Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
This actually happened: Western Carolina beat Toccoa Falls by 102 points on Tuesday night, 141-39. No, it's true -- check out the highlight video after the jump for proof, and look at the box score.
The margin of the victory is the third-largest in NCAA history (who can forget Long Island's 179-62 win over Medgar Evans in 1997? Or Purdue's 112-6 pounding of Indiana in 1911?), but it probably could have been much worse.
Not one of WCU's players scored more than 18 points, and only one played as many as 20 minutes. Nine finished with double-digit scoring, but that doesn't include WCU's leading scorer on the season, Harouna Mutombo, who finished with nine points.
This looks like a case of the coach emptying his bench against a completely overmatched non-conference opponent. WCU isn't considered a large school by NCAA Division I standards, with a student population somewhere north of 9,000, but it's still more than 12 times the size of Toccoa Falls, which has just 750 students. (Toccoa Falls is located in northeast Georgia and plays in the NCCAA -- the National Christian College Athletic Association.)
I think it would have been more insulting for WCU head coach Larry Hunter to tell his players not to try, but still, watching the video below, I'm a bit surprised at the number of fast breaks, not to mention the number of attempts with more than 20 seconds on the shot clock. What's the harm in walking the ball up the court, or making sure all five players touch the ball before a shot?
I especially got a kick out of the little girl at the 1:40 mark, who may not have experienced much in life but clearly knows that what's she's watching is insane. (Inexplicably, also watch for the dancing hot dog at the 1:03 mark, accompanied by a "We like wieners!" chant.)
0 comments
