By Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
(Author’s Note: This
column is long. Please stick with
it. It gets better at the end.)
Well, a lot of new information has come out since the
initial this-is-wonderful reaction to Jack Taylor, a 22-year-old sophomore,
scoring 138 points in a college basketball game against non-NCAA school Faith
Baptist Bible College on November 20, 2012 (final score, Grinnell 179, Faith
Baptist 104).
PRELUDE TO A “RECORD”
With the full game now up on You Tube (courtesy of Grinell
Pioneers Athletics, by the way), much can be learned by watching the game and
listening to the announcers. The most
interesting thing? Well, it is submitted
that this is the most interesting thing discussed during the game by the
announcers:
“An interesting note here, Grinnell, this game will count
for their season wins and losses but for Faith Baptist this will be counted as
an exhibition game for their record.
Today I’ve been told that our athletic director and head coach were
confirming to make sure that, although this will not be going on Faith
Baptist’s record, it can still count for Grinnell and IT IS CONFIRMED THAT IT
WILL STILL COUNT FOR GRINNELL.” (emphasis added).
Hard to believe, but, obviously, the coach and AD, realizing
that they could script the game against a very weak opponent, actually called
somebody (presumably at the NCAA) to make sure that this
shooting-fish-in-a-barrel game, DESPITE being an exhibition game for the
opposition, would still count in terms of wins, points, and oh yes, records,
for Grinnell.
WHO IS THE NCAA DOPE WHO ALLOWED THIS TO BE A “REAL”
GAME?
Well, hopefully, one of these major institutions (you know,
ESPN, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, etc.) with big “investigative
reporting” budgets and/or great access can delve into this question.
While there are many other things to discuss (including, see
below, did Jack Taylor start believing his press clippings?), this main
question (how is this even a real basketball game against a college team that,
in their mind, is playing an exhibition game and is a college that plays in the
NCCAA (that is, the National Christian College Athletics Association – not to
be confused with the NCAA)) should be answered.
A FEW OTHER QUOTES FROM THE GAME
Special thanks to Deadspin, Tyler Burns and @Busted Video
for being on the downside of this game from the get-go. Before the game, when asked what Grinnell
fans should look forward to in this game, the color commentator (named Dan)
said: “Tonight, Rob [the play-by-play guy], we are looking for records, we want
to see points scored and a lot of them.”
Rob then said: “Tonight that record [89 points in a D III
game held by Grinnell senior Griffin Lentsch] was going to be attempted
possibly to be broken by another Grinnell member, not Griffin Lentsch, but new
transfer sophomore Jack Taylor,”
Clearly, everybody on the Grinnell side knew this was a joke
game and they were going to shoot for many records, Bible College or no Bible
College.
But wait, there’s more.
Early in the game (and forgive the grammar or lack thereof), an
announcer said, “The plan would be to try and see how as much as he [Taylor]
can score.” And this gem: “This is a
game that the [Grinnell] Pioneers scheduled.
They’ll try and look for those records.”
Anybody getting disturbed yet?
The first time an announcer mentioned the word “blowout” was
with about 8:30 left – in the first half (Grinnell was up about 33 at the
time). Shortly thereafter, the announcer
mentioned that there were “bone-chilling chants of GC pride” (Grinnell College pride).
There were some (unintentionally, it is assumed) comical
statements during the game. About 9:30
into the game, Grinnell called timeout because, according to an announcer,
“Grinnell’s coaches not appreciating the recent lack of defense.” Well, it’s
part of the plan, apparently, to try to press and steal and, it seems, to NOT
play defense if the other team breaks the press. The score when this timeout was called was
33-12. Late in the game, an announcer
said, “At this point, Grinnell’s not even playing defense,” which, one would
guess, was a downtick from their prior barely playing defense.
When Taylor scored his 100th point, an announcer
said, “Wilt Chamberlain, what do you gotta say.”
Seriously. As you may
know, Wilt was not available for comment.
When the game ended, announcer Rob said that he was
“speechless.” Shortly thereafter,
however, he said, “All I have to say is GC pride, GC pride, GC pride.”
It would have been better if he had remained speechless.
One other comical note: when the game ended, announcer Rob
said, “and the fans are mildly storming the court – more like walking out
there.” The view on You Tube of a little
more than half of the court showed two students on the court.
Hey, maybe some of the intelligent Grinnell students
(Grinnell, a fantastic liberal arts college) actually understood that maybe,
just maybe, this was unsportsmanlike?
Here’s hoping.
WHAT ABOUT THE FAITH BAPTIST COACH?
Interviewed by the New York Times, Faith Baptist coach Brian
Finchum said “we tried” and “I’m proud of my guys and the effort they put
in.” He also said that they double and
triple-teamed Jack Taylor at times.
But a review of the game tape shows that, of Jack Taylor’s
108 shots, he was double or triple-teamed less than 10 times (it’s probably
six, but some of the You Tube video seemed to freeze in certain spots (despite
multiple viewings on two different computers), so it’s not perfectly
clear). Finchum apparently was never
asked things like, why didn’t you go box-and-one or why didn’t you run the shot
clock down at least once in the entire game or why didn’t you just throw two or
even three guys at Jack Taylor to make him give up the ball (hey, he might have
gotten one assist that way).
None of the above suggestions (that a rec league coach
probably would have tried) was tried by Faith Baptist.
Hey, maybe the Faith Baptist coach was playing the game like
an exhibition (or is that half an exhibition; it’s still not clear).
WHAT ABOUT GRIFFIN LENTSCH?
Lentsch, the previous record-holder in D III
(89 points in a game last year against Principia), was actually announced as
the team’s “shooting guard.” Lentsch
shot 2-3 from the field and made two foul shots for seven points against Faith
Baptist.
In another unintentional comedic comment, one announcer said
that Lentsch “has been uncharacteristically quiet this game.”
You think?
WHAT ABOUT DAVID LARSON?
As pointed out by Derek C in a comment to my first article
last week, Larson was the recipient and beneficiary of Grinnell’s
“system.” You know, essentially no
defense. So, while Larson did make 34-44
from the field, the overwhelming majority of them were lay-ups. Despite my thoughts originally that this
could be a debate (who had the better game), Jack Taylor clearly had a better
game than Larson.
WHAT ABOUT THE GRINNELL COACH?
Well, he had some shaky comments after the game. He told the Times he was going to take Taylor
out with about five minutes left but he was on a hot shooting streak. He told the Times, “I wasn’t going to take a
guy out who was in the zone. I’ve never
been in a zone like that, and if I was I certainly wouldn’t want my coach to
end it for me. So we just let him go.”
Gee, coach, even if he already had over 100 and your team
was up 60 or more?
Actually, a look at the play-by-play shows that this is
simply untrue. At the five-minutes left
in the game mark, Taylor had been just 2-6 in the previous 1:43. Under no definition of “in the zone” was
Taylor in the zone at that time. Indeed,
he would make SEVEN threes in a row from 3:54 left in the game until 1:57 left
in the game (by the way, for the record, Grinnell kept its full-court press on
after all seven threes; hey, that’s just how they play). Given his New York Times comments, it’s
surprising that the coach took Taylor out of the game with 1:33 left because
THAT was when he was REALLY in the zone.
WHAT ABOUT GRINNELL COLLEGE?
Well, they wrapped themselves around this
“achievement.” Grinnell posted videos,
etc. to publicize the achievement. But
wait, there’s more. Grinnell’s media
relations department put out a press release entitled “Grinnell College by the
Numbers – 138 and More.” It explains
some of the greatness of Grinnell academically, presumably to get the word out
on what a fine academic institution it is (and it is).
Maybe Grinnell should have put out a copy of its “Mission
Statement” instead. Originally chartered
in Iowa in 1846, that original statement set forth a mission to educate its
students “for the different professions and for the honorable discharge of the
duties of life.” The 2002 statement, up
at Grinnell’s website, concludes with “The College aims to graduate men and
women … who are prepared in life and work to use their knowledge and their
abilities to serve the common good.”
By the way, did anybody notice that the New York Times
reported that, the day after the event, Jack Taylor had to take a two-hour break
from doing interviews to attend two college classes, one of which was
“Introduction to Christianity.”
Is there a conflict there, between scoring 108 points
against a Bible College, taking all of the accolades and then, the next day,
going to Intro to Christianity.
Was that really the “Christian thing to do?”
Just asking.
FINALLY, WHAT ABOUT JACK TAYLOR?
Well, on Rick Wolff’s Sports Edge show this past weekend,
virtually all of the callers were disgusted with the record, one even
suggesting that his team would have gone after Jack Taylor, maybe even hurt
him. While that happens in the
schoolyards of New York City on a not-infrequent basis, hard to believe that
Faith Baptist Bible College would do that.
But Jack Taylor seemed to start believing his press
clippings. Interviewed by ESPN a few
days after the game, Taylor actually said the following: “I think I was just in that mental state to
where it really didn’t matter what the defense did.”
Come back to us, Jack.
You were pretty cool before that statement. And as we said repeatedly on Rick Wolff’s
Sports Edge show (up under Rick Wolff’s picture at wfan.com), nobody could
blame Jack Taylor. He did what the
coaches wanted him to do.
But after that statement, he should take a step back. The defense (and the Faith Baptist coach) did
virtually NOTHING to stop Jack Taylor.
Very few double teams (less than 10 on 108 shots), no box-and-one, no
30-35 second possessions (NONE), no run two guys at him to make him give up the
ball.
Frankly, the fish in a barrel had a better chance.
CONCLUSION?
A basketball team with 10 kids of 275-300
enrolled in a Bible College, playing an exhibition game, was torched by a very
good shooter whose coach and AD called in advance to “confirm” that any records
set that night would be valid. They were
inexplicably told that they would be valid (real game for one team, exhibition
game for another). So, Grinnell College,
apparently, reached the goals they wanted to attain by winning 179-104 and
having one player score 138 points.
Just as Part I concluded, draw your own conclusions.
POSTSCRIPT
The goal of letting Jack Taylor take a ton of shots against
Faith Baptist Bible College was, according to many, to let Jack Taylor “shoot
himself out of” his shooting slump. It apparently
did not work. Taylor shot just 6-21
(29%), 3-13 on threes (23%), against a good William Penn (Iowa) team as
Grinnell lost it’s next game, 131-116.
Does Grinnell play Faith Baptist Bible College again this
season?
That’s a rhetorical question.
COPYRIGHT 2012 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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