2003 Top 50 List: No
Dan Collins List: No
The first year of the ACC was 1953-54. Virginia was the last team to be admitted, on December 4, 1953. They had to scramble to schedule games with ACC teams at that late date, and they wound up playing only five ACC games that first season. The 1955 season was much better structured, with each team playing 14 conference games.
The players of that era, then, began their careers prior to the ACC but finished in the ACC. Of the class of 1954, the best was probably Gene Shue of Maryland; but with only one year in the ACC, I did not seriously consider him for the list. Of the class of 1955, two are worthy of consideration: Dickie Hemric and Buzz Wilkinson.
To be honest, it’s hard to evaluate the players of this era. Best I can tell, the ACC wasn’t a great league, and the conditions of the game were so different. If you told me that Buzz Wilkinson isn’t one of the 200 greatest players in ACC history, I’d find it hard to argue with you; or if you told me he’s one of the 50 greatest, I’d find it hard to argue with that either. But we have to do the best we can with the information we have. The man did average over 30 points per game in both seasons; I know it’s a different era, but 30 points is 30 points. He did make first team All-ACC both seasons and received serious consideration for ACC Player of the Year, alongside Hemric and Ronnie Shavlik, in 1955. He was named third team All-American by the AP in 1955. All this despite playing on a team that finished sixth in an eight-team league. He was clearly seen as a really good player by the observers of that time.
He has all kinds of ACC scoring records. Most 40-point games, 10; most field goal attempts in a game, 44; most field goal attempts in a season, 767; highest scoring average in a season, 32.1 in 1955; highest scoring average in a career, 28.1; most 30-point games in a season (20) and a career (33, tied with David Thompson). He scored 2,233 career points in only 78 games. He took a staggering number of shots, but even at that volume, he was still more efficient than league average. Wilkinson was frequently compared to Furman All-American Frank Selvy, who famously scored 100 points in a game against Newberry College. In February 1954, Buzz had consecutive 45-point games in wins over UNC (the Cavaliers’ first-ever ACC win) and Georgetown.
It seems that he went by both Buzzy and Buzz. Both names are common in newspaper articles of the time.
“Wilkinson is an artist,” (Virginia coach Bus) Male says, “and just as temperamental. Oh, no, not in a nasty way. The boys are crazy about him. If he scores every point the boys will be glad, just as long as the team wins. Why, in the game against Hampden-Sydney I took him out. We weren’t anxious to roll up a score. Then the captain (Dave Cooke) comes over and asks me to put Buz back in. So, with three minutes left in the game, he goes back in and sets a new school record (42 points). And then after the game the captain comes up and says thanks a lot for putting Buz back in. That’s an example of how the boys feel.” – Richmond Times Dispatch, December 26, 1953
After graduation, Wilkinson coached the freshman team at UVa for a year before attempting to make the Celtics. Their guards were a couple of guys named Cousy and Sharman. Buzz didn’t make the team.