The 1972–73 Carolina Cougars season was the fourth season of the Cougars in the American Basketball Association and sixth overall when including their two seasons of play as the Houston Mavericks. The Cougars finished the season being second in points per game with 115.6 points per game and fifth in points allowed with 110.7 points per game. By the time the season was halfway over with, the Cougars were 28–14, with a season best eleven game winning streak occurring during that span, while they finished the season with a 29–13 record in the second half. Their biggest losing streak in the season was 4 games long, which occurred after they had already won over 50 games in the season. They clinched the best record in the Eastern Division (and later, the best record in the ABA this season) after beating the newly created San Diego Conquistadors expansion franchise on March 25, 1973; with their 57th victory, their best record in franchise history is tied for the 9th-best record by a team in one ABA season. In the playoffs, they beat the New York Nets in five games to go to the Division Finals with a chance to go to the ABA Finals under head coach Larry Brown. However, the Cougars failed to advance that far, losing to the Kentucky Colonels in seven games, with the final game being in their home court, though controversially deciding to play their final playoff home game in Charlotte instead of Greensboro, which was where they had played most of their games in at the time.
During the regular season, the Cougars played 28 games in Greensboro, 13 in Charlotte, and 2 in Raleigh; in the playoffs, the team played 4 games in Greensboro, 2 in Charlotte (including their Game 7 defeat in the Eastern Division Finals), and one in Raleigh.
ABA Draft
Weirdly enough, as of 2025, there has been no official draft records for the first five rounds of the 1972 ABA draft specifically, while every other round after that point has been properly recorded by basketball historians otherwise. Because of the strange dispersity of draft picks not being properly recorded this year after previously being fully recorded in the previous year's draft and the number of rounds potentially being off for even the players being selected this year, the recorded players selected in this year's draft will be marked with a ? for the pick number in particular (as well as certain round numbers, if necessary) in order to showcase the awkward display currently going on with the 1972 ABA draft year in particular (though what is known is that the Cougars were the official new holders of the #2 pick in the draft after the Memphis Pros were forced to forfeit their original #2 pick slot in the draft after they signed Larry Cannon from the Denver Rockets in a manner that didn't suit the ABA's desires sometime after the 1971 ABA draft ended). However, if any changes come up to where a proper, official recording of the 1972 ABA draft gets released displaying both pick numbers and round numbers for where certain players got selected, please provide the updated (potential) draft ordering with a source confirming the round and pick numbers included here. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 2 Tom Riker PF/C United States South Carolina 2 10 Dennis Wuycik SF United States North Carolina 4(?) 29(?) Fred Boyd PG/SG United States Oregon State 6 45(?) Steve Bracey PG United States Tulsa 7 56(?) Dan Holcomb C United States Memphis State 8 67(?) Henry Bibby PG United States UCLA 9 78(?) Jerry Crocker G United States Guilford College 10 89(?) Mike Collins F United States Seattle 11 100(?) Wilbert Loftin F United States Southwest Louisiana 12 111(?) Charles Dudley PG United States Washington 13 122(?) Mike Sneed F United States Fayetteville State 14 133(?) Steve Previs PG United States North Carolina 15 144(?) Kent Martens C United States Abilene Christian 16 153(?) Rod Behrans PF United States Samford 17 162(?) Dave Smith G United States Western Carolina 18 170(?) Curtis Pritchett F United States St. Augustine's College 19 174(?) Paul Coder C United States North Carolina State The Cougars would potentially trade away not just their third round pick, but also their fifth round pick to the New York Nets in this draft.
ABA Dispersal Draft Months after the original ABA draft for this year concluded, the ABA held their first ever dispersal draft on July 13, 1972 after it was found out by the ABA itself that neither "The Floridians" nor the Pittsburgh Condors would be able to continue operations either in their original locations or elsewhere in the U.S.A. (or even Canada in the case of "The Floridians"). Unlike the main draft they did during the months of March and April, this draft would last for only six rounds as a one day deal and would have the nine remaining inaugural ABA teams selecting players that were left over at the time from both "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors franchises (including draft picks from both teams there) and obtain their player rights from there. Any players from either franchise that wouldn't be selected during this draft would be placed on waivers and enter free agency afterward., pg. 426 Interestingly, the Cougars would be the only Eastern Division team from the previous season, as well as one of four teams alongside the Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, and Memphis Pros turned Memphis Tams to use two different first round picks at once instead of just having only one first round pick like most other teams in this draft. Even so, the following players were either Floridians or Condors players that the Cougars acquired during this dispersal draft. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College ABA Team 1 3 Mike Lewis PF/C United States Duke Pittsburgh Condors 1 6 Mack Calvin PG United States USC The Floridians 2 16 Mike Stewart C United States Santa Clara The Floridians 3 24 Mike Grosso C United States Louisville Pittsburgh Condors 4 32 Greg Starrick G United States Southern Illinois The Floridians Funnily enough, three of the team's five selections from this draft would have the first name of Mike on their squad, with two of them being players from the Pittsburgh Condors. For the Mikes in question, Mike Lewis would be the only player out of the three in question to actually play for the Cougars after being selected by them; the other two players named Mike, Mike Stewart and Mike Grosso, would never play for the franchise whatsoever, with Stewart going back to college for his senior year at Santa Clara University before never playing for either the ABA or the rivaling NBA (instead going for the Western Basketball League before playing overseas) and Grosso ultimately retiring from ABA play after being selected by Carolina. Meanwhile, one of "The Floridians" players that the Cougars selected in this draft, Mack Calvin, would later end up becoming one of two players selected from the dispersal draft to end up being members of the ABA All-Time Team (the other being Calvin's now former teammate from "The Floridians" franchise, Warren Jabali, who was selected as the second overall pick of that draft for the Denver Rockets). Finally, the last pick the Cougars made in this draft, Greg Starrick, would end up never playing professional basketball at all.
Roster
Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L % GB Carolina Cougars 57 27 .679 - Kentucky Colonels 56 28 .667 1 Virginia Squires 42 42 .500 15 New York Nets 30 54 .357 27 Memphis Tams 24 60 .286 33
ABA Playoffs ABA Eastern Division Semifinals Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 March 30 Greensboro (Carolina) 104–96 1–0 4,725 2 March 31 Raleigh (Carolina) 111–114 1–1 6,343 3 April 3 New York 101–91 2–1 8,418 4 April 5 New York 112–108 3–1 7,867 5 April 6 Greensboro (Carolina) 136–113 4–1 6,388 Cougars win series, 4–1
ABA Eastern Division Finals vs. Kentucky Colonels Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 11 Charlotte (Carolina) 103–113 0–1 9,165 2 April 14 Greensboro (Carolina) 125–105 1–1 5,103 3 April 16 Kentucky 94–108 1–2 10,422 4 April 18 Kentucky 102–91 2–2 16,238 5 April 20 Greensboro (Carolina) 112–107 3–2 11,988 6 April 21 Kentucky 100–119 3–3 16,892 7 April 24 Charlotte (Carolina) 96–107 3–4 10,231 Cougars lose series, 4–3
Awards and honors 1973 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on February 6, 1973) Mack Calvin Joe Caldwell Billy Cunningham ABA Most Valuable Player: Billy Cunningham (24.1 points per game, 12 rebounds per game, and 6.3 assists per game) ABA Coach of the Year: Larry Brown ABA Executive of the Year: Carl Scheer All-ABA First Team selection: Billy Cunningham All-ABA Second Team selection: Mack Calvin All-Defensive Team selection: Joe Caldwell All-Rookie Team selection: Dennis Wuycik
References
Cougars on Basketball Reference
External links RememberTheABA.com 1972-73 regular season and playoff results RememberTheABA.com Carolina Cougars page