1971–72 Virginia Squires season

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. After this season ended, the Squires stopped playing in Roanoke, electing to focus on the cities of Norfolk, Hampton, and Richmond only.

1971–72 Virginia Squires season
Head coach	Al Bianchi
Arena	Norfolk Scope Hampton Coliseum Richmond Coliseum Roanoke Civic Center
Results
Record	45–39 (.536)
Place	Division: 2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost in Division Finals

ABA Draft

Main article: 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	United States	Weber State College
1	10	Dana Lewis	C	United States	Tulsa
3	23	Austin Carr	SG	United States	Notre Dame
4	41	Dana Pagett	G	United States	USC
5	52	Tom Riker	PF/C	United States	South Carolina
6	63	Barry Parkhill	SG	United States	Virginia
7	74	Clifford Ray	PF/C	United States	Oklahoma
8	85	Bill Gerry	F	United States	Virginia
9	96	Jim Chones	PF/C	United States	Marquette
10	107	Gil McGregor	PF	United States	Wake Forest
11	118	Héctor Blondet	F	Puerto Rico	Murray State
12	128	Luis Grillo	PG	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. (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

1971–72 Virginia Squires roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From PG 20 Mike Barrett 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 155 lb (70 kg) September 5, 1943 West Virginia Tech SF 16 Bill Bunting 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) August 26, 1947 North Carolina C 42 Jim Eakins 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 215 lb (98 kg) May 24, 1946 BYU SF 32 Julius Erving 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) February 22, 1950 UMass SF 30 George Irvine 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) February 1, 1948 Washington PF 24 Neil Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) April 17, 1943 Creighton PF 34 Mike Maloy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) May 10, 1949 Davidson SF 15 Doug Moe 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) September 21, 1938 North Carolina G 21 Dana Pagett 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) March 29, 1949 USC SG 33 Charlie Scott 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 175 lb (79 kg) December 15, 1948 North Carolina C 22 Ray Scott 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) July 12, 1938 Portland SG 0 Adrian Smith 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) October 5, 1936 Kentucky C 35 Willie Sojourner 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) September 10, 1948 Weber State PG 14 Roland Taylor 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) March 13, 1946 La Salle SG 11 Bernie Williams 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) December 30, 1945 La Salle

Head coach Al Bianchi Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

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 Semifinals

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

• Squires on Basketball Reference

External links

• RememberTheABA.com 1971–72 regular season and playoff results
• Virginia Squires page