Mike Miller College basketball editor • E-mail

Poor Keydren Clark.

During any other season, the St. Peter’s senior would have feature stories galore about him trying to join ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich and Oscar Robertson as the only players to lead the NCAA in scoring for three consecutive seasons.

But that’s what happens when Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison and Duke’s J.J. Redick, the front-runners for NCAA player of the year, are fighting for the scoring title.

And thankfully so. For once, people actually care who wins it.

Clark would’ve been a good story, but a forgettable one. Scoring champs aren’t what people remember. Whether they played at a small school (Ronnie McCollumn, Centenary, La., 2001), end up being a lottery pick (Courtney Alexander, Fresno State, ’00) or even productive NBA players (Kurt Thomas, TCU, ’95), few remember these guys.

It’s the rare occasion when the nation’s leading scorer doubles as the Player of the Year — like Purdue’s Glenn Robinson (’94), Maravich (’70) and Robertson (’58-’60) — that we care. It gives the scoring title that something extra that elevates it from interesting side story to front-page news. It’s true that winning Player of the Year would be a bigger deal and winning a national title would secure one’s reputation in college basketball lore, but the scoring title has been the fun storyline throughout the season.

Having Redick and Morrison — the country’s biggest stars and probable All-Americans from two of the country’s elite programs — makes the scoring race memorable and even historical. Consider:

• Never have two top-five teams finished with the NCAA’s top two scorers.
• It would be the first time since 1969 (Maravich and Austin Carr) that the top two scorers landed spots on the All-American team (which hasn’t happened yet, but is a foregone conclusion).

Win McNamee / Getty Images J.J. Redick has been a known commodity since his freshman season at Duke.

But beyond those tidbits, the scoring race is even better because of the players involved.

Redick and Morrison are two of the game’s most dominant scorers and have become the faces of college hoops, much the way Emeka Okafor and Jameer Nelson were two years ago. In a game that sometimes struggles to attract casual fans, Morrison and Redick are as recognizable as nearly any athlete today.

Morrison, the scoring leader at 28.8 points per game, started fast with his amazing Maui Invitational when he torched Michigan State for 43 points and averaged 28.6 ppg for the tournament. The 6-foot-8 junior has scored more than 40 points four other times this year and over 30 in 12 games.

He’s also hit the big shots, banking in three-pointers or hitting 12-foot jumpers to win games. That scoring knack has made Morrison a top-three pick in the NBA draft.

It’s been a rapid progression for Morrison, who didn’t start as a freshmen and has increased his scoring significantly each season. Even people who watched Morrison last season, when he averaged 19.0 ppg, might not have guessed he would be this good this year.

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Coupled with his shaggy-haired mane and mustache, he’s become the most-beloved player in the country.

Redick, on the other hand, has been a known commodity since his freshman season at Duke. But, until this season, he was one of the country’s most despised players. Part of that comes from playing at Duke, the team people love to hate. The other part was because Redick has ridiculous shooting range.

Even as a freshman, Redick could hit the deep three-pointer with astounding regularity — especially if you’re cheering for the opposing team. But starting last year he developed into a player who ran off screens for mid-range jumpers, drove to the basket and occasionally took a player off the dribble.

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The result? His scoring average jumped from 15.9 ppg to 21.8 ppg. And his “wow” factor jumped, too. “Wow” as in, “Wow. Did you see Redick hit that shot?”

This season, Redick started slower than Morrison, but caught up quickly with a pair of 41-point games, first in a win over then-No. 2 Texas and in a loss to Georgetown. He’s scored over 30 points 14 times this season, including a five-game run in ACC wins over Florida State, North Carolina, Maryland, Wake Forest and Miami.

Along the way, Redick became the ACC’s all-time leading scorer and has a chance to end his career among the NCAA’s top 15 career scorers.

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Does all that make the scoring title important? Probably not. Morrison admitted as much to Sports Illustrated.

“The thing I’ve always been told is, can you name the last five scoring champions?” he said. “We both said the scoring race doesn’t matter. It was sincere; we weren’t BS-ing each other. If he gets first and I get second, so be it. I’d still be happy with the way I played.”

Still, that won’t keep us from watching. After all, they do have to hold off Clark. And go for the title.