Statistics Key To Success In Run-and-Gun Basketball

theodp writes "Two decades before Moneyball hit the Big Screen, Coach David Arseneault of tiny Grinnell College came up with a unique style of run-and-gun basketball that he called The System, the principles of which were subjected to statistical analysis in Keys to Success in a Run-and-Gun Basketball System, a paper for the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings. Well, as they say, sometimes The System works. On Tuesday, biochem major Jack Taylor, just three games into his career as a Grinnell College basketball player, made national news when he poured in 138 points — yes, 138 points — in a 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible College. Even LeBron and Kobe were impressed. The old NCAA Division III record of 89 was set last year by Taylor's Grinnell teammate, Griffin Lentsch. Taylor's feat also bested what was deemed to be the unbeatable overall NCAA scoring record of 113 points, set by NCAA Division II performer Clarence 'Bevo' Francis of Rio Grande in 1954."

Comments

Re:Lets not

[Iamthecheese]

Respectfully disagree. By descending from their ivory towers and showing how math can be useful in everyday life scientists can greatly inflate the common man's understanding of these techniques and advance science.

Re:How about an article on make-up, for the ladies

[maeka]

What has slashdot become? Terrible. This is supposed to be "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters."

What part of the quants invading sports and demonstrating that brains can win over brawn in the physical arena isn't news for nerds?

Re:How about an article on make-up, for the ladies

[hondo77]

The part where it's about a boring an irrelevant sport.

Some of us nerds aren't jealous of athletes because we also get off our asses and do stuff in the real world like play sports and exercise (something other than our typing fingers). Get over yourself.