Opinion: Documentary covers gifted basketball players

However, a documentary described in Sports Illustrated’s Nov. 26 issue might be worth seeing.

“Quantum Hoops” is about the 2006 basketball season at California Institute of Technology, a school more noted for its scientifically gifted graduates than basketball domination.

An unusual streak

What unusual thing did Caltech do on the basketball court to attract Hollywood? We’ll call it The Streak. The Caltech basketball team lost 243 consecutive games in its league between 1985 and 2007 – truly a record no team will try to break.

Sports Illustrated points out that the university during that time turned out nine Nobel Prize winners. From the standpoint of school mission statements and the like, the

Nobel winners are likely to be more amenable to the institutional bottom line than basketball victories.

A winning formula?

The subject of the documentary is the 2006 basketball season chronicling the frustrations of last season as a team of future scientists tried to come up with a formula allowing them just once to skip the agony of defeat and bask in the thrill of victory.

Apparently, the documentary doesn’t poke fun at the players, who, by the way, are not attending school on athletic scholarships; because Caltech is a National Collegiate Athletics Association Division III school, it can’t offer athletic scholarships. The 2006 team featured in the movie had eight valedictorians and only six players had high school basketball experience.

Actor David Duchovny narrates the movie.

SI reports that the opening scene contains an array of unflattering,

but humorous, miscues on the court by the Caltech Beavers, with The Blue Danube Waltz in the background.

From there on, the documentary apparently pays some attention to the players in academic settings.

Apparently, the Caltech players are presented as sure bets for success in scientific endeavors.

It is just a matter of time until they will be leaders in their chosen careers; however, at the moment, they are finding little athletic success.

These players may be super smart, but they are also college kids, and one of them sums up the feelings of his buddies when he says: “I really want to win a game.”

Victories and money

College sports news at the moment centers around football teams preparing for bowl games and predictions about which basketball teams are likely to make it to the NCAA Final Four.

Of course, the teams drawing the most interest are the ones with the most high-powered players destined for professional careers.

The mainspring of big-time college football and basketball is money. Football stadiums may hold up to 100,000 fans. Basketball arenas aren’t that large, but there are lots more basketball games played in a season.

Filling seats with fans and

others watching on TV equals big money.

It stands to reason that losing costs money, and it isn’t tolerated. It usually costs coaches their jobs. It boggles the mind to think of how some college boosters and presidents might react to 243 consecutive loses.

I’m sure that some NCAA Div. III basketball teams work at recruiting scholar athletes and are successful at end-of-season tournaments; they just don’t make a lot of money doing it. Still, the Caltech story is intriguing: The school recruits academically qualified students, and if some of them want to play basketball, fine. Someday they might even win a game. This school may have its priorities in order.

“Quantum Hoops” – I might go see it.

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.