Starting The Search
So I was arguing with my buddy last night about basketball legends from UMass, and Marcus Camby’s name popped up. Couldn’t remember his college stats for the life of me. Figured I’d Google it right then on my phone.
Typed “Marcus Camby college stats” into the search bar while microwaving leftover pizza. First results were all NBA career pages – useless for college stuff. Scrolled past three ads for sports betting sites before finding some forum discussions from 2009. People were debating his blocks per game but nobody gave actual numbers.
Digging Deeper
Got my laptop fired up because phone searching sucked. Remembered college archives might be better. Went straight to the UMass athletics site, clicked through like fifty menus trying to find historical data. Their “legends” section only showed Camby’s jersey retirement photo with zero stats. Seriously?
Tried adding “ncaa” and “umass” to my search terms. Finally found this ancient-looking database called Sports-Reference. Took forever to load. When the page popped up, I accidentally clicked a pop-up ad for viagra. Closed that garbage and finally saw his player page.
The Goldmine
Stats were buried under collapse menus. Had to click three arrows to expand each season. Here’s what mattered:
- 1993-94: Averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds as freshman
- 1995-96: Beast mode! 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks per game
- Career totals: 1,387 points and over 250 blocked shots
Highlight was seeing he led UMass to the Final Four in 96. Totally forgot that part! Copied the numbers into my notes app for next time my buddy tries to argue.
Wrapping Up
Took me like 45 minutes total thanks to crappy websites and mobile ads. Screenshotted the stats page just in case. Crazy how hard it is to find simple college basketball records that aren’t behind paywalls. Left the laptop on the couch and finally ate that cold pizza. At least I won the argument tomorrow.
