Max Abmas destroyed a lot of March Madness brackets Friday. The 6-foot-1 guard – college basketball's leading scorer at 24.2 points per game – led No. 15 seed Oral Roberts to a stunning 75-72 overtime upset win over No. 2 seed Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament's round of 64,
The attention Abmas is receiving for his tournament heroics is far more then he received from college recruiters coming out of
Dallas Jesuit (Dallas, Texas), where he scored more than 1,000 points in his prep career.
That only earned him four offers, one from Oral Roberts and the others from the Air Force, Army and Navy academies.
Abmas averaged 19.1 points and made 109 3-pointers as a senior at Jesuit, leading the program to a 21-7 record and three playoff wins before losing in the regional finals. He was named the UIL's District 9-6A Co-Most Valuable Player, which landed him on the Dallas Morning News All-Area squad.
Abmas wasn't that upset with the lack of college interest, telling the Tulsa World that Oral Roberts wanted him to help turn around the program.
At least for a day, he put them on a national map by drilling 5 of 10 3-point attempts and scoring 29 points in the upset of Ohio State. It's not much different than what he's been doing all season while leading the nation in scoring. Heading into the tournament, he ranked fourth nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.6).
The ninth No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 in the NCAA Tournament, Oral Roberts advances to play Florida on Sunday in the round of 32.
Max Abmas, Dallas Jesuit
File photo by Michael Horbovetz
