 6 8 225 September 10, 1948 Weber State 14 Roland Taylor PG 6 0 175 March 13, 1946 La Salle 11 Bernie Williams basketball SG 6 3 175 December 30, 1945 La Salle Al Bianchi https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/VIR/1972.html<noinclude> Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L % GB Kentucky Colonels 68 16 .810 – Virginia Squires 45 39 .536 23 New York Nets 44 40 .524 24 The Floridians 36 48 .429 32 Carolina Cougars 35 49 .417 33 Pittsburgh Condors 25 59 .298 43 ABA Playoffs ABA Eastern Division Semifinalshttp://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1972Playoffs.html 1971–72 ABA Regular Season Standings Remembertheaba.com 2016-07-25 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20141028055342/http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1972Playoffs.html 2014-10-28 Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 2 Norfolk (Virginia) 114–107 (OT) 1–0 3,770 2 April 4 Hampton (Virginia) 125–100 2–0 2,921 3 April 6 Miami-Dade (Florida) 118–113 3–0 2,965 4 April 8 Miami-Dade (Florida) 115–106 4–0 3,117 Squires win series, 4–0 ABA Eastern Division Finals vs. New York Nets Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 13 Richmond (Virginia) 138–91 1–0 5,526 2 April 15 Norfolk (Virginia) 115–106 2–0 10,410 3 April 24 New York 117–119 2–1 11,893 4 April 26 New York 107–118 2–2 11,164 5 April 29 Hampton (Virginia) 116–107 3–2 6,309 6 May 1 New York 136–146 3–3 11,152 7 May 4 Norfolk (Virginia) 88–94 3–4 10,410 Squires lose series, 4–3 Awards and honors 1972 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 29, 1972) Julius Erving Charlie Scott References 2 Squires on Basketball Reference External links RememberTheABA.com 1971–72 regular season and playoff results Virginia Squires page Category:Virginia Squires Virginia Squires Virginia Squires, 1971-72 Virginia Squires, 1971-72